22nd – 23rd – The British Connection

One of the reasons I enjoy travelling the way I do is because I manage to avoid the busiest travel periods and travelling outside these usually have a positive effect on price, crowds and stress.  Today, though, was a busy travel day at the airport. It was chaotic and crowded. A plus was that I was bumped to the fast lane in security when they realized I was alone, so that was a plus. 

The plane was completely full and we left on time, but it still took the crew more than two hours to disable the parental lock that had for some reason had been engaged on my monitor. But it was finally done which let me watch The Commuter, Pacific Rim: Uprising, Tomb Raider (2017) and Isle of Dogs.

We arrived on time in Bangkok and a quick walk through immigration later I was out and got picked up and driven to the hotel. Unfortunately, due to the lack of sleep on the flight, I ended up nodding off towards the hotel. The 1-hour nap did feel good, though. Despite arriving at the hotel around 0830 I was able to check in immediately, likely because the guy I am to share the room with had been here since yesterday, but entering the room I found he had already left for the day, giving me some relaxing time on my own.

A shower and short break later I felt like a new person and around 1000 I left to go for a walk and get my bearings. The map in the Lonely Planet book was very not detailed and the offline map in Google Maps likewise so I ended up wandering keeping track of how I got where I was currently located. On the way I was stopped by a tuk-tuk driver who wanted to drive me to the Standing Buddha, Lucky Buddha and the Marble Temple. Apparently, because it’s Buddha day and Government Day today gas is free and the round trip would only cost me 20 baht.

Reluctantly I agreed (I would have preferred walking by my own pace) and he swiftly drove me to the three locations. After the second I was suggested to see a Thai Factory where they made and sell clothes. I was not interested but I was assured I could just have a look and not buy anything. Fair enough, assuming it was a factory in normal sense where you’d get to see them working on cutting, sewing etc. on a larger scale, I was surprised – and a bit disappointed – when realizing that he had taken me to a shop for custom clothing. Surprise! I had a quick look inside, told them I wasn’t surprised (it did seem like good quality, though I wasn’t interested) and returned outside to the tuk-tuk.

The Standing Buddha. Didn't feel so impressive being wrapped up.

Lucky Buddha.

My driver suggested another “factory” which I declined. He was stubborn, though, and I should just have given him the 20 baht and left there and then, but tired from the lack of sleep and wanting to get it over with I finally relented. Surprise – it was the exact same thing.

He finally took me to the Marble Temple, and despite constantly trying to convince me he had nothing to do with the “factories”, the moment I got out of the tuk-tuk he left in a huff. The agreement was that he was supposed to get me back to the hotel which was now out the window. He also left before getting any payment. Shame.

The Marble Temple.

From the temple I started walking back to the hotel by myself. Bangkok is confusing, especially when you have two sets of maps that aren’t very useful, but I manged to return at around 1500 with a quick stop at The Golden Mount.

View from The Golden Mount.

Out hotel room doesn’t have any windows so when I entered the lobby to do a short walk before meeting the rest of the group I was surprised to see it absolutely pouring down. I waited a bit for it to subside, and my walk ended up being a quick trip to the 7-11 around the corner to get some water.

As per usual the group met at 1800 where our guide presented himself and we went around the table to quickly introduce ourselves before going out for dinner 5 minutes’ walk away. If it felt dangerous crossing the streets during daytime it got far more… interesting when it had gotten dark and there were no streetlights.  After dinner some of us when to the hotel bar for a few drinks before going to bed.

View from the bar.

We are 2 Aussies, 2 Americans, 1 Dane and 10 Brits. There are usually a few Brits on these tours but this must be a record so far.

21st – 22nd – The long, but comfy, way home

Getting up as usual with a quick breakfast before gathering my things and checking out. I returned to Church of Tyn to see if there was any chance to get in. Something like finding someone and “if I donate so and so much can I get 5 minutes?” or finding an accidentally unlocked door and getting caught “oh? Closed? Sorry, wasn’t aware, I’ll leave now”. But no luck – it looked pretty sealed up. You weren’t even allowed to photograph inside now even if there wasn’t a mass going on. 

I turned around and headed east. There wasn’t much to see; the futuristic radio tower with a viewing platform and Franz Kafka’s grave (I didn’t have much else in my sights so I thought I might as well check them out). When reaching the tower I considered going up but decided not to – the view might be from a different angle than the other views I had seen but I’d be standing up there annoyed not being able to take advantage of the fact that they were open to midnight.

