The world is a small place when you are down to your last crown

The bestest clock in the world

Art Nouveau action

A stained glass window at St Vitus- sadly not the Mucha window which I didn't get a photo of

How is it possible that you can NEVER completely free yourself from coins of currency from one country when you leave for another one? I’m just finished my lunch in the train and I thought I had calculated everything so that I had used the last of my Czech crowns, but no, in a mocking twist of fate, I have one of the stupid things (worth around 6 Australian cents) still rolling round in my wallet making friends with the 3 Swiss francs (about $3) that was also facing the same fate. I’m currently on what must be one of the only tourist trains leaving Prague as sitting right behind me are the Australian family who I met on the train to Prague who are on their way to visit relatives in Hungary for Christmas and in the dining coach I just saw an Australian couple in their 50s whom I met on my first day in Prague. The world, or at least the part of it currently on Czech trains, is very small.

The tale of my time in the Czech Republic is one of confusion, bad first impressions, disappointment and architectural love. Before I left Australia, I was handed 520 Czech crowns as a gift by someone who had them left over from previous trips to the Czech Republic. I was like “Whoa, isn’t that a lot of money?” and was assured “No it’s about $25” (it’s a little over $30 but still). As I leave the Czech Republic, I feel I still haven’t got my head around the money. The Czech currency has no concept of cents- the smallest amount of money is one crown which as I said before is currently about 6 cents in Australian money. People will tell you that the Czech Republic is quite cheap and in some ways it is (I paid the equivalent of about $3.40 for a cappuccino, a very large bottle of mineral water and a pastry) but only once you’ve figured out the currency and some Czech industries clearly exploit this. Never catch a taxi in Prague for one thing. I got lost on my first night and ended up taking a cab. The cost of the cab was more than the cost of all three nights of accommodation and came out at around $40. Other Australians I met were unwittingly levelled with similar cab charges- I heard of one cabbie trying to charge 920 crowns (about $55) for a short cab trip. Stay away from them, they are bad news or if you must use one, look for one of the fair cab points around the city which give you a list of recommended charges which the cabbies must comply with if they collect you there. The tourist shops and some of the restaurants in the tourist-y areas are the same (I paid over $10 for a pack of batteries and around $30 for one meal (it was a very good meal at a proper restaurant but still)). So try and do the maths and figure out the currency before you get there to avoid being tricked, or just hope that the Czech Republic wises up and switches to the Euro.

When my taxi pulled up in front of the hostel, I thought “OK this place looks a little dodge but it is probably better inside”. I walked past the skip in the entry way to get to reception and after I checked in I was given keys and a key code for a door and had to buzz through the door to get to the stairs to get upstairs. I’d been travelling all day and was tired to say the least so I was thinking I hope there is a lift....there was but it was busted so I had to carry my luggage from Floor 0 up the twisting stairs to Floor 3, and as I passed Floor 1, I started to smell the faint but growing tinge of stale cigarette smoke. When I finally got my floor, the word Soviet barely describes the chilly corridor and bathrooms (the shower area of which in the women’s did not lock nor did the door close properly) and I’m thinking ‘just forget that Hostel is set in the Czech Republic, it isn’t that bad you’ll be fine’.  Got to the dorm and was shocked....the worst thing yet, it was a mixed dorm and it was filthy as a couple of guys had left all their rubbish on the floor as well as clothes, socks and underwear under/on their beds. Now don’t take this to mean that I’m some crazy prude who won’t sleep in a room with blokes in it, this is definitely not the case, it is just that men (no offence to my male readers), especially the backpacking kind, tend to be less particular about hygiene and so it isn’t surprising to find rubbish and underwear all over the floor in a male or mixed dorm (I’ve also been in female dorms that are pretty bad but none as bad as this).  I decided to sit in the heavy cigarette scented dining area and make use of the hostel’s free internet to hunt for somewhere else to stay for the next two nights- a process that got more urgent when I met a random Russian guy who tried to read my screen over my shoulder. I tried to breathe slowly and calm down and not get overwhelmed by first impressions....breathe, just breathe...and cough in the cigarette tinged air (It was the tail end of my cold at this point). Ultimately I didn’t change rooms or hostels and it turned out that though I wouldn’t give the Prague Traveller’s Hostel a glowing recommendation, it isn’t that bad and it teaches me for picking the absolute cheapest accommodation on offer. The cigarette smoke smell didn’t go away (can’t wait to wash my clothes in Vienna and get rid of it), but the lift got fixed, the messy guys left and their junk was cleaned up, it turned out that all women in the hostel were pretty respectful about the broken shower room door and made sure only one person used that room at once despite the fact there were three showers in it, the Russian guy was a little odd but actually harmless (he ended up being in my dorm and deemed me the “Australian Girl Space Agent” after I wouldn’t let me see my computer and he saw I packed in vacuum bags which he didn’t understand), and the others in my dorm especially one Japanese girl were quite friendly and for the most part people who liked an early night.

