Prague (or Praggie!)

Yayyeee!! We were on the train to Prague, or Praggie, which we affectionately call this city.

I wasn't a big fan for trains but oh well, since K's "best" travel agent recommended this mode of transport, guess we just had to trust her. We had a coffee at the station and K bought us sandwiches to be eaten on board the train.

We got onto the train and as expected, we were put into a small cabin with 4 other people! It was so crammed that we can't even stretch our legs! OMG! How would we be able to sit inside this under-ventilated space with 4 other strangers (who blabber on in Spanish or Portugese)?? My kneecaps were going to be sore if I can't stretch them!

In the train, I finished the movie (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) on K's ipad... It was really a stunning movie, well-played by Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem. Splendid movie! Click here for the storyline. And what else to do?? We have about 3 more hours to go... I decided to nap a bit.

When I woke up, everyone in my cabin was gone... I vaguely knew that K told me he was going out to take photos... But I looked around, there was no one! Then, K rushed back and asked if I would be keen to go for a beer at the dining carriage. Oh that was great!! I didn't know we could go to the dining place. They have nice tables and good seats. Why can't we stay there throughout the journey instead of cramming inside the 6-seater cabin??? I felt a bit uneasy to leave our luggage there in the cabin cos there was no lock. But K thought it was fine. Oh well, I guess I can do without my luggage anyway, nothing important in there!

The view from the dining carriage was awesome. We had beer and he ordered a cheese platter. From the look of it, I guess I would not have dinner again cos K would be too full to eat. Oh well, I deserved it anyway, since I was the abnormal one who didn't like such food. :(

Anyway, time passed quickly when we were relaxing in the dining cabin. And in a flash, we will be reaching our Praggie station in about 30min! Wow!!! Hello Praggie!!!

When we reached, we tried to find a taxi but we have no luck. The first few taxis told us that we have to pay them a fixed 300 korunas (about 12 euros) to take us to our B&B. And some taxis told us that they were not interested to take us cos the journey is too short. Damn it!!! :(

So we decided to try taxi stands outside the station. And after waiting for a while, finally we got a taxi who was willing to take us to our place with meter. And sure enough, we reached around 15 min time. And the cost was 200 korunas. LOL... Not much difference but oh well, we felt better with a metered-taxi! :)

And I loved the apartment!!! Click here for the photos cos I was too lazy to take photos! :p Seemed like I love all my accomodations! K has very good taste!

After settling down in Prague, we have the night to spend by ourselves. We had booked 2 tours for tomorrow - Morning Segway tour and night tour with a river cruise. We went to catch the tram to Old town to hang around. It was quite sunny when we reached Prague that afternoon and thus, K was fooled by this. He thought the weather would remain like that at night. But no! The weather was getting colder as night fall. And he only have a jumper!!! LOL!

We walked around and we chanced upon a massage parlor and it looked really nice. Too bad that they didn't have available slots for both of us at the moment. So we booked for tomorrow 3pm. We really needed a massage badly cos both of us had gone through a long way from London!!!

As we reached Charles bridge, I got a nasty experience! There was many people and while I was trying to cross the red-light, a guy walking from opposite direction suddenly stick out his hand and touch my pussy! OMG! I got a shock. It was so fast and he walked away while I turned around to see. K walked up to me and he noticed the man walking to close to brushing me. I told him that he molested me! OMG! This was horrible! I wished the man would meet with a terrible accident where his hands were cut-off by some trailers! LOL.. Anyway, such things happened and I was glad I wasn't being mobbed anyway.

Oh well, we chilled at a nice coffee place before walking to Old Town square. At the place, we went to a Thai massage salon and Oh man... It wasn't that great. It was cheap though but I really didn't enjoy it cos the bed was too uncomfortable and the massage lady was not very experienced. Oh well, I guess in such country, we cannot have too high an expection! Anyway, a lousy massage is definitely better than no massage!

After massage we continued on and we walked along the streets full of food peddlers. Since K was not hungry (as usual) and he was feeling super cold (See, I had told him that he would be cold if he didn't bring his jacket but he didn't listen!), I decided to go find my food. We walked into a restaurant and was upset that they were closed (it's only 8pm!). Luckily we went to another restaurant and they were opened! Yayeee!! I had my pasta while K had his salad.

After proper food, as usual, K loved to snack and we bought the traditional cinnamon rolls. We were very intrigued by the baking method and the roll was so nice, warm and fresh from the baking! Simply loved it. We decided to catch the same tram number 9 back to our apartment but hey! We realized we got onto the wrong tram (I had to sprint at least 50m to catch this tram and this is the wrong one?!?! Damn!!) We were in the wrong direction so I thought we could just drop off and cross over to the other direction to catch the right tram. But K was very certain that there would not be any other trams from the opposite direction. I was puzzled... Why? I always took the wrong bus or train and I just need to alight and get over to the opposite station, no?

