Reflections

This morning we left Prague - all too soon and my second visit has only increased my hunger for this fabulous city. Rightly so it is called the Paris of the East.

While the Black Eagle hotel has THE prime position in the Lesser Town, that is about all that it has. The rooms are hot - almost unbearably, they do have airconditioning but only in the 3rd floor rooms and no lift! It is billed as a non-smoking hotel, but staff stand at the front door puffing away as though their very lives depended on it. And you would swear that the surly young lass serving breakfast is paying for it out of her own pocket the way she doles out the limited supplies. All that said however, the reception staff were very obliging and the rooms are large and otherwise comfortable. Not sure if we would stay here again. But can't beat the location!

Its a sort walk to the car and this morning my calf muscles are screaming at me! After all, yesterday what went up (us in the funicular) had to come down and we did it by foot over some pretty steep and rough terrain. But the further we walk, the looser they get!

The Terezín Memorial is only about 45 minutes from Prague. Given what we learned (when we were at the Jewish Museum the other day) of the Jews from Prague being 'relocated' here in this ghetto established by the nazis, it seemed fitting that we come here before we drive over to Poland and to Oświęcim. The drive out is all on the motorway and pretty ho-hum. It was interesting to see suburban Prague - by comparison with other places we have seen recently, it is a tidy and pleasant city. Once we are out of the city proper and in to the semi-rural areas surrounding Prague we are amazed at the level of pollution. Not only can you see it, you can smell it. The air has that burning, rubbery metallic smell so symbolic of industrial places.

The town of Terezín has had a chequered past. Emperor Josef II founded this town at the end of the 18th century as a fortress; still surrounded by its massive ramparts, the town lies at the confluence of the rivers Labe (Elbe) and Ohře (Eger). The Main and Small Fortresses at Terezín, although the modern for their period, gradually became obsolete, and having lost their military function fell into disregard.

In the course of World War II the town was used as a "model" concentration camp for Jews from all over Europe, and the Small fortress served as a prison for the Prague Gestapo. The 5,000 odd residents of the town were forced to leave during the Nazi occupation of their homeland. In their place, over a period of 4 years more than 140,000 Jewish prisoner passed. Their story is tragic and told very movingly at the Memorial today. Click on this link to get a better picture.

How horrified the people of Prague must have been to arrive in such a place. Now, the town of Terezín is quite nicely laid out in an ordered grid around the central town square with its fountain and garden. But as nice as it might have looked, it would have been a far cry from the civilised, refined and lively arts scene that was Prague. Those transferred to this town now set up as a ghetto (n; A usually poor section of a city inhabited primarily by people of the same race, religion, or social background, often because of discrimination) had to walk the final 3½ miles from the train station - many of the old and infirm did not survive this hike.

Two quotes on a wall titled A Day in the life of a Terezín prisoner heightened the horror of life in this place for me:
"The bread has been stale recently. You get used to everything, even the repugnant and ghastly things"
"There's an entire orphanage here. I helped out at the sluice gate with children from L318. Some of them still don't even know how to talk properly, two or three years old, with transport numbers hanging around their necks and Waisenkind (orphan) written in pencil."

Oh, the children. Why the children?? In all, 63 transports left Terezín for the East, carrying a total of more than 87,000 individuals; of these only 3,800 would see liberation. The fate of the children of Terezín was equally tragic; of the 7,590 youngest prisoners deported, a mere 142 survived until liberation. Only those children who remained for the whole period at Terezín had any really chance of being saved; on the day of liberation, Terezín contained some 1,600 children aged 15 or under.

But maybe one of the most horrific things about Terezín was that the nazis actively used it to film propaganda showing how well the Jews were settling into their new 'lives' in the ghetto. Fake concerts and performances, sporting games etc were all staged and helped to hide the true brutality of the regime from the rest of the world for a time. Today, there are very limited opportunities to take photos - maybe one way of ensuring that never again can the town be so manipulated.

Our time here was limited to 2½ hours, but this was plenty. And although there was lots we did not get to see, it gave us the beginning of the picture that we will complete tomorrow. Not a nice picture at all either. Oh, and guess who we ran in to? Small world - we met up again with Tony, our guide from the boat cruise on the Vltava River. He seemed hurt that we would be here with another tour company but brightened considerably when we told him we had driven up ourselves!

We pass through the aptly named town of Hrdly - blink and you are sure to have completely missed it. The next small town though we can't remember the name has a most impressive church and about half a mile away, a smaller version as a chapel with another smaller chapel beside it. Faith must have been one of the few sources of pride here for a long time.