Now to the disappointment, my whole reason for going to the Czech Republic was to see Sedlec Ossuary, the church decorated with bones in a village about 1 hour from Prague. The morning I was to go, I woke a little later than expected and saw that it was snowing quite heavily.  I then checked the opening hours on the net and found that a few tourist sites stated that it was only open by appointment in winter (the official website said it was open but it clearly hasn’t been updated in a while). I weighed my options and figured that I didn’t want to go all the way out there on a train that would probably be delayed to find it closed and then not having time to get back to Prague to see any of the things I had left to see. I guess that means I’ll have to go back another time to see it but I did get two good days out of Prague instead.

Leaving my hostel, which was in the Jewish Quarter of the “Old” Town, I found that old is a relative term in the Czech Republic. The Old Town of Prague is actually contains the newer buildings. Especially in the Jewish Quarter, a lot of the older buildings were torn down and replaced building in the Art Nouveau style in late 19^th century. I don’t know what the old building were like but their replacements are beautiful and it is worth just spending some time wandering the streets looking at the facets and the designs. After my positive experience of one in Berlin and considering I know only one word of Czech (prosim which means please), I decided to go on a Walking Tour. There seem to be about twenty difference walking tours most of them free that leave from the Old Square in Prague and you are constantly see people holding coloured umbrella in the air in the streets of Prague and saying loudly “Follow the [insert colour here] umbrella” in various languages. So to the Old Square in search of a tour guide, I went. The Old Square is a massive town square in the Old City (not surprisingly) and it turns out in December it is full of a MASSIVE Christmas market where you can get hot wine or grog (watered down rum) at 10am and which gives off the strong scent of meat from the spits set up all over the square on which ham was cooking. I found my tour near my new favourite thing in the world, the Prague Astronomical Clock- seriously it is spectacular! Walking tour done and quite worth the 100 crowns (just over $6) I tipped the guide at the end and after a climb of the tower which houses the Astronomical Clock (ramps not stairs- these Czechs are civilised), I headed deep into the Jewish Quarter and visited all of the five synagogues (except two, these are now just museums) and the Jewish Cemetery. The highlights were the Pinkus Synagogue which is painted with the names of Czech Holocaust victims and which has a display of the art of the children who were in Terezin concentration camp (A Jewish art teacher in the camp encouraged them to draw and write to keep their hopes up - many of the children died by the end of the war as was she (the children in Terezin at the end of the War, her in Auschwitz) - but for a while the art keep the children’s spirits high and it is lovely story in the midst of horror); the Spanish Synagogue which looks more like a mosque than a synagogue as a tribute to the peaceful co-existence of Muslims and Jews in Medieval Spain (it is amazing beautiful); and the Old New Synagogue which is still a working synagogue and so this poor old Czech Jewish lady on the door had to keep running around telling this group of blokes (from somewhere in East Europe but not the Czech Republic) to stop taking photos and to cover their heads (they wouldn’t listen as they didn’t speak Czech or understand her fractured English). Supposedly the Prague Golem is buried in the New Old Synagogue. After this and trip to find some English books, I was back in Old Square and so took in some Czech children’s Christmas play action and then went to the Dali/ Mucha exhibit in a small gallery there (not sure who the art gallery usually shows, I thought Mucha but a tour guide said Dali which is weird considering Mucha was Czech and Dali not so much- that’s Alfons Mucha for those not up on Art Nouveau and if anyone out there find a print or postcard of his months of the year series especially the November, please let me know or forward it to me). Through the windows of the gallery, I heard the Czech crowd outside join in the singing of “Come All Thee Faithful” in Czech and I felt the heart warming pull of Christmas Spirit. Later I checked it out and there was a Children’s (actually teenaged) Choir singing. I also caught them doing “You Raise Me Up” in English which was delightful to say the least.

The next day and there was more Prague to see. I visited the Decorative Arts Museum which was a very watered down V&A but did have an interesting graphic design, paper and book binding section, and is in this amazing old house/hall. It also had an exhibit which was supposed to show the decadence and extremes of modern art- to my mind, some of it yes, most of it no. Then walked across Charles Bridge (not stopping to touch the religious statues of good luck though) and visited Lennon Wall. After this I joined an afternoon tour of the Castle district run by the same group who’d given my free tour the day before (Discover Prague they’re called (I think)- they are quite good). The Castle is well worth the visit especially St Vitus Cathedral which took around 700 years to finish so has some quality clashing architectural design, men in suits craved on it, some beautiful stained glass and mosaic work, and an awesome painted glass window done by Alfons Mucha.  

After my time in Bohemia and suppressing the urge to sing some Queen, I think I’ll be back someday to gaze on its art nouveau vibe and spectacular clocks one day. I’ve now arrived in Wien (Vienna) and having not met Ethan Hawke on the train as I was promised in Before Sunrise (maybe I’m just not French enough), I’m on the look-out for Inspector Rex.