After a six hour train ride from Berlin, I arrived at Holesovice Station in Prague.  I converted my Euros to Crown (Kr) and all the prices quoted here will be in Crown.  Exchange rate during this time was 20Kr=$1 CAD.  With the Czech republic not on the Euro (they are a EU country though), it's a lot of hassle changing money.  It was difficult to know if you were getting a good rate.  I was charged around 140Kr commission at the train station for exchanging €100 but an ATM withdrawal has a $4 CAD charge on the PLUS network.  Some change places in town offered no commission but probably a worse rate.  After arriving, I followed the instructions to get to the hostel taking both the modern metro and old soviet style trams.  A one way trip was 20Kr.  The Czech Inn was modern, roomy, and around 450Kr a night with five sharing.  Only complaint was that it was on a noisy street, especially, with the windows open and the trams driving by at night.  It was a little bit further out as well though you could walk to Wenceslas Square in about 15 minutes.  After settling in, I took a walk to Old Town Hall to check out the city.

Day 17 - Fri Sep 8

I went on a bike tour with Praha Bike Rental and Tours in the morning but I was the only person on the tour.  I decided to do the the river tour which was more outside the city and had the Italian guide take me through the area. He was a bit difficult to understand at times if I didn't concentrate.  On the other side of the river, there were two large parks on a hill overlooking the city that was great for biking and not overrun with tourists like Old Town was.  We eventually crossed back into town and biking in the town centre was not as fun with the crowds, lack of bike lanes and the cobblestone roads.  After finishing the tour, I found a restaurant across from the bike shop where I had a authentic but cafeteria style meal for about 60Kr.  I walked around a bit before returning to the hostel.  That night, I had met some American guys in my room that had just come from doing both the Tomatino (tomato fight) in Bunyol, Spain and the Bull Run in Cardona (smaller version of the one in Pamplona).  Their goal that night was to down a bottle of Absinthe each so I met them in the hostel bar along with another Aussie couple in my room.  0.5L beers in the bar were 30Kr.  We ended up heading out to one of the largest bars in central Europe which was at the east end of the Charles Bridge.  It had about seven levels, each with a different theme and cover charge was 200Kr?  Beers inside were about 40Kr.  I ended up taking a night tram back to the hostel late at night once I lost everybody inside.

Day 18 - Sat Sep 9

I signed up for a walking tour (300Kr) with a cute Czech guide.  The tour started at Wenceslas Square and ended up at Prague Castle.  I had wanted to go up the tower in the church (100Kr to see rest of chuch and tower) but the tower closed at 4pm so it wouldn't be worth it.  Some of the other sites were fairly expensive such as the Jewish Cemetery (500Kr?) so I didn't go.  On the way back, I climbed up the south tower of the Charles Bridge (50Kr) before heading back to the hostel.

Day 19 - Sun Sep 10

Tired of walking, I purchased a day pass for 80Kr.  I headed off to the main train station to buy my ticket to Munich (1477Kr).  My next destination was Petrin which required taking the tram to the top of the hill (covered with the day pass).  The main attraction at Petrin is the tower which is replica of the top third of the Eiffel tower (50Kr).  Afterwards, I went back to Old town, finding a great 30Kr/slice pizza place on the way to the Powder Tower.  I then decided to go to the Prague Markets but surprisingly, it was closed on the weekends.

Back at the hostel bar late at night, I ran into some American girls I met Fri night and we decided to head out with some Aussies from their room.  We found a bar that was open, headed into the back and then noticed all the pictures of naked men on the wall and the two short-haired girls sitting next to us.  We all ordered a drink (27Kr for a 0.5L beer) before searching for another bar.  After passing a few strip clubs, we found something open and relatively busy for a late Sunday night.  Inside, a weird old guy decides to draw MY picture and was working on it till I left.  Not sure if wanted to sell it to me or if he was trying to pick me up.

Day 20 - Mon Sep 11

I found a brochure in Berlin for a 2 day road trip that took would take us to the Bone Church and then a hostel in a small town before heading back with a visit to some caves on the second day so I had it booked.  I had packed a small overnight bag without checking out of the hostel though in hindsight I should have checked out to save a bit of money.  There were only two other guys on the trip, and Aussie and an older English guy because a few others had cancelled last minute.  The guide had indicated they had 8 girls the previous week.  With the small group, we went ahead anyway and drove to Kutna Hora whose main attractions were the Bone Church and St Barbara's cathedral (closed Monday of course).  The Bone Church was fairly small and it cost extra to take pictures.  After lunch, we then drove to Dalecin where we stayed at a small hostel in the mountains.  Me and the Aussie rented bikes and went for a ride but I ended getting a flat and had to walk back.  We had a bbq dinner prepared for us that night.

Day 21 - Tue Sep 12

In the morning, we drove to the Moravsky Kras caves and went through the guided tour that included an underground boat trip.  Surprisingly, the tour included an English translation though it was difficult to understand since the recorded audio was blasted fairly loudly inside the caves.  When we exited, we paid 60Kr to ride the gondola to the top of the mountain for a quick look before heading back to Prague with a stop at Brno.  Back at the hostel, it was my last night and I met an Aussie girl who was part of an Eastern Trekker group that just came back from a 6 day tour.  I joined their group for dinner and beers before going to bed since I had a morning train to Munich.

I had about 90Kr left end of the day and didn't want money left over nor did I want to take out more money since it wouldn't be worth it to exchange back to Euros.  With that 90Kr, I was able to buy two 0.5L beers that night, and a small hot dog and drink the next day for breakfast.  I actually had a third beer that night that was bought for me.

Prague Notes

In hindsight, I should've skipped the road trip and went to Cesky Krumlov instead.  I had talked to other travellers and they indicated this medieval village was a must see.  If I did some research, I also could've found about the Eastern Trekker tours (www.easterntrekker.com) and visited some other cities in the area on a short tour.

Since Czech is a difficult language, most people didn't expect tourists to understand or speak Czech.  I did learn one word "pardon", pronounced like the French version and with the same meaning.

There is a Czech beer call Budweiser which shouldn't be confused with the American one.  It is from the town of Budweis which is where the American beer got it's name.

For my cost of living index, a McDonald's meal was 100Kr and a bottle of coke around 20Kr.  My staple food was a big Kolbasa hot dog for about 40Kr though the breaded deep fried cheese sandwiches looked popular.  Meat and dumplings (100Kr in a restaurant) were pretty traditional though I didn't care too much for dumplings.  A 0.5L beer was 25-40Kr and usually cheaper than coke.

Best bet for free washrooms was either museums or the KFC.  Washrooms in most McDonalds were not always free and following a WC sign in a tourist area guaranteed you were going to pay 10-20Kr to use it.

Next Part 4: Munich

Back to Part 2: Berlin