So then we are back on the road, headed for Oświęcim in Poland. We need to follow the fastest route because we have delayed our start today by coming to Terezín. So it is on the motorways all the way, skirting through the edges of Prague and even Brno. Boring sort of driving and part way, I get Michael to take over the driving as I am in danger of falling asleep. So he drives and I sleep and after about 2 hours we swap again and Michael sleeps as I drive. It is almost a 6 hour trip.

As we get nearer to Poland, the landscape gets hillier. And while there are still large tracts of land being farmed, there is now more trees on the hills. A nice contrast to the vast open spaces we have seen recently. The towns are more nestled at the foot of the hills and are much more compact. There are still a lot of sunflowers in the fields and hay - heaps of it. It is surprising to see the high yield from the land - lots and lots of large hay bales tell the story.

As soon as we reach the border with Poland it all changes. I did not expect to see the border areas looking so tired and abandoned. Sure, with membership of the EU there are no formal border controls any longer, but the infrastructure could be put to great use as a welcome area for tourism. But no, it is vacant and vandalised and overgrown. And almost right on the border, the road deteriorates - badly!

Poland near the border looks more like Slovakia than the Czech Republic. It seems that the country is still trying to throw off the shackles of its history and the occupation by others. Buildings are grey and grubby and tired. It looks like little has been done to keep them modern. And so the collective individual houses mean that the towns too look dated and past their prime. And did I mention the roads - honest to god, much of the main road is like a goat track. There is some work being done, but it does not seem to be with the same sense of urgency that many of the other European roads are - there is little equipment around and what is, is quite antiquated. We come across yet another long line of traffic trying to negotiate road works, only to get to the bottle neck finally and find that the deck of a bridge has hit the road underneath (a clover leaf). It looks as it is being demolished deliberately, but you have to wonder!

And so we reach Oświęcim, coming in to the town passed the former Auschwitz concentration camp site - so we know where to come tomorrow. We drive through the town noting that there are quite a few other sites we could see including a medieval castle and the market place - I suspect there won't be enough time though. At first we drive straight passed our hotel, but soon realise and turn back to reach it. It appears that they are in the process of adding an additional building to the complex.

The Hotel Galicja is modern and very nicely appointed with eating areas in the garden, three restaurants (we think that they must do a lot of functions here as well as be one of the better restaurants in town) as well as the accommodation. Our room is large and airy, air-conditioned and with a window that opens to the garden. A nice change. Shame about the mosquitoes! We choose to eat at their Polish Restaurant - we have the choice of all in our Dinner, Bed and Breakfast deal. The Restauracja Stara Poczta (the Old Post Offivce Restaurant) is lavishly set out and very classy. For those on the DBB deal they have four set menus to choose from! We settle on the following: Zupa (Soup):
Zupa pomidorava z ryżem (Tomato soup with rice whitened with sour cream) Michael
Żurek staropolski zabielany (Old Polish traditional soup) Maria
Danie glówne (Main course):
Filet a kurczaka z grilla z ziemniakami i zestawem surówe (Grilled chicken fillet served with potatoes and salad) Michael
Kotlet schabowy nakapuście z ziemniakami (Pork chop served with potatoes and fried cabbage) Maria
Deser (Dessert):
Szarlotka z bitą śmietaną (Apple pie with whipped cream) Michael
Sernik z bitą śmietaną (Cheesecake with whipped cream) Maria
The meals were truly delicious and freshly chef prepared - no packet stuffs here!

Back to our room where we catch up with all the kids on Skype. James leaves home after a short visit today to go to see his 'best friend ever, Chelsea' in Adelaide before going up to Darwin to stay with Antony, Amanda and Bella for a little while. Gen, of course, is staying in Maryborough - keeping Harry company.

My feet are killing me, but my heart is singing

Another huge day here in Prague. After walking a total of 4.55 kms yesterday, we slept really well (and even with the fan on!) and rose a little earlier this morning. Breakfast is a repeat of yesterday, although much less busy - there is only one other couple and us eating. The lass serving breakfast could do with a very healthy dose of cheer - she is only happy when we say thank you and goodbye. Yes, the tourist season is busy, and yes some of them can be demanding, but gee, if you choose to work in the hospitality industry is it asking too much for you to be a little hospitable??

