18th dec 09 - evening

After Mark had a rest we walked down the road in search of dinner. We found a small restaurant in a row of restaurants near the tram stop and Jo's bar (Restaurant U Kostela). We walked in and we could hear Coldplay. Good music so I thought we would probably get good food. The place was nice and the staff quite friendly. We had a tomato and vegetable soup for starter. It was nice but I bet I could re-create it using a combination of Heinz tins! Then mark had potato gratin and I ordered a Czech dish which consisted of duck breast, pork rib and ham. It came with Czech dumplings and two types of cabbage. The cabbage was like boiled pickled onions! I ate the meat and dumplings but couldn't quite manage to finish the cabbage. We were so full up that we decided to give dessert a miss. halfway through our meal Coldplay was turned off and a Woman started playing the piano. She was playing Christmas songs and what we thought were film theme tunes. Very surreal as we were the only ones in the restaurant.

Observations about Czech dining: MEAT!!! Czechs love meat. It is quite usual to have more than one meat in a dish. Lots of restaurants advertise -'Mixed Grill - three types of meat!' Luckily they accept that there are non meat eaters so most places have a vegetarian menu. The Devil restaurant didn't but after ascertaining that Mark did NOT eat meat or fish they cooked him up a pasta thingy. The Music in all the places we've eaten in so far is either film themes played on a piano or 80's pop music. We find ourselves playing 'name that tune' as we eat! Bread - with every meal you are given bread. Lots of bread of varying shapes colours and sizes. I have never seen so much bread on a table.

19th Dec 09

We went to Prague castle today ( Prazsky Hrad). It was really cold and the walk up the hill was a nightmare. Well, the castle is just above our hotel so it about a 10 min walk but the slippery, icy road made it a chore. The castle is breath taking. I'm not into architecture but even a philistine like me could see the beauty in the buildings. We walked through a a couple of courtyards and then bought tickets for St George's Basilica, Golden lane and the old Palace. We went back to the entrance of the castle to watch the changing of the guard. It was very camp and casual. President Havel changed the ceremony after years of communistic ritual, giving the guards uniforms designed by an Oscar winning costume designer and a fanfare composed by a Czech rock musician.

St. Vitus's cathedral was free so we went in there first. It was stunning! The exterior was stunning enough with it's Gothic spires but the interior was even more stunning. We spent a bit of time in there looking around and taking pictures. The other places were nice but I wished we'd seen them first as they paled in comparison to the Cathedral. Half way through our tour we went to a cafe for some hot wine so we could thaw out a bit. After we had seen everything we wanted to see we made our way back to the hotel. By now it felt like it was minus thirty not minus ten! We went into the Arcadia cafe in the hotel for hot chocolate and strudel as a treat.

We spent a bit of time in the hotel thawing out, Mark having his regular nap and me listening to him snore! We then decided to go to an Italian restaurant we'd passed just a little way up the hill. I ordered pasta and mark ordered pizza. After we ordered they bought us the regulation two ton of bread to have with our soup. We felt we deserved a desert after braving sub zero temperatures all day so I had tiramisu and Mark had strudel. We had a good nights sleep as we planned to visit the Jewish quarter the next day.

17th - First full day in Prague.

We decided to go out and explore today. We went across The Charles Bridge and towards Old Town Square. The bridge was beautiful with lots of statues adorning it (25). There were lots of stalls and artists selling paintings of offering to sketch you. The view from the bridge was stunning. The Old Town square is so pretty. That's where the Christmas market is held and the stalls sell a variety of Chrismassy goods and food. The square has a lovely tree that is decorated with brightly coloured baubles and lights. We hung around in the square for a while drinking hot wine and trying to avoid being accosted by men trying to exchange currency with us! The views from the square were lovely. The town hall houses the Astronomical clock which shows you the state of the universe etc as time passes. Every hour a man stands right at the top and plays a fanfare. He does this from all four sides of the tower and then waves at the crowd - quite a few of them wave back too!

We decided to move on so we tackled the map. Eventually we found the way to Wenceslas Square. Not impressed. There was half a dozen market stalls and loads of nightclubs. It is a shopping area. We went to Marks and Spencer's for a coffee then had a look around C&A's. That was a blast from the past. We eventually wandered back to the old town square and had some more hot wine - the way to ward of the cold apparently, and then back across the Charles bridge. On the bridge we got talking to a young Malaysian boy who studies in England. He was in Prague with his Mum and Dad as part of a European tour he was taking them on. They were a really nice family and we said goodbye after he took our photo with his parents. We went back to the hotel and had a rest then went for dinner at a restaurant just down the road. The theme of the restaurant was devils. There were pictures and models of devils everywhere. We had a fairly nice meal but instead of going for a walk we went straight back to the hotel as it was too cold. Mark had booked a trip to Terezin for early the next morning. Terezin is a fortified town that the Nazis turned into a Jewish concentration camp/ghetto. Given Marks interest in history I'm not surprised he wanted to visit there. I didn't want to go as I thought it would be sad and I don't have the same interest in history as Mark does. We had a fairly early night after eating all the snacks in our room.

