Day 1: Melbourne to Prague

DAY 1:  Friday December 10^th

Our plane departed Tullamarine at exactly 4pm as planned.  We are now in transit at Bangkok, with our flight to Amsterdam departing in half and hour or so.  No dramas so far, but we are already finding the negotiation of queues, signs, money exchange etc exhausting.  How Beth et al do it so regularly amazes us and as for those who do regular business trips to Europe – they can have it!!

In Amsterdam waiting for next connection:  Oh dear –an even longer leg of the trip and all inpitch blackness.  The night seemed never-ending.  Roger had a window seat and enjoyed the occasional glimpse of cities as we flew over India, Afghanistan, Czech republic, Germany and finally into The Netherlands.   I selected ‘ Éat, Pray, Love’ (just for you, Jeannie) on the the movie channel and made it last the whole night by pausing every now and then for a bit more sleep.

Finally, here we are in our hotel in Prague.  The last few minutes of the flight on the last leg from Amsterdam to Prague were magical.  Having flown the short trip entirely above beautiful fluffy white clouds,  the plane descended into Prague.  First through the thick bank of cloud and then a fairytale scene awaited us:  the countryside blanketed in snow as far as the eye could see.  I was so glad that I had taken the window seat this time and I couldn’t get my camera out quick enough  to capture the magic of it. 

 

Maybe it was because it was now Saturday afternoon, but the small and quiet nature of Prague airport was so nice after the vastness of Bangkok and Amsterdam.  Ours seemed to be the only flight arriving and so the baggage carousel wasn’t even moving when we got to it.  Fingers crossed as we waited for our cases to come around – surely there had to be something go wrong on our so far trouble-free trip.  But in no time at all, out they both came and we geared ourselves up for the interrogation and probable case inspection at the customs section because we had food to declare.  But once through the doors – no crowds at all – in fact no people at all – not one!  We thought we must have been in the wrong place but we eventually saw what appeared to be three customs officials sitting with their feet up at the other end of the customs hall.  We approached them but they just waved us through, out to the arrival hall.  As I said – maybe things are quiet in Prague on a Saturday!!!

After a freshen up and a short rest, we headed out into the street and a short walk to the Old Town Square where the Christmas market is being held.  From the minute we stepped outside the hotel we had to battle the crowds: hundred of tourists drinking in the spectacular old architecture and charm of the city.  Then at the market – it was akin to a crowd in the city centre on New Years Eve.  I’d have to say that our first taste of the market stalls themselves was a little disappointing.  The wares they were selling seemed to be fairly tacky and not the charming Christmas decorations that I have been hoping for.  However, maybe the shock of the crush overtook any other charm that was there, and in any case, we didn’t want to spend money today – just to soak in the atmosphere. 

The whole town square was taken over by the Christmas market.  We had our first taste of roasted chestnuts – not sure that I’ll bother with them again, but it just seemed something one had to do.  The huge tree in the centre of the square was lit up, as were several other light displays.  A choir of beautiful young female voices sang what were obviously Christmas carols – the unfamiliarity of the tunes being a welcome change from the somewhat tired collection of carols we are used to. 

Families were out with their children, seemingly  unaware, and certainly unconcerned that they were sloshing through now very dirty snow.  A small collection of police busied themselves in a hopeless battle of trying to keep people from mounting the steps around the statue in the centre of the square.  A huge crowd gathered around the famous astronomical clock, waiting for it to ‘do its thing’ on the hour.  We didn’t join them as we presume this will be part of our city tour tomorrow.    After what seemed only a short time, we were ready to head back to the hotel – after all it was now very dark – surely about 7pm.  A check of our watches amazed us – it was only 4.30 pm!

The short walk back to the hotel took us past shops of the very highest calibre: Louis Vitton, Versace, Cartier,  Dior, Mont Blanc… we assume this is the ‘Paris end’of Prague.  We passed a watchmaker which has been in business as long as Australia has been settled – they advertise that they make ‘’watches for the few".

The first task on our return to the hotel was to pummel our collection of dirty clothes in the bath – I assume that this will become a daily ritual, but I will spare readers the mention of it past this first time, which to us, is a novelty.

We found a TV channel playing re-runs of Bonanza so that did us very well for TV to sleep to.  I had I think about 3 hours and now I have got up to write the blog and to try to send the last of my AYCE student reports back home. 

Roger is having a much needed deep sleep and is obviously quite disoriented with time.  He woke up a few minutes ago, found it was 9.40 (pm) and thought we had missed breakfast and the 9am departure for our city tour.  It took quite a while before I had convinced him that we are still on day 1 and it is night, not tomorrow morning.

Will now try to put this, together with a few Day 1 photos onto the blog.

Stress-free Security System Successes:  2.5/3

Grumpy old man count:  Quite a few but not too bad under the circumstances!

Miriam