The futuristic Žižkov Television Tower.

I continued to the graveyard and it turned out to be much bigger than expected. In some areas no maintenance had been done so it was all overgrown. Despite it looking like a perfect location for a horror movie it did have a certain beauty to it. Further east the plots must have been more expensive as everything looked much more well maintained and thus looking like what I’d call a “normal” cemetery. Some graves had had no one added for 100 years, others had very recent additions. Some were just a normal tombstone, others had huge intricate statues, and some had their own small mausoleums. Franz Kafka was in the Jewish part of the cemetery and with my luck that part was closed off today due to the Jewish holiday. Walking through the area I noticed that there was a lot of families with the name of Rodina. It wasn’t until much later I realized that Rodina was the Czech word for Family.

Overgrown.

More well kept, but you don't get a lot of room.

Some get their own small mausoleums, though.

And some get one a bit larger...

I circled around and returned to the city centre, had a quick lunch and went north and saw the metronome, an art installation which is exactly what you’d think it is: a massive metronome. Walked through the park where it had been built, and then received a text informing me that my flight had been cancelled.

BEHOLD! The metronome.

No, I don't get it, either.

View from the metronome.

I decided to go to the airport immediately despite it was an hour before I had planned to leave, mostly in a naïve hope that I’d be able to get out there early to be prepared for any new departure time I’d be presented with.

On the way to the airport I received a message with my new departure details – I had been put on a flight early tomorrow morning instead. A quick call to the airline later I learnt that there were no other earlier flights, not even with layovers, but he did confirm they’d cover any expenses for an extra night and meals. I checked into the hotel just across from the departure terminal at ordinary airport rates, 3-course dinner and wine. No worries, it’s covered. I’ll admit it was quite a satisfactory evening, despite it all.

It was an unexpected extra night due to a cancelled flight, and the view was to an interior part of the hotel, and yet it was my best view from any hotelroom in a very long time.

Only issue was that I had to get up early; the flight was at 0710, but at least it would let me get to work directly after arriving in Copenhagen.

The morning felt as early as it was, I checked in, visited the lounge, got onto the plane and without further ado I made it to Copenhagen. Despite my previous plans I ended up going home for a quick shower and getting my mind in order before returning and getting into work.

Despite bad timing and an unfortunate trip home I really enjoyed Prague and I actually feel that I could have spent a few more days there. It’s a beautiful city which I would recommend everyone to spend a few days in and while the prices might not be as low as they have been due to the large number of tourists you are still able to get a good meal for a fair price as long as you stay away from the most congested areas. And talking about tourists – there are a lot of them. Like – really many. I did notice, though, that some of the tour groups had the guide walking around with a small microphone and all the clients had a small headset. Made it much easier for people around not part of the group compared to the groups where the guide was yelling and trying to keep everyone’s attention. In any case – visit if you can, it is quite memorable and not quite like other places.

Full album can be seen here.

20th – Stained glass

After getting up and having had breakfast – once again cutting it close to closing time – I checked up on the opening hours for the cathedral at the castle. According to what I read it would close at 1500 so I decided to start the day there to be sure I’d make it before it would be too late.

Once again I entered the queue to get into the castle around 1100 and half an hour later I was let through. I walked over to the cathedral and stepped into another queue, this one very short. And waited. And nothing happened. Looking around I saw a sign and realized that I had been planning based on info for the wrong day. It wouldn’t open until 1300 so I left and instead decided to spend my time to go into the tower.

The 286 steps up the narrow spiral staircase took one right past the space where the bells were mounted and being there at 1200 we got to see – and hear! – them in full action. The view from the top was great, especially because there wasn’t much of a haze today.

As mentioned; really close to the bells.

View from the tower.

Beautiful window spotted on the way down.

I returned down and exited at around 1310 and saw a line of people pass by the door. I quickly realized it was the queue of people waiting to get into the cathedral and having nothing else planned here I added myself to the rear of the queue. The entry was in the front to the left and I queued up near the front to the right – but the queue went all the way around the rear of the cathedral. There was no standstill, though, we were always moving, and half an hour later I was the next to walk through the entrance. It was also half an hour of keeping an eye on people who “totally know those people in front of you!” or “oh, I thought this was the end of the line and I totally didn’t see the hundreds behind you!”. People’s complete lack of respect for others still surprise me. Fuckers.