Prague is very definitely the City of Towers. While I put the finishing touches on the blog for yesterday (and agonize over which photos to add), Michael takes a walk over the bridge to go up the Old Town Tower and brings this photo amongst others - isn't it fab!
My feet are bearing up remarkably well and I can't believe how easy it is to put my shoes on again this morning! We head out and almost as soon as we reach the street, I spy a porcelain shop across the road. I have been keeping an eye out for something small to buy as a reminder of our time here in Prague and finally, a few shops further down, I spy it. There in amongst all the china plates and mugs and servers are some large ceramic buttons in my favourite colour of blue and white and once inside I also find some amazing small ceramic bells for our christmas tree. I buy a trinket or three and Michael takes them back to our room as we know it is going to be a long day.

We are headed the opposite direction to yesterday - through the Lesser Town up to the Castle and back. The Lesser Town has been least changed through recent history of any of the areas of Prague. We start by walking up to the Lesser Town Square and its dominant building the Church of St Nicholas with its stunning domed roofs. And like many of the churches we have seen recently, this is an ornate baroque church. Now, at the risk of offending some with a little history . . . On second thoughts, read how there came to be some many baroque buildings here! One of the artistic merits of the baroque era is the use of cheaper materials with elaborate decorations so that at first glance they appear to be something else. This includes stucco work, faux marble and trompe l'oeils. So these vast caverns of marble and gold are not quite what they seem! There are a lot of people in here and again I am hot, hot, hot. Thankfully I have my little Chinese folding fan with me.

Back out in the Square we turn to follow the advice of two locals. Karim, our waiter at dinner on Saturday and Tony, our guide on the boat cruise last night who both suggested that we get out of the city and up to the Petřín Gardens by taking the funicular train. And so we head south in the searing midday heat to catch it up the hill. And thank god we did - there was no way I was going to walk up that slope! Now not only are the gardens an oasis of peace and quiet and beauty in the city, they afford a remarkable view back over the whole of inner Prague. Ah yes, there is definitely merit in asking the locals for a non-tourist tip! There are a few tourists here, but many more locals enjoying this little haven. The rose garden (the youngest of the gardens) was established in 1932 and is truly beautiful for all the senses as these are fragrant roses. We sit in the shade enjoying an ice cream for a few moments and watching the butterlies dancing in pairs and the bees busily buzzing about their daily tasks.

And while I finish my ice cream, Michael goes around to the Observatory, also located in the Gardens. And another of the wonders here - to add to a maze, a mirror hall and led horse rides for the kids - is that it is home to an observation tower that resembles the Eiffel Tower! Up 299 steps for spectacular views. Hah, they are great (and free) down on the ground from up here!

From here we want to walk around to the Prague Castle and St Vitus Cathedral. IT IS ALL DOWNHILL - steep paths and steps, lots and lots of steps. Oh, my poor hip. Thank god for the drugs! The walk takes us through shaded wooded areas as well as sculptured gardens. Some of the paths are covered in a fine yellow powder - pollen and crushed petals from a stand of trees.

We get glimpses one minute of the city below us, and then the next of the castle around on the ridge to our left in the next minute. Truly a lovely place and it is easily understandable why the locals love it. So far today is the exact opposite of yesterday - calm and cooler (now we are in the gardens) and with much fewer people around. A nice contrast, but we know that all of that is about to change!

For now we have reached the last climb up to Pražský hrad (Prague Castle). There is a steep slope of 200 m where we are jostling with the elbow of many others - back to earth with a thud! There are followers with their leaders and their silly flowers, and families, and couples young and old and the backpacker groups. There are walkers, and bikers and prammers! And we are either headed up to, or down from a castle that looks so amazing from its city below.

Once we are through the ornate gates, Michael goes to get tickets and manages to snap part of the changing of the Guard - with a cheeky young lady in tow! Our first stop once we have paused to take in the size of the first courtyard is St Vitus Cathedral. Entry into this gothic masterpiece is free attesting to the huge number of people wandering through it. Wow, it is amazing! Quite dark inside but probably because the stained glass windows are full of intense colours and they let little unfiltered natural light through. There is a Rose Window that is as nice as any of them we have seen anywhere. And then there are the amazing early artworks preserved on the walls. The pews are all roped off - presumably in an effort to keep people moving! We keep moving, trying to stay ahead of a group with a very loud Spanish guide.

Our ticket covers us for three restricted areas of the Castle grounds - the Old Royal Palace, St. George's Basilica, and the Golden Lane with Daliborka Tower. And while this doesn't sound all too much, please take note that the Cathedral is at one end of the complex and the Golden Lane at the other end with our other visit spots between the two. And this complex? Well, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Prague Castle is the largest coherent castle complex in the world, with an area of almost 70,000 m²!

