Backpacking around the globe and back again (Part 5)
I don't really think anybody knew what to expect in Prague. We had heard so many stories about Czech Republic and the boarder security alone made us wary. When we got to the Czech boarder our guide told us to take out our passports and if the guards came online not to make eye contact, any noise or smile, just hand over our passports to them. When they came on board our bus was definitely silent, it was kind of scary actually even though the guards didn't seem all that bad. They took our passports into their little booth, we didn't think there would be any problems because we were all Canadians and Australians (we don't need visas). We waited forever for them to bring back our passports. When they finally did we had waited an hour and almost everyone had to go to the bathroom (aka more waiting). They stamped our passports, which was cool I guess but not worth the wait.
Almost as soon as we entered Czech Republic we went to the small fortress at Terezin. Originally built in the late 18th century, Terezin's Small fortress served as a prison for military and political prisoners of the Hapsburg monarchy in the early 1800s. However, when Czech lands were occupied by Nazi Germany the small fortress was used as a police prison to the Prague Gestapo (in 1940). In all, about 32,000 prisoners passed through the Small Fortress during WWII, of whom 2,500 perished due to hunger, disease, the brutality of the guards, and executions. The conditions were unbelievable there. To see where these people were forced to live made you step back. There were big rooms with a row of wooden beds where people would sleep. There were also these tiny rooms with no windows or lights. They would cram those rooms so full that people would literally have to be on top of one another and wait until they died. It was a disgusting display of inhumanity. The entire fortress was full of reminders that they just didn't give a shit about these people. They had a bunch of big bathroom areas "for the people to clean in" but they were unused and only installed in case people came through to see how the conditions were.
The weather was cold as we walked around Terezin. It seemed fitting, the sun was missing as it would have been in the lives of those who were forced into living here. There is this one gate, number 21, which you never come back through alive. It leads to the execution area. They believe that around 250 to 300 of those at Terezin were executed in this spot. The guard would stand on the "cross" made of concrete and then shoot at the individual standing against the wall. It was brutal attack on life.
Terezin was a slap in the face. It wasn't like anything I had seen before. (If you would like to know more or see more pictures than I have posted please visit this excellent website on Terezin: Small Fortress)
I was downright exhausted as we pulled into Prague. It was cold and gloomy outside and so was I.
Our hotel was on the outskirts of town but there was a bus stop right outside that took us to the metro which would then take us into the city. It was to take about 25 minutes to get to the city, which to me was fine.
We had already signed up to take a walking tour followed by authentic dinner that night, and since our bus got in pretty late there was only enough time to run upstairs and put on some warmer layers before running back downstairs. The hotel wasn't one of the greatest places but it seemed pretty clean and had beds and a shower so I was happy. Lija and I had the room to ourselves although there were two empty beds so we figured we wouldn't be alone for long.
As we made our way into the city with our trusty guide we began to discover the charm of Prague. The public transit was nothing to boast about, it was as all public transit seems to be, dirty and crowded. However, the city was gorgeous. The roads were cobblestone and the buildings are of Romanesque and Renaissance styles. A lot of history was preserved since the city avoided heavy war damage so Prague has become an architect's dream come true.
We toured the city seeing the more important historic sites on our half sized tour, we walked down the Charles Bridge which is lined with 30 sculptures and rests on 16 arches. We came upon the statue of St. John Nepomuk who they believe was thrown over the bridge for refusing to betray the Queen's confessions to King Wenceslaus IV. On his statue you see these shiny spots where people touch the statue believing it will bring them good luck. I touched the statue, and think things are going pretty well so far.
After he told us about the major damage that has happened in Prague from a terrible flood in 2002. To us the worse damage occurred at the zoo, where many animals died. They had to shoot Kadir, a 35 year old Indian elephant who refused to leave his pen as water levels rose. Pong a six year old gorilla went missing even though the other four gorillas successfully reached higher ground before their house was submerged. Also missing were four hippos and while one of the two sealions were captured five miles away the other died on it's way home.
After hearing that grim news we continued back to the other side of the bridge where we were shown the five story club where you are supposed to start at the top with your first shot of Absinthe and make it to the bottom taking a shot per floor as you go.
Dinner was nice, it was steak, which I suppose could be authentic Czech food, but then again it could be authentic Canadian food too. We drank beers, yes that's right we had meat and beer, we were men. Well actually half of 'us' were men... but that isn't the point.
Our hostel was attached to a five star luxury hotel and spa which had a bar and casino in it that we were allowed to use, so after the restaurant we went back there. I didn't stay long, the smell of cigarette smoke was getting to me and my head hurt. Back at the room I struggled with the lock, finally getting it open I realized the reason it had been so difficult was that the new people had left it unlocked for us and I had locked it before unlocking it again. When I opened the door and saw that there were two new bodies in the empty beds I was a little taken back, mostly because one of them looked at me and seemed to be a guy, which was confusing about an all girls dorm room. He was a guy, Sean turned out to be a great guy as was his girlfriend Stacy. We became great friends actually over the course of the trip however they were already getting ready for bed since they had been traveling all day from Munich so we didn't get to talk very much.
The next morning we experienced our buffet breakfast for the first time. It was incredible. They had some of the "normal" breakfast things such as cereal and eggs, some bread (but no toaster, never a toaster!) and orange juice and coffee/tea. However, they also had a large selection of desserts. Yes, desserts. Strange. Apparently Czech people will usually have a coffee for breakfast then a sweet snack at 10:00 am.