After all that waiting one could worry that it would be a huge anti-climax seeing the cathedral from the inside, but I’ll admit I thought it was very impressive. Beautifully stained glass and generally very impressive word done with the construction made the wait and return to the castle worth it. More than an hour later I exited and went for a short stroll in the castle’s gardens before leaving the castle grounds for good.

Entering the cathedral.

Stained glass! 

More stained glass!

MORE!

I love the fact that there was enough sun that the stained glass colored the walls. 

I started walking south following the river until I reached castle Vyšehrad where I had a short walk around. Nothing remotely as magnificent or impressive as the other place but still quite nice. When leaving I realized that a recommended restaurant was just around the corner so I decided to chance it despite not having a booking. I went down there and only had to wait a few minutes before being seated. Goat’s cheese in filo salad, port ribs and coconut cake with chocolate was a nice end to the day.

A small canal.

Inside the basilica at Vyšehrad Castle.

  

Leaving I walked back north towards the Old Town again. I had found out that the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe is buried in Church for our Lady Tyn located just next to the town square. The church is open 3+2 hours every day – and I obviously arrived too late to get in today. The door was open, though, so I snuck in to have a look; it was only moments before a mass started and all photography was banned. Every day except Mondays (tomorrow) – in that case it would be closed. My disappointment was real.

Sunset at the river.

The astronomical clock was being renovated so a meager digital replacement was all I got to see.

I went back down to the river trying to get some more night shot of the castle cathedral and Charles bridge before returning to my hotel around 2300.

19th – Knees and castles

Vacationing is hard work so it took a while getting out of bed which meant I only had 10 minutes for breakfast before they closed. Probably a good thing. The breakfast restaurant at the hotel has a weird layout; There are two rooms connected, in one rooms’ corner is the juice and in the middle the cereal, and in the other room around the corner is the rest. It wasn’t until a couple left their table I saw the juice table that had been hiding behind until then.

I decided to walk towards Prague castle when leaving the hotel around 1030 and on the way there I passed the city hall and its tower. I opted to go up into It and get a view of the city. I’ll admit that Prague is bigger than I had expected, unfortunately the building heat resulted in a haze ruining an otherwise potentially amazing view. And what is it with people not being able to follow simple orders? Coming outside at the top of the tower there’s a big arrow pointing you to go clockwise around the observation platform, yet I met numerous people pushing their way the wrong way around in an already limited space. Morons.

View from the city hall tower. 

Other direction, you can see St. Vitus’ Cathedral at Prague Castle in the distance to the right.

Main square with church of Our Lady before Týn

From there I went to the castle, went through security and got a ticket for the Old Palace, Golden Lane, Basilica of St. George and St. Vitus’ Cathedral. Unfortunately the cathedral was closed today due to religious stuff – fortunately the tickets are valid for two days so I’ll be returning tomorrow.

Charles bridge with the castle in the background.

Golden Lane is a small street that has gone through several iterations of being small shops or service places to being small residences. Originally the gold artisans moved here, hence the name, escaping the rule-heavy guilds in town, but later other industries started trickling in.

The front of the cathedral.

The side of the cathedral also showing the Golden Gate.

St. George's Basilica.

Inside the basilica.

The Golden Lane.

I left the castle through the rear entrance and came through a small wine yard before returning to the old town. There I walked back past the main square at town hall and continued onwards and came past the national museum before circling around and ending up at the hotel for a break.

A small local wine yard. 

A classic Czech dish is apparently pork knee and after a few attempts I found a restaurant that had a table available. I ordered a small starter and the pork knee and my waiter looked at me and said “sir, it is a big piece”. Yes, yes, sounds like a challenge, bring it on. The food was good but the knee was a bit disappointing – I had expected something special taste-wise like you get with something like pork cheeks, but it honestly could just as well have been a ham served a bit inconveniently. Was it big? Well, firstly, I had expected the bones to take up more volume than they did. Secondly, for the first time ever during these city visits I didn’t order dessert. I’ll admit; it was a fair chunk of meat in the end but it was all gone (except for the fat layer) when I was done.

After letting it all fall into place for 15-20 minutes I left and went down towards Charles bridge in an attempt to get some photos of the castle during sunset and darkness. I spent close to two hours seeing the progress – together with a lot of other people – before returning to the hotel around 2300.