I actually didn't know very much about Czech... except not to call it Czechslovakia! Some of our Dublin friends are from there, and it is the home of Pilsner Urquell, but that was about it.
So, we arrived in Prague, and found ourselves a hostel. Then we walked to the main square and had a nice relaxing beer, along with the hundreds of other tourists, and dodgy locals trying to sell me drugs the whole time. Dunno what they saw in me.
We also tried a cheese platter, which to tell the truth was pretty disgusting. I'm not a big fan of the softer cheeses (can handle a little bit of Camembert, but anything stronger and no thanks) so it was a bit of a disaster, but you've gotta try these things.
The next morning, we went sightseeing. Ally had already been to Prague before, so it was all for my benefit, but she was happy to come along with me to the castle. You catch a tram up the hill to where the castle looks out over the river and the old town over the river - there are some impressive views. Inside, you pay your money (and a bit extra if you want to take photos - typical...) and go walking all over the complex. Into the towers, up the cathedral, into the crypts, through the museum and along a laneway of old villager-houses (well, soldier houses initially i think - now just a row of shops).
The climb up the cathedral tower was one of many we've done along the way - to us, anything under 200 steps is a bit of a girly tower, 300 and you're in the big league. Some great views over the whole castle and the surrounding city and countryside.
A nice Bohemian meal of duck and dumplings later, we settled into a cozy local bar down through a maze of cellars and passageways for a few very cheap, and VERY nice, Pilsners.
Not far from the base of the castle, you can catch a funicular up a hill, right to where a huge radio tower sits, which (ally wasn't happy to know) you can also climb. So while she sat at the bottom and had a beer I climbed the (forget how many) steps and got an even better view of the whole area. Luckily it was a great day and you could see for miles. Hopefully I can get a nice panoramic photo out of it.
We also went into (another) torture museum. This one took the cake though. I think Ally wasn't feeling the best afterwards. It's amazing how ingenous evil people can be when they are thinking up new ways of making people confess to stuff they didn't do...
Prague is a cool city, everything within walking distance and heaps to see - we could have stayed much longer - but it was time to move on. Time to find a brewery or two and see where the magic happens.
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