Today - 18th

Mark went of on his excursion after breakfast and after stocking up on fruit and snacks I spent an hour in the room staring despondently out of the window at the the snow :( After seeing the status's on fb saying that the UK was suffering from snow I didn't feel too bad. It's very cold here (minus four today) and it is snowing but we are by no means snowed in , so I decided to go out to the Old Town to look in the shops. Before I left I went to the hotel roof garden to have a little look. It's really pretty and will be lovely in the summer when you can sit out there for longer than two minutes without being turned into an icicle!

I walked to the old town being accosted numerous times by people handing out leaflets advertising various carol concerts. The bridge was busier today...loads of tourists and artists - even an organ grinder with his monkey (a toy one unfortunately). I had a look around the shops, going inside whenever I could to defrost. One thing Czech Rep is famous for is it's crystal and glass. There is a crystal or glass shop every few feet! Some of the stuff reminds me of bits and pieces my mum owned in the 70's. Some of it is really nice though albeit a bit pricey. There are lots of jewellery shops too. Garnets and Amber seems to be the stones of choice here...lots and lots of Amber, not my favourite as it looks like nicotine stained glass to me. I was once again accosted by a man trying to by sterling! After a wander around I decided it was time to get some lunch I walked back over the bridge. It's much colder on the bridge as the cold air sweeps in from the river. Half way across I wanted to cry. I couldn't feel my face it was so cold! Even with two pairs of gloves my hands were freezing. I decided to go in Jo's bar - with a name like that it was bound to be great! I was right. I had a hot wine and a chicken sandwich that was actually a huge chicken filled baguette that came with masses of chips and salad. I hurried back to the hotel so I was there when Mark came back. He was meant to be back around threeish but came back at about four thirty. He enjoyed his trip and found it very interesting. We had a chat about our day and decided we'll go out for dinner a bit later. As I write this he is snoring his head off on the bed. HELP! At least at home I can escape from his snoring. Here I'm trapped with it in a hotel room!!!!!

Oh and the young man on the desk said that this winter is much colder than normal and they don't always have snow!

Prague day one.

I was looking forward to this trip and then I realised it would be cold. Even though I knew that nothing could prepare me for how cold it would be.

But first. The journey. Quite a convoluted journey as we could only get a flight with a stop over. I don't mind but Mr. W doesn't fly well - it's the take of and landing that freaks him out. Mmmm...so thats 2 take offs and 2 landings each way - ooops! So there's my big 6ft 1" husband sitting there squeezing my hand with his eyes tightly closed on take off. I looked at the young boy - well kid really - across the aisle and he looked back at me and we burst out laughing!! Poor Mark.

When we got to Prague it had been snowing and I felt a bit traumatised as I don't like snow. We spoke to a lady from Chicago on our flight who was going to stay with her daughter. She bought her daughter over to say hello at the airport. She said that today was the first day of snow. We decided to get a cab to the hotel. The ride was interesting. We went through some pretty grotty areas before we got to the pretty part. It was such a relief to get to our hotel. The hotel is beautiful. We are well pleased with our room. After unpacking and freshening up we decided to go out to eat. We went to a grocery store across the road first. We bought snacks and drinks for the room.

We went to a restaurant a few doors away called the Three Violins (named so because it used to be a violin workshop) The place was beautiful. It was only about 5ish so we were the only ones in there. I decided I would eat Czech style as much as possible. I ordered Czech boiled ham with horseradish - yum yum! Mark had onion soup - Yum yum! I then had sirloin steak and dumplings (Czech style) while Mark had risotto. We finished with Czech pancakes with fruit for Mark and Chocolate ice cream for me. I have never had such a lovely meal before. It was great and we really enjoyed it.

Having eaten like pigs and feeling really full I suggested we go for a long walk. OMG am I mad?? It is so cold here. After 5 mins I realised my hat wasn't adequate and I should have put my leggings on under my jeans. I even jogged for a bit to stop myself from freezing to the spot. All this while Mark was strolling along with his jacket undone and hat off saying "Whats wrong with you? It's not that cold" (Well he is from Leeds!)

I ended up dragging him into a shop to buy a 'deputy dog' hat - you know, the ones with the ears. Snug fit and so much warmer as it covers my ears. Alright, I look like a dick but who cares - the need to avoid frostbite outweighs my vanity! So now I'm in the hotel, already posted my pics, writing this with Mark snoring away in the background! Just watched the weather forecast on CNN and it's snow all around I'm afraid. They reckon London will get it bad on Saturday. It's meant to be -10 here tonight and we are going to get bad snow over the next few days. Think I'll have a shower a go to bed so we can make an early start in the morning.