Code Sleuth’s Blog

Today, I am relaxed. My feet hurt with blisters on the end of my toes, but nonetheless relaxed. What is the reason why I’m so relaxed? Well, last night I arrived home from a three day city-break in Prague, the Czech Republic‘s capital city!

We left on Sunday afternoon and arrived in Prague with enough time left in the day to go to a small pub/pizzeria close to our hotel, the Arcotel Teatrino. That was the first time I’d ever had a fried egg on a pizza… which is very tasty, and I recommend you try!

The trip had been planned for a long time by myself and two of my developer colleagues at work, each accompanied by our girlfriends/wives, and somehow we managed to all book the time off despite the fact that all three of us make up 75% of the company’s development team! It was a very bad time to leave because of work commitments, but when I’ve had something planned for as long as this, it’s really not something I’d like to cancel because of things that happen in the run up to the trip – so I went on it anyway.

On Monday we woke up quite early, went for breakfast at the hotel, and made the decision to attend an Ultimate Tour of Prague. This comprised of a daytime tour of the city on foot with historical commentary from the guide, then an hour trip up and down the Vltava River which runs through the heart of the city and is overlooked by the castle. After the boat trip we were taken to a restaurant where they provided us with a meal (I had the famous local dish Goulash with Dumplings) and some drinks. Once stuffed with food, we were escorted to Prague Castle where the king and president of the Czech Republic live. The castle is a really nice place to see, with a truly amazing view overlooking the city, and has a closer view of the Eiffel Tower on the hill nearby.

Once the tour was over, we headed back through the city and then back to the hotel to get ready for the evening. Sion and Laura had been to Prague before and recommended an Italian restaurant, Kogo, in the city centre. The service, food and décor were excellent and the experience was something to remember. Even the wine, the cheapest on the menu but recommended by the waiter, was very delicate yet heavily bodied and complemented the food so well.

After the restaurant we headed into jazz club for a few drinks before retreating to the hotel for a good night’s rest. After all the walking we did in the day time, that night felt like the best night’s sleep I’d ever had!

On Tuesday we woke up late about 9, and headed down for breakfast at about 10. We hadn’t planned what we were going to do in the day yet, but had decided to attend the Ghost Tour in the evening which was a free bonus to going on the Ultimate Tour on Monday. After breakfast we went back to our rooms to get ready, and took the tram into the city once more, where we would go on to the Funicular on Petrin Hill up to see the aforementioned Eiffel Tower, known in Czech as Petřínská Rozhledna. The view of Prague from the top of the tower was even more breathtaking than the one from the castle and allowed us to take some very spectacular photographs. Also on this hill is an old structure which now houses a small mirror-maze, open to tourists for 60,-Kĉ (which works out at roughly £1.25) which was rather disappointing itself but filled up some time out of the hot Sun.

After trying to find a suitable place to eat on the hill, we gave up and headed back into the town to a restaurant/bar that Sion and Laura had been to before and recommended again. I once again had the Goulash but this time was disappointed by the quality of the food, having big bits of gristle in the meat. However, the rest of the food was great, especially the beer that accompanied it! Once finished we walked back to our tram stop and headed back off the hotel where we got ready for the Ghost Walk which we had as a free bonus from the city walk on Monday.

The walk started at 8pm outside the Astronomical Clock in the city centre, where it was just about getting dark. The woman who lead the tour had a very strong Czech accent and was hard for us to hear, but she told the stories very well and set us up perfectly for… the Jumper Ooters!

This part of the tour was hilarious; Lindsay is a bit of a jumpy person, and every time they jumped out she grabbed my arm and hid behind me as she screamed and giggled at her own screaming… she’s so adorable

Once the tour ended we went for food at at restaurant in the square, while we watched it rain, then headed into a bar which was recommended to us by Claire, called Bar and Books on Týnská behind St. James’ church. The place was a little more upper-class than we expected, and the woman there even asked a group of people to hurry up and pay their bill in order for us to be seated… very unnecessarily rude, but we had a good time there once seated despite this.

Wednesday morning we had another lie-in, eating breakfast at 10 again, then checked out at 12. We headed back into the city centre and spent quite a while trying to find a chocolate shop that apparently made chocolate in front of you while you wait. The problem with this was that the place was actually a deli bar which we didn’t know about, and hence spent the time looking for the completely wrong name on the shop sign.

Lindsay and I broke off from the group to go see a Salvador Dalí exhibition in the gallery just off the square. I wasn’t sure who he was until I saw his works, and even bought a book to get a better idea of him and his work, which I can relate to somehow.

Later on, we regrouped and ate at another Italian restaurant before heading back to the hotel, and eventually to the airport. The flight was delayed slightly, so we had a KFC in the airport which was really cheap! I spent 60K,-Kĉ on three strips of chicken which (if I remember correctly) is half the price of the KFCs in the UK!

Finally, we got home at midnight. A holiday to remember for sure, and lots of pictures should be on their way soon!