Catching the train to Prague was fun. I was expecting to have 4 and a half hours to read my new book, but ended up spending 4 and a half hours chatting to two Americans and two Brits.
We swapped travel stories, as you do, and marvelled at the number of freaks in Europe who follow you around.
I found I barely noticed the changing countryside because i was so caught up in the conversation, or busy being amused at the guys with Eurail passes who didn't realise their passes didn't cover the Czech Republic until the ticket pointed at the passes and said so.

Everyone keeps giving me funny looks and tends to go "wow, aren't you sick of travelling yet?" when i tell them i'm two months through a six month trip. But then they all seem to be travelling for several weeks, or two months at most. And to some degree, I am. I'm kind of getting sick of getting to know new people over a few days or weeks, only to then be on my own all over again with just a few email addresses to keep me company. It's that first day of being alone after having company for a while which bugs me. I'm fine after that. On the upside, at least i can say i haven't been bored and all on my own for the whole time. :) And from time to time i get to meet up with friends again, which is great fun.

Speaking of meeting up with friends, I did meet up with some guys from Amsterdam when in Prague. One from the States, one from Canada. And both proceeded to poke fun at my Aussie accent, attempting to teach me "proper" english. Heh. Good thing we didn't go into spellings. Apparently I seriously mispronounce the word "no" and thus I'd hear this echo of 'noooo' from the two of them every time I said it in conversation to them or even to other people.

The three of us went out on a day trip to the town of Kutna Hora (about an hour away from Prague by train) where there is a church with the bones of 40 000 skeletons, used as decorations. This, let me tell you, is both weird and creepy to see. They have strings of bones hanging like streamers and even a coat of arms fashioned out of them. The central massive chandelier is made using every type of bone from the human body.

Look for yourself:




So yeah, twas a fun excursion to a little town where food was blissfully cheap (i think i paid the equivalent of AU$7 for a very filling meal, including an additional side dish, tea and a coke).

Last night we went on the Worst Guided Tour Ever (TM). It was so bad it was hilarious. Imagine, if you will, that you have just paid decent money for a tour and when you get on it, the tour ends up being primarily in Czech, with the occasional translation into English by the guide. But what she says consists of "on your right is the national theatre", "on your left is the Jewish Quarter" said in the most monotone of voices. Not a funny anecdote in sight, and you get the impression that she'd rather be pulling her nose hairs out with a spoon than be working there. Then, midway through the tour (which was 420 Crown - roughly $20AU), she suddenly says that the next part of the tour costs 50 additional Crown. Surely they should have included this in the price, or at least warned us that there may be additional costs. Grr. I didn't have any cash left for this and had to rely on the goodness of one of my companions to get me into that section of the tour.

Needless to say, don't go on the Prague -" Getting Acquainted" tour if you're ever in this city. In fact avoid the tours put on by the company that runs that in general. Unless you enjoy wasting your money, that is. Not that I'm bitter or anything.

And now I'm just hanging out in Prague for another day on my own due to a brief (I hope) case of extreme idiocy on my part.

This way I get to see more of the seedy underbelly of Prague all on my own. Today's fun adventures involved going down to an internet cafe underneath the main train station, but turning back halfway down the stairs because a bunch of people were sitting across the entire width of the stairs snorting something which didn't look legal. They didn't move across to let me pass, and even yelled at me when i turned back and went back up the stairs. I was later bugged for money and cigarettes by passing bums and had to step over someone sleeping outside the station.

Good fun, huh?

Interestingly, many of the beggars seem to have given up on traditional methods of begging by asking people for money, and kneel on the ground, even putting their heads on the ground, just leaving their hands cupped and outstretched. They just look really tired and frustrated, i guess. But at least they're less intrusive than the ones in Vienna.

I suppose wandering around recently at night has shown me some of the more beautiful aspects of Prague. The buildings are all lit up and make stunning reflections in the water. In the time I've been travelling, Prague is the city where I've most cursed not having a tripod for my camera because the evening shots would just be incredible. I've taken a few and damn, I needed a tripod:





Torture chamber: