Prague!

Last Saturday morning we got up before dawn, caught a cab to the airport and began our trip to Prague. We took two planes to get there, from City airport. A long way to get there, but novel! And in small planes. 100 seaters this time, not like the 50 seater we took to Amsterdam.

We arrived at Prague airport, after our stopover in Geneva. We changed our money, bought travelcards and hopped on a bus to the centre of town. We changed to the metro (very similar to the Budapest metro, but the escalators were not as fast!) then to a tram, and waked 100 metres or so to our hotel. Our hotel was almost touching the Charles Bridge, which was a great location. This is the view from the end of the Charles Bridge:



Then it was time to explore the town!




We had dinner in a restaurant and sat outside to enjoy the warmth. This is what we ate:
Pork Knuckle for me, duck for Scott.
Sunday we did a tour of the Jewish Quarter. We sadly chose the wrong tour to be on, as our guide gave only basic information, and we were the only ones on the tour! Anyway, here are some photos from the Jewish Quarter. The area itself is fascinating, and we did learn a little from the tour (and the tours passing us as well!!). The old Jewish Cemetery was an amazing place. There was limited space for burials, as it was within the ghetto walls, so the bodies were buried up to 12 deep. And the headstone are all squished in together.

This is the Old-New Synagogue.

This is the Spanish Synagogue.


After looking in the Old-New Synagogue, we meandered towards Petrin Hill, which is a lovely large park overlooking the city. We took the funicular railway up the side of the hill to the top. We wandered through the rose gardens, and generally mooched about. Ate ice creams while sitting under some lovely trees, and enjoyed the sunshine.
That night there was a fantastic tropical storm. A huge downpour with lots of lightening and rain. I really miss storms form home, so a proper storm made me very happy!! Here is a photo I took as we left the hotel, just before the rain began.

Monday we headed to the Castle. We took the tram to the top of the hill. Prague castle is the oldest continuous castle in the world. And very impressive. Great views of the city below and heaps and heaps of tourists!!



And now, to bed! :-)

We have concrete chunks falling off our building. Yep. Great huh? We had scaffolding put into our yard yesterday and I spoke to the scaffolders this morning as I was really annoyed that they did not ask our permission to come into our yard. Apparently they do not need permission as it is a health and safety thing. Fix away, boys! I don't want any lumps o' concrete a falling on my noggin! :-)

My computer is clever. It remembers the fact that I changed the keyboard from Australian to British just to get the pound sign. Now when I press shift 3 I automatically get the pound sign. Good computer!

The girls went home yesterday. I was sad to see them go. It was great to have them in London, and although we didn't really spent a huge amount of time together, I enjoyed getting to know them better. We did a lot of fun stuff and Scott and I were able o how them our London - mudlarking, Brick Lane, Canary Wharf, etc. Photos soon!

Oh, and there was a correction I had to put in here, from Zsuzsi. She does not like punk music. I had said that BOTH the girls like punk music in a previous entry. A thousand apologies.

I am back to studying. Currently looking at objects of interpretation and material culture.

Work goes well. The designers of the exhibition are annoying me though. I found out today that they need to save money, so they are ditching a couple of the panels. Fine. But they are also ditching images that don't fit, but that we have already paid for! Hello? We have paid a vast sum for them, can't ya squeeze them in somewhere? It's not like I can get a refund...

That's about it really. :-D Hope everyone is doing well. Comment to say hi!

Had a lovely dinner cooked by Eszter and Zsuzsi last night. We went to their flat in Barons Court. We all got along very well, and it was nice to get to know the girls a bit better.

Tomorrow night the four of us are off to Brick Lane, the home of fabulous curry houses! The girls also want to look at all the spice shops. The shops have some amazing things to buy, and they smell fantastic.

I saw a girl on the tube who I swear I went to St Margaret's with, although she was a year ahead. She did glance a me several times on the journey, but I'm not sure if that's because she recognised me, or if it was because I was knitting a sock!

My deadline for all the images to be with the designers is Friday. I will spend Friday chasing images and generally phoning people about the images. I had a three and a hlaf hour meeting today. Torturous, but helpful.

That's it really!