And where the Cathedral was jam packed with people, the other areas are much much quieter - well, you do need to pay 250 CZK (€10) each to get in to them! I won't go on too much about them other than to give a brief description:
The Old Royal Palace was used for royal state ceremonies most recently and dates back to the 12th century. It has a fantastic view from its balcony right over the City and River.
St George's Basilica has an imposing facade because of the gorgeous red colour it is painted. Inside it is much calmer than the nearby Cathedral. It contains a wealth of history and its existence pre-dates the cathedral by a couple of hundred years. Today, only the foundations of this early church remain (still visible) with much of what is now there being also built in the 12th century.
The Golden Lane originated after the construction of the northern wall of the Castle. The area of the northern bailey was used for the building of modest dwellings, which are now the last remainder of the small-scale architecture of Prague Castle. They were inhabited by the castle servants, perhaps goldsmiths (the name "Golden Lane" is documented from the 16th century] and the castle marksmen.
And the tower was built and used as a prison and contains macabre instruments of medieval torture - I can only hope they were never used for real!

We are both pretty knackered by now and are both very hungry. So on our way out of the complex into the greater castle compound we see a sign for Lobkowicz Cafe that advertises a panoramic view terrace. Sure the view would be one of the best from the site - if it weren't for the trees! Still we do get glimpses. And lunch, though late, is very tasty. We just opt for something light - sandwiches - Tomato, Mozarella and Pesto for Michael and Prague ham, brie and spinach for me. Both toasted and we ended up sharing half each. Served with chips and salad - translated this means potato chips (crisps) and coleslaw! Tonic water - 2 bottles each finished it.

It is now after 6 pm. We head back down (yes, still more down, still more steep paths and steps) to the city below, walking through the Saint Wenceslas Vineyard and the classicist summer house Villa Richter. Its been a ripper of a day, although a long and arduous one for my hip. Am still surprised how well it is holding up! And no complaints from me!!

We walk back through the Lesser Town from near the Mánesův most (bridge) around to the Charles Bridge. The streets are a little quieter here, but then I guess most of the locals have headed home for the day. Of course, once we get back to the area around the bridge then we hit that people wall again!

About 8:30 pm Michael heads out to get some night pics and to take a walking tour - The Ghost Tour of Prague. He needs to head back across the bridge and in to the Old Town to the meeting point. Tour guide was good he says, but really, a little too corny for his taste - nothing like the fabulous one he did in Edinburgh! But a nice photo of Our Lady Before Týn by night as well as a few others.

So Prague comes to an end. We have managed to see heaps in a rushed two days, but have just scratched the surface. This is a city you could spend your life in and still not uncover all its secrets! And those towers, guess by now we might have seen maybe 10% of the official ones, but lots of unofficial ones as well. Tomorrow we head for Poland.

Yesterday: 4.55 kms walked, Today: 5.6 kms walked !

The City of 100 towers - and we saw many of them

Prague - ahh, for those who have been here, just the mere mention of the name paints the most wonderful pictures in your head. And an apology right up front - there is no way I am going to be able to put enough photos on the blog today to really do this city justice.

Our room is incredibly hot. Although it opens onto a courtyard, it is enclosed, so there is no way for fresh air to come in to the room. We have quite a powerful fan, but it is too noisy to sleep with it going! Still, sleep we do - until after 9am. Then it is a rush to get to breakfast before it is cleaned away at 10 am. Breakfast is limited, but ok. We probably could have done without it seeing that we ate so late last night, but we need something in our bellies to start what will be a big day.

Another Skype video call from Amanda and Antony and Bella this morning. I love having them back home - we missed the contact while they were travelling. They are all very talkative and full of news! Bella is a delight the way she just chats on and on and on as though I am sitting there with her - gosh, technology can be wonderful! She has just had a bath and is one happy little chappy!!

We set off to cross the bridge back to the Old Town this morning. The sky has cleared from overcast earlier and now it is a beautiful sunny day with whispy high cloud promising a little breeze. As soon as we leave the front door of the hotel, we hit a wall of people. Gosh, there are so many tourists in Prague at the moment. We first go to the Touristika Information in the Lesser Town Bridge Tower seeking information on cruises, walks and a map. They are surprisingly unhelpful, can't supply a map in English and don't make tour bookings for private companies - gee they are missing out on a lot of commission here, judging by the number of people who walk our of their office dissatisfied.

