euro trip day 8 - prague day one
July 31st, 2008 by shinzu
To get to Amsterdam to Prague we booked airfare through www.skyeurope.com. Amazingly, our flight was a dollar, with like 29 dollars in taxes and surcharges. We woke at 4:30am to take a walk to the Amsterdam CS train station.
On the way to the train station we saw someone getting arrested which was somewhat interesting.
We took the train at the main station to Schipol Airport which was only around 15 minutes away. Here you see my breakfast and part of a future lunch.
Schipol airport is one of the nicest airports I’ve been to.
Interesting patterns
We pretty much chilled at the airport while for our flight. No problems fortunately at the airport.
Our airplane. A boeing 737.
Upon arriving in Prague, the first thing we had to do is to figure out how to get from the airport to the city. We eventually figured out we had where to buy bus passes and went in the bus. When Rob and I went in the bus, Pete and Ben were stuck outside and our bus was going to leave! In a panic I told the bus driver our friends was outside, and it seemed like he was going to leave without them, but he flagged them to go in the back of the bus. Sort of a scary moment there. Sorry, no pictures for this since this was a bit of a disaster situation. This is a pic of the hallway of an apt we rented.
For our accommodations in Prague, we rented out an apartment flat for 3 days. The apartment was REALLY nice.
Pic of the bathroom
Shower
Living area
Dining area
Bedroom
Video of the apt
The first stop was Old Town Square. There is some famous astronomical clock or something. I forgot the real significance of it.
Arrival in prague video
More pics of the old town area
Janus something memorial. One of the people who helped usher the protestant movement to Prague
Trying to imitate the sign. Unfortunately Ben isn’t a midget so it is sort of hard to pull off.
Its Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars
Architecturally, Prague is quite beautiful in its ability to keep in good condition its really old buildings.
St. Mary behind a church.
Some statue
Inside St Nicolas church. By this time we are sort of church’ed out so we went through it quickly.
Chandelier
I have NO IDEA what this is supposed to be
In old town they had several really expensive shops
One thing we noticed in Prague was that their streets are made up of cobblestone. They makes for painful feet at the end of the day.
Old town is basically like a square block of their town. Here they are preparing for the euro cup matches to be played on tv.
Before coming, I read up on stuff about Prague online, and people recommended to go to this gelato place.
All the flavors
It was SO GOOD. I am constantly seeking the best pistachio gelato.
The next stop would be slightly north to the Jewish Quarter. Unfortunately most of the places were closed due to Jewish holidays.
Jewish town exploring video
Picture of a synagogue
Throughout Prague, they kept advertising the Museum of Torture (which we didn’t go to).
Pic of the Charles Bridges which divides the two sides of Prague
Walking along the river
Chinese restaurant. And I’m happy to say we had no Chinese food in Prague.
The colonel is everywhere! And I’m sure our western exports will make everyone fat.
A pretty cool way of covering up construction.
In front of some music concert hall
In the background is Prague castle
A ufo in the background
Through the Prague trip, people who will remained unnamed kept taking hidden shots of pretty girls on the street.
Another nice pic of the bridge
For Charles River there are only two passes points to cross to the other side, which is called ‘mala strana’ and ‘castle district’
Another western export.. sex in the city
Ben showing off his Czech Crowns. So even though the Czech Republic is in the European Union, it hasn’t done a currency conversion yet. To say at the least, Prague seemed as expensive as western europe anyways with the US dollar’s crappy conversion.
Dinner time! Also when looking through nytimes.com site on Prague, I saw this restaurant (Cerny Kohout) highly rated. At dinner time, we were hella hungry, but I was insistent on going to this particular restaurant.
Good ol’ beer. Cheaper than water. Seriously.
Appetizer course.
Video of first course
Picture of the inside of the restaurant
Prague’s beer of choice. Pilsner Urqell
Main course: Duck confit
Ben’s main course: Veal
Rob’s main course: Lamb
Closer snapshot of the lamb
Closer snapshot of the lamb
Group pic
Main course review. I have to say.. this food was amaaaaaaaazing.
Here is the address if you ever want to go.
At night, we chose to take a stroll along the Charles River.
So while walking along the river, this group of girls kept giggling at us. They eventually asked if we wanted a group pic, and we said sure. We ended up befriended them for the night which was cool. They are all masters students in Indonesia.
One side of the bridge
Gq posing
Video of the Charles River
Every night I would write down my experience of what happened that day into a journal I brought. It ended up being really helpful because later on I would forgot many small details.
The apt had wireless so the guys were able to use Ben’s and my phone to go on.
Pic of the outside.