We spent our day walking around the city, first stop: Praha Castle. The castle was at the top of this big hill, which wasn't too bad because the climb was gradual and the view was magnificent. As you walk into the grounds and down this roadway it opens up into a larger area where St. Vitus Cathedral stands in all it's glory. I think St. Vitus is one of those places that you need to see to understand it's beauty, since due to sheer size you cannot capture it's beauty on a camera. There were sculptures, intricate designs, gold finishing and that was just the outside. Inside there were panel upon panel of stained glass window, there was an amazing organ and rows of wooden pews.
After leaving the church we continued walking around the grounds finding ourselves in the middle square. As we stood in front of this huge bird cage like structure a bunch of unmarked black cars pulled into the square flanking a limousine. Out of those cars steps multiple body guards (the Czech Special Forces?) and from the limo steps the President of Czech Republic and the First Lady. Cool.
Since to get to the castle we had to walk up a hill it was only fitting that we had to walk back down said hill to return to the city, however, one of the people I was traveling with thought it would be a brilliant idea to walk halfway down that hill and up a hill at least twice it's size in order to get a great aerial view from the Petrin Tower. Yes, I admit that the view was amazing, but lugging my out of shape already exhausted body up that hill was a killer and a half! The part that fails to be mentioned when you are at the bottom of the hill is that once you're up there, you still have to climb the tower, all 299 steps. The actual climb wasn't the hard part, going up was rather easy, although somewhat tiring after all that other climbing. The hard part was coming back down the spiraling stair case, around and around and around you went. Very dizzy experience! However, I will admit that the view was very nice especially since the sky was so crystal clear.
There wasn't much else to see while up there, but they did have a funnicular to take you back down so we didn't have to risk tripping and tumbling down the hill.
We did some more walking (you would think with all the walking that we would be losing weight, but alas, we ate too much and gained some!) exploring the city on both sides of the Vltava River and ducked into some stores to look at Bohemian crystal and yellow sapphire (the kind with bugs in it, ick). As we were walking down a charming street (as all streets in Prague seemed to be) we see this pickup truck with people standing in the back of it, being Canadian and from the suburbs the first thing I thought was "How Dangerous!". However, on second take it appeared as though they too were taking a "take" and pulling a car in which seemed to sit P. Diddy. Yes, those people standing in the pickup truck were in fact filming him in a movie. I didn't want to say "Cool, P. Diddy" in case I was wrong, and it seemed that all my fellow travelers felt the same way. Miranda finally said, "was that who I thought it was" to which we all exclaimed, "P DIDDY!?". So that was pretty cool.
As we walked around the city we made sure to stop by some key tourists spots in the Old Town Square, which is where you can find the Astronomical clock. For those of you who aren't familiar with the history of the Astronomical clock let me fill you in, it has had a spot in Old Town Square for over 6 centuries and it even still works (now that's craftmanship)! The clock shows three individual sets of data. It shows the revolutions of the Sun, the revolutions of the moon, and the revolutions of the stars. The clock is divided into red and blue halves representing day and night. It's quite an amazing thing to see, considering the relatively low technology they had in those times. On the hour (until I believe 9pm) tourists line up below the clock in order to see the famous Procession of Apostles as they one by one pass by the small doors at the top of the clock. It is said that gouged out the creator's eyes so that he could never create something so beautiful ever again. Also in Old Town Square you can find the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn (also known as the Tyn church) and Old Town Hall. The Tyn church is built in baroque Gothic style and if you look close enough at it you can see that the spires are actually asymmetrical representing the masculine and feminine sides of the world, a common element in Gothic architecture.
We had already made plans to meet at this restaurant for dinner with everyone (14 of us give or take). A couple of our friends had been to Prague previously and recommended this steak house, saying they had the best food in Prague. I don't eat red meat on a regular basis, but decided that if it's the best steak I could do it a second day in a row. After a delicious (and affordable) meal, I can safely recommend the Titanic Steakhouse (sorry it is in Czech but you can convert it if you really want.)
With our dinner we had a few beers then stumbled back to our hostel during the late hours of night (on our way to the underground we walked past some very obvious prostitutes).
The next morning we decided that since we had already seen the majority of the city the day before that we would take the train into Kutna Hora to visit the Bone Church (Sedlec Ossuary ). The best description you could get is by visiting that website and while on the English setting selecting "Ossuary". Also, you can visit many other websites giving fantastic history's of this fascinating church by Googling "Bone Church".
The Bone Church creeped me out. It is a room full of bones. Yes, human skeletal bones. I thought the whole concept was dark and morbid, just being in the room gave me the shivers. And while everyone else reached out to touch the bones, I kept my hands firmly at my sides, there was not a chance in you know where that I would be touching one of THOSE bones!
After leaving the church there wasn't anything else to see in Kutna Hora, but our train didn't come for a couple more hours so we walked into town, found ourselves a bar and had some beers with the locals. The bar was dirty, as were the locals, but the weather was fantastic and the bar had an outdoor patio, so we were happy. The train ride to Kutna Hora had been an experience in itself, we had to stand the whole way because there wasn't enough room for any of us to sit down and since we were up against the windows, every time a train would come towards us someone would yell "lean back!" so we didn't get our heads taken off. The ride home was a bit better, there was more room in the aisle for us to stand however, there was a girl in one of the carriages with a rat on her shoulder... yes, a rat.
Once back in Prague, we were early for our dinner plans (once more at Titanic Steakhouse) so some of our group (14 again) went shopping and the rest of us went to a bar. After our dinner the owner brought us free shots of Schnapps... pure 70% Schnapps, we think he was trying to kill us. It was the most disgusting thing I have ever had in my life, I thought that I would be throwing up blood due to my stomach lining rotting away. It was a generous thought however, so we said thank you while leaving pretty sure that they were all snickering in the back at the stupid tourists that drank that shit.
Prague was a gorgeous place, it took top spot as number one on my list. I would recommend Prague to anyone.
Pictures so far
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