PRAGUE – Czech Republic (Sat 01 Aug)

We had another day of mooching around today. There is so much to see and do that it is quite easy to spend a whole day just looking. Apart from the sights, as with any city, it is entertainment in itself just watching the people. We were watching a guy sitting at the back of one of the many street food carts in Wenceslas Square, he was happily waving around a garden hose and trying his best to squirt as many passers by that he could. He was getting quite a kick out of it too. It was certainly entertaining to watch.

We have been surprised with the number of … eccentrics that we have seen. It is quite common to see people walking down the street gesturing madly and talking animatedly to themselves. Or perhaps suddenly breaking into song at the top of their voices, and grabbing hold of people to dance with. But perhaps it has more to do with the guy that we saw here on our first night. In the middle of busy Wenceslus Square he seemed to be cutting up a dose of coke.

They seem to have their share of beggars in this city. There are the usual blatant ones who come right up into your face and ask for money, there are the ones that look like they have seen better days and always seem to have a dog in tow, but then there are also the ones that look like they are backpackers who have run out of money. Some of these don’t even bother to take their backpacks off. The latter ones, always seem to have a baseball hat in good condition to collect any tips, and they are usually bowed down with a hood pulled well down over their faces. These ‘backpackers’ seem to be well policed. We saw the police busting one guy (who when he stood up didn’t seem too destitute at all, and looked rather sheepish). They made him show him the contents of his wallet, and by the looks of it he had done rather well. It looked like they were doing more than just sending him on his way with a scolding too.

We spent some time shopping and looking for a particular English bookshop, but by the time we got there it had closed. We did get to Tescos though. I always like to look at the fish departments where we are, just to see if they have anything unusual, and to check to see if in fact the water is dead. Although around here, you do wonder where the fish come from, just as you would wonder who would buy the whole shark (2 meters long) that was on display at the fish counter.

Like I have said previously there are more walking tours than you can shake a stick at, but there are also other means of transport for your tour as well. There is the bus, horse and cart, segway, or a variety of old vintage and classic cars. The one that caught my eye was a purple 1964 Skoda two door convertible in a ‘slap you in the face with a wet fish’ purple. Brilliant! The owner proudly told us that it was the first of the Skoda sports cars, and I didn’t think that they made any. We were on our way up to the castle otherwise we would have been tempted to go for a ride, just to see how sporty it really was. However we did have time to pause for a ‘beer to go’. Somehow it still seems strange to be joining the throngs, wandering the streets with a beer in hand in the middle of the day. But with the Pilsner selling for 30 Kn (2.50 NZD) and the fruit juice across the road at 80 Kn for half the quantity, it was an easy choice.

We finally made it to the castle for a wander around after many delays. Well they call it a castle but it is more the size of a good sized town in its own right. Complete with guards at the gates. Guards, unsmiling in their impeccable pale blue uniforms. What is it about palace guards that makes people want to stand next to them to have their photo taken? We did have a smile though when one dad and mum were telling their three small kids to go and hold the hand of the guard. Well they did, they grabbed his hand and started shaking it around. After the guard had had quite enough of that he thumped his rifle end on the ground quite forcefully and the kids ran screaming back to mum and dad, and didn’t stop until well out of earshot. Under that stoic exterior, I bet that guard was laughing his pants off.

St Vitus’s Cathedral, inside the castle grounds, was amazing. Not like the church that we had seen a while ago by the same name at all. The stained glass windows just have to be seen to be appreciated, not just at the head of the alter, but all around the church. A stroll down Golden Lane is also a must. A row of very small, brightly coloured houses built initially to house the guards. But it wasn’t long before these houses became the home of the Goldsmiths of the time (hence the name). These days they house book shops and the like, that flog their wares to the thousands of tourists that flock through. Despite that it is very cool.

As we were walking out through the gardens we heard the sounds of a wedding band in progress. What a great setting for a wedding. We sat for a while to look at the view and listened to the sounds of ‘It’s a beautiful world’, Michael Jackson, and Sade. We finished the day fighting our way back across Charles Bridge, through Wenceslus Square and home.