Anyway, we dropped off at somewhere (not sure where we were!) and after some attempts to look at the maps, we decided to just catch the taxi! I think K was getting too cold and he didn't want to wander around in the cold. So we did just that and got back home safe and sound! :)

The next morning, we took the same tram to meet our Segway tour guide and we were surprised that there were only 2 of us! Woooo... Strange! :) Anyway, this Segway tour guide, called Dominic was a young chap, basically not so good at showing us the places. But he was really good on the Segway. He took us through difficult areas (up and down the hills, into the parks, and into crowded places!) I was soooo scared of falling cos the roads were much more stoney than Berlin. And we are not allowed to segway on the roads here (different from Berlin). So we had to segway on narrow pathways with people all over. I came so closed to running over a man's feet! Scary!!! But it was great fun. We saw quite a lot of sights, including Petrin tower (that looked like Effiel tower), TV tower (voted world's most ugly tower), Astronomic clock, cathedrals, Jewish area, etc.

After the Segway tour, we went to a vegetarian restaurant with a very strange concept. It is somehow like a Marche-buffet style. We queue up and pickup our food over the buffet counter and pay the cashier. Just when we were queueing up to pay, K was eating his pizza while queuing and the lady behind him actually told him off! Then we realized that the cashier will WEIGH our plates to determine how much to charge us! LOL!!! OMG! This is soooo unconventional! So if K continue to eat his pizza, his plate will be lighter and he would be "cheating"! It was sooooooo funny!!!!

The lady behind him must be regulars and passionate about this restaurant. If not, come on, who cares who cheats??? LOL... Anyway vegetarian food is not my fav and I was feeling miserable. And look around! Most of the patrons here looked lonely and miserable too! Don't they!!! :p

Anyway, after food, we decided to take a walk and catch a metro to see the legendary "Dancing Building"... This building was amazing! How can such a structure still be standing tall and sturdy!!! It looked like it would collapse any moment!!! :)

After that, we catch a cab to go back to Old Town square. But along the way, we saw a brand that K was looking for "Leeda". So we quickly stopped the cab and got off to visit this boutique. But quite disappointing actually. The boutique was small and mainly selling women clothings. And the shop Batas (owned by the same group I think) was closed in Prague. K was soooo disappointed. :(

Anyway we catch another cab and reached Charles Bridge where we decided to rest and catch a beer. It was a sunny afternoon and great for some walking! So we decided to go for a bar crawl before our night tour at 7pm. Anyway, we didn't really "crawl" a lot, just one mojito at a nice comic bar. This comic bar was cool and it featured a legendary Prague comic artist (who was in coma since 2006 due to an accident). We went up to the gallery and the comics drawings were amazing!

Anyway, we walked around after our mojitos and actually I was in the mood for more drinks but we had not much time left. We only had barely an hour before our tour and we decided to get Chinese food with wine... The waitress was damn blur and not very good with her English. Well, we were not that hungry, so we ordered a plate of noodles and a tofu to share. I met a Taiwanese mom with her home-schooled daughter at the restaurant. They were already here for 2 weeks! OMG! :)

After dinner, we rushed over to the same tour agency (as our segway tour) and was once again surprised that it was just 2 of us. Oh well, all the better, we can have the tour guide to ourselves! The tour guide arrived and he was a young good-looking chap. Cannot remember his name though! LOL... As he was blabbering on about some history about Praggie buildings, I was already day-dreaming... LOL! Anyway it was nice to hear some history regarding this old place. Nice! And oh well, the river cruise was BORING! Basically we can't see much cos it was too cold to go onto the top. Waste of time!!! :(

Anyway, we walked with our tour guide to the metro station and reached home. I was quite disappointed cos I expected more mojitos and I wanted to try Absinth too. :( Oh well, K was afraid that we might get lost again so it was best that we take the metro together with our tour guide so that we can be guaranteed to reach home. I guess he was right... But I missed having drinks at night. :(

Oh well, for the next day, we only have half-day till 4pm. We decided to visit the Prague castle and the ugly TV tower. I nearly died climbing up the stairs to the top of the clock tower!!! If only I knew it was such a narrow and rounded steps, I would never want to go in! I was panting so hard and I really thought I could not do it anymore and thoughts of turning back down actually came to me many times! But K was already zooming right up to the top and I guess I had to follow him!

The view from the tower was amazing! I felt so happy to be right on top! And all the hardship of climbing more than 250 steps was worth it! LOL... But of course I would not want to do it again. Duh!!! Hahah!

We took a short walk into St Vitus Cathedral and took some photos. We did not want to pay to go for the full tour, just not worth it.

After the visit to Prague castle, we decided to take the metro to the TV tower for lunch, which was near our apartment. But after we got off the train station, we saw a small happening Vietnamese cafe, which looked pretty attractive to us. So we decided to go for Vietnamese street food instead of spending big money on restaurant at the TV tower.

After food, we proceed to the TV tower and I loved the climbing babies! The babies' faces are "barcoded" and this symbolised commercialism and materialism in this model world. Everything is barcoded in this world and this is what the artist wanted us to reflect on.

The view from the TV tower were great but it didn't really wow me. I loved the cosy "pod" room instead. There were many hanging chairs for people to chill. And I was so comfortable that I didn't want to leave!

Oh well, all good things must come to an end, so we decided to make our way back to the apartment and prepare to go to the airport. Before reaching our apartment, we decided to try the bubble-tea. I didn't know Prague has bubble tea!! So unconventional! But the teas were okok... Nothing special...
This marked the end of our Prague trip....

Bye Prague... Although it was such a small stay, I will remember you always.


And Hello Zurich next!!! :)