Prague, Prague, Prague

I wanted to like Prague, I really did. Ever since I read about it ages ago, and was the liaison for a Czech manipulator (Wikipedia tells me a marionette puppeteer is a manipulator), I wanted to visit the place. I had imaginations of how it would look like and how I would fall in love with the place. Alas, it was not to be. After the beauty of Budapest, Prague paled in comparison and try as I could, I did not fall in love with it.

After our ghost tour the previous day, we thought we would do one of those free walking tours where you just tip the guide at the end of the tour depending on how great he/ she was. Apparently ALL the free tour guides gather at the Old Town Square, so it is basically one big mess of lost tourists and various guides trying to get more people into their group. We decided to just follow one of the groups as we thought the guy looked like he was going to be good. He gave a decent overview of the history of Prague but I think it's different when the guides are done by locals (as was the case in Krakow and Budapest) and when it's done by those American/ British kids who are doing a gap year in Europe. Still, he was rather informative and we did enjoy the tour. We then had a pretty good lunch at one of the restaurants he recommended. One thing I do like about Europe is that they allow you to bring pets to restaurants and people train their dogs very well on how to behave. While we were eating, a girl brought her dog in and it immediately went underneath the table and just sat there. It didn't bark or make a nuisance of itself. The waiter even brought out a water dish for the dog! So cute! It reminded me of the time we were in Florence and the guy had his dog at the table too.

Can't really remember what we did for the rest of the day, I do remember us joining a tour which took us around Prague Castle. Honestly, the castle didn't do it for me, I wasn't very impressed by it and thought it didn't look impressive. On our way back, we walked on Charles Bridge, which was filled with buskers. One guy was playing the glass harp ala Miss Congeniality, he was one of the more interesting buskers so we stopped and enjoyed the music and of course contributed some money.

Like I said I really wanted to like Prague but alas it was not to be. In any case, next destination please!

Coming face to face with death.

We arrived really late in Prague after our tour in Dresden. First impression was that people weren't very friendly nor welcoming. Next impression was that there was a lot of people. Our first meal in Prague ended up being KFC as it was too late and the restaurants didn't seem willing to entertain us.

We headed off to Kutna Hora the next day cos I have always wanted to check out the ossuary ever since I read about it a long time ago. Of course there have been reviews about it online being really small and not worth the effort, but since I've always wanted to visit it, off we went. Honestly speaking, if you had to travel by public transportation and you only have like 2 days in Prague, then give it a miss. Otherwise I thought it was rather fascinating and honestly the highlight of my trip in Prague.

I must say that people in the past are way more practical about death than we are right now. Hey, since everyone wants to buried on church grounds, let's just dig up the bones and arrange it so other people can get buried. Imagine the hoohah it would create now, in this age. In any case, the structures were quite beautiful in a morbid sort of way since they are essentially people's bones and skulls arranged into various shapes. It was supposedly arranged by a half blind monk and you have to admire his skills in arranging all these pieces into such beautiful artwork. There were just a few people when we were there which was perfect as we could take our time to view the pieces. I can't imagine being there in summer with the huge crowds of people.

Since we were already in Kutna Hora, we also visited the Cathedral of Assumption of Our Lady and Saint John the Baptist. It's within walking distance from the ossuary and since the town is really small, there is no way you can miss it. The cathedral was rather empty and honestly speaking there wasn't much inside, it did look like it went through some cleaning recently cos it looked pretty new for a cathedral that has been around since the 12th century. There were hardly any paintings inside unlike the churches in Italy, still it did have the fresco above the pipe organ.

After all the sight seeing, we were ready for a hearty lunch and since we are typical Singaporeans and must have good food, I did my homework and off we went to Restaurant V Ruthardce. CS ordered ribs while I ordered some chicken thing (I think). When his order came, it was really quite funny cos some random guy walked past us and said he ordered the same thing and wished us luck in finishing it. Lol... Honestly speaking, the portion was ridiculously big and well if that dude couldn't finish it, what chance do we have. The ribs were really really yummy though and even though we packed it and ate it for dinner, it was still really good even when cold! Definitely a highlight of the trip to Kutna Hora. And well, if you've already made your way there for the ossuary, you might as well make it to this restaurant for its food :p

After arriving back late in Prague, we rushed to take a ghost tour of Prague since it was apparently the thing to do. It was raining cats and dogs which helped to create the atmosphere for the tour. The scariest part of the tour was when we went to the basement of the Old Town Hall, the setting itself made everything just seemed a little spookier though the Old Changi Hospital is probably still the spookiest.  Nevertheless it was a fun way to end the day and I would recommend doing it if you are in Prague.