Prague - Day 3

We wake and have breakfast in the hotel again before heading out for a walking tour we've got booked for today. We have time so we take a longer route, seeing a bit more of the area we're staying in. It definitely feels less touristy and like people are going about their normal business. It's a lovely walk along the river and through a park and we reach the starting point for the walking tour. We're early for the tour, so we park up on the steps of the Natural History museum and read for a bit.

The tour starts at the nearby statue of Wencelaus. We've got a small group which is good. The tour is set to go for about 3 hours. We ask what the Czechs are calling the country these days, as it now says Czechia on Google maps. Our tour guide, Mikael, say it's still mostly referred to as Czech Republic, Czechia is more of a nickname the young kids use (and Google, apparently). We learn that Czechia is big on gun manufacturing for other countries, but most people in Czechia don't have a licence for a gun. Mikael talks about the communism era in Prague and shows us photos of the square we are standing in full of German soldiers during that period. They are also the manufacturer of a big shoe brand we have never heard of, Bata shoes and the inventor of the contact lens, Otto Wichterle. Although he made virtually nothing from it as "the state" owns the intellectual property for it.

Some other cool facts: Prague used to be the biggest city in Europe with 40,000 people at one stage. After WW2 the Czechs and the Slovaks realised they would be strong together as one bigger country. After the Cold War, when trying to figure out what to change their name to, the two stubborn sides could not agree on "Czecho-Slovak" versus "Czechoslovak" Republic, leading to the "dash war". The result was an amicable split into full independent countries.

Jeff tries to get the low down on what Czechs and Slovaks think of one another and it sounds like it might be similar to the Australian/NZ relationship, with Czechia being Australia in this case.

Throughout the tour we check out a bunch of cathedrals and churches, as well as hearing about and seeing some more art from David Cerny. This time it's an upside horse and rider hanging from a roof, which is made of Styrofoam, but you'd never guess. We hear a bit about Charles IV and how he was the most popular King and started up universities (and some other things but I lost interest when he started talking about how he brought Christianity in). We check out the Jewish Quarter and our last stop of the tour was at the Astroclock for the midday show. It's a medieval astronomical clock that was created in 1410 and is the oldest clock in the world. This information makes the "show" it does every hour more impressive (it's just some moving parts and ringing bells). We've now finished the tour and feeling more knowledgeable about Prague.

During the tour Jeff gets chatting with a pair of Swedes, a mum and her teenage son down for a long weekend. We discuss our experience of Sweden with them, and wanted to probe for her take on the Danes to see if it aligns with what we've heard and seen. She says, "oh yes, the Danes are wild!". It does seem there is a big culture gap between Danes and Swedes despite so much shared history.

It's time for lunch. We walk past an outdoor market and see people chowing down on some Czech style hot dogs. Jeff's goes up to order and because the only Czech words we know are "hello" and "beer", we end up with 4 hot dogs between us. So much for a light lunch.

We're ready to get out of the city and see a new location. We hop on the tram and walk a short way until we get to Vysehrad, which means "upper castle". It was a medieval fortress and the oldest part of Prague. It has stunning views and a lovely park and cemetery within. We're still not sick of the views of this beautiful city. The green and mountainous back drop really lends to the charm of the city.

We tram it back to the city and hop off near the bridge we crossed on the first day. There is an island underneath it we've be wanting to check it out. We get the lift down and are almost immediately met by the nutria or coypu or "river rat". Photos below. They are very cute and some are pretty tame and will come up to you and see if you've got any food for them. There's beer and food truck set up and a stage for music. Seems like a great spot to have a beer and play some Viking chess and so we do.

It's a short walk back to the hotel for showers before heading out for dinner. We're both feeling totally drained from walking in the sun all day again. We think we've had our fill of goulash and dumplings and so we opt for Mexican tonight. It's rated well and seems to be full of locals. We sit at the bar and stuff ourselves full of enchiladas. On our way back to the hotel we stop at a mini mark to spend the last of our Czech currency on snacks and water (which seems to be a foreign concept in Europe. It's not automatically provided at restaurants and they give you a weird look when you ask for it. And it tastes weird). We head back to the hotel for a chill and early night, Paris tomorrow!