And so on to Karlův Most or to the unitiated, Charles Bridge. Now only a pedestrain way, this important link between the Old Town and the Lesser Town was not all that long ago used by vehicles as well. This damaged the structure and today there are massive works underway to repair and strengthen the bridge and clean it up at the same time. In fact, if you type Charles Bridge, Prague into Earth Google, then the resulting image will show you the massive canopy that is presently over the work site!

There are 30 statues or groups of statues along the length of the bridge. While not the originals (which are safely housed in the Lapidary) these replicas certainly look old. As the bridge work progresses, they too are being repaired and cleaned. One task I set myself for today was to get a photo of each. Most I manage without the interference of people, but there are just a few that I had to take with some stubborn mutt or rudely 'oblivious' or uncaring git in them.

Eventually we clear the tide of humanity and get to the Old Town side, passing through the Old Town Bridge Tower. First stop is the St. Francis Church just over the bridge. There is an Organ recital here each night for the next few nights and so to get in to have a look, you must run the gauntlet of the ticket sellers. Still, they are not overly pushy and we get in to take a look. And now I am hit with the first of the serious hot flushes of the day - egads! The church is typically baroque, lots of art works and gilt. And did I mention hot?!! And just outside, we get the first of heaps of panoramic shots across the Vltava River to the Castle.

From here we mean to go to the Old Town Square, but in Prague it's almost impossible to walk in a straight line - and not just because the streets are twisting and turning, but also because you eyes are caught by new things to look at every few steps you take. So we meander to the left and in to the complex known as the Klementium and the Church of St Salvator (Church of the Holy Saviour). This space was once an old Jesuit college and today houses the National Library of the Czech Republic. Interestingly, the Order of the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star (see yesterday's blog) were also involved here! The church although decorated is much whiter and calmer (and cooler!) This complex is amazing with quite a bit of public art in here, including the figure of a little girl with a paper aeroplance sitting high on the corbels of one of the buildings! (That photo will have to wait for the book!) and even more so when we read a plaque that tells us that the Jesuits have been taking climatological measurements here sine 1 January 1775 - one of the longest unbroken records in Europe! This has been a centre of learning for so long.

And given that I am so hot, and I need to put something in my stomach to ensure that the codeine I took this morning doesn't eat into it, we stop in the next small square we come to and have yummy drinks at a Häagen-Dazş franchise. Ooh yeah - great on a warmish day. Thankfully though it is a little cooler than it has been for the last couple of days.

And so we wend our way through narrow back streets passed hundreds if not thousands of souvenir shops - crystal, marionettes, jewellers, and soon find ourselves coming in to the Old Town Square. We enter this impressively large square passing in front of the Old Town Hall that is almost 700 years old! It is an amazing building made all the more so by the Astronomical Clock that faces the street. Anyone who has seen my photos taken during our trip here in 2006 will know that this piece of artisitic engineering is so beautiful! I got a fantastic photo back then, and today too we get more!! By the time we get here it is 2:20 pm and the figures will not appear for another 40 minutes - and that explains how it is that we can easily walk past - the crowds have not gathered again yet. So we keep moving.

The Old Town Square is enormous with restaurants, cafés and souvenir shops all jostling for the prime positions looking out to the square. It is crammed with people and there are lots of groups 'following the leader' - that is their tourist guide, with umbrella or silly looking flower held high in the air. The Japanese particularly are funny to watch - they scurry along looking worried - as though being parted from their guide will result in some horrible torture! And people from all walks of life walk by us - from the Jewish rabbi to the Catholic monk.

We are starting to rack up photos of the 100 towers of Prague by now. In fact if you take into account the numerous towers on some of the residential buildings then I think that the true figure is closer to 1000. But if you want to see more of them, I have provided the link - just be warned, that once you start to look, you will need hours to work through them all!!! And sure, there are similarities between some of them, but overall it is amazing to be looking up and seeing such beauty. Michael is claiming a crick in the neck by now. Perhaps two of the more amazing ones (as if you could choose) are those on the Church of Our Lady before Týn, another of Prague's most recognizeable landmarks. Today, one of the towers is shrouded by scaffolding, but it cannot diminish the beauty of this edifice. And although it dominates the space, it is actually set back behind a row of commercial buildings.

And so we continue to explore. In and out of buildings and small streets and smaller alleys. And we have almost 600 photos from yesterday to lay testament! One place that I really wanted to see was the Jewish museum in the area known as Josefov or the Jewish Quarter. The stories of the Jewish people in Prague is one of those horror stories from our recent past. At the outbreak of WWII there were almost 94,000 Jews living in Prague. The Nazi regime moved almost all to a ghetto camp set about 45 minutes away in the former Small Fortress in Terezín and from here many were then transported to concentration or other camps. In all, 80,000 of these people died under the oppression by the nazis. In the Pinkas Synagogue built in the early 1500s, the names of all these 80,000 victims are incribed on the walls. How powerful a memorial. Done to ensure that these people without a grave will never be forgotten. It is a frightening thing to see all those names written. And shameful. Please God, that we never ever let something like this ever happen again. Obviously we cannot take photos here. But I will never lose the picture in my mind.

Once through this Synagogue, the tour of the Museum continues through the Jewish cemetery, the Ceremonial meeting hall, the Spanish Synagogue and the Old-New Synagogue that was built in the 1700s! We see all but the Spanish Synagogue. In fact, the Jews had always been encouraged to live in an enclave and so the cemetery is in face 4 and in some places 10 burial spaces deep - meaning that the tombstones are jammed in. And there are way more bodies buried than there are tombstones!

Now, I am not only physically tired, but mentally and emotionally too.
It is time to move on and we walk down the most expensive street in Prague (and 15th most expensive in the world) with the shops of the likes of Chanel, Prada and Louis Vuitton lining the footpath. Interestingly, the footpaths are not in as good condition here as in many other areas! Back to the Old Town Square we head. Its almost 4:30 pm and time we had something to eat, so we find a square-side table at one of the cafés - the Restaurant Kamený Stůl where Michael has a Sendvič hovězí, hrandky (Beef sandwich with french fries) and I have Hamburger Praha, hrandky (Hamburger Prague with french fries). They are surprisingly very very good. As we sit eating, the light of the day changes as the sun begins the slow downward slide towards evening. Ah, I could sit here taking photos forever in that changing light!!

So, what to do now? We had wanted to do a river cruise with dinner but too late realise that we should have booked earlier and have not brought the mobile phone with us today. Bugger. We decide to continue with a little more exploring and then go back to the hotel where Michael will do the Ghost Tour of Prague late tonight (10:15 pm!) So off we set again, still walking away from the bridge and our hotel. Hey yes!! There it is. I have managed to navigate around to the Powder Tower that I wanted to show Michael and beside it the Municipal Building with its beautiful canvas painting high on the external facade.
And so now we turn back towards the Charles Bridge and our hotel on the other side. We walk down past the ever present fast food outlets that I will not name (don't want to tarnish the blog!) in a street filled with beautiful buildings with sgraffito and even mosaic tiled murals. But what is this? We have come across another boat tour operator AND they do a combined mini-bus tour and boat cruise (like the other one we were interested in) AND they have spaces tonight AND they leave in 20 minutes - whoo hoo! So we buy tickets and walk back half a block to their departure point.

So at 6:30 pm we find ourselves on a mini-bus with other English and Italian speaking tourists in part of a convoy of 4 mini-buses and off we set. We do a tour of the city for the first hour, seeing many of the sights we have walked today, but others as well - such as Wencelas Square, the Dancing House, the Opera House and other buildings that house more government offices. And then it is on to board the 'Classic River' for our 3 hour cruise on the Vltava River. Dinner was almost totally forgettable - typical hot and cold smorgasbord, but believe me, the trip well up the river well and truly made up for it. We travel up past the weirs through the lock, past the second palace - or what remains of it after a massive gunpowder explosion in the 1800s. We see Prague from a totally different perspective - and it is lovely.

As the day faded and twilight sank over the city, the changing light gave the most beautiful colours to the buildings. And as it deepen, the silohettes became sharper. It is amazing for us two hicks from some little city on another river from across the world to be sitting here and watching this city take on a new life as the night closes in. There are people canoeing and paddle-boating, there are diners in riverside cafés and all around the population scurries to their homes. Absolutely magic. Tony our guide, who speaks four languages fluently and jumps in and out of Czec, English and Italian as though he is dancing some strange lilting dance, is a historian by profession, but his true passion lies in this, sharing the city of his birth that he has returned to, with its visitors.

Night has fully arrived. It is 10 pm when we berth again and on to our minibus for delivery back to our hotels. And we are the first off! So sad, too bad - the Ghost Tour will have to wait until tomorrow night! And I am so frustrated as there is so much more I could have told you about today - but I gotta stop so we can get back out there! See you again tonight!