13 July - Prague

Our day began, Friday the 13^th, travelling from Vienna to Prague. We were sent down what our GPS calls the optimised route – over half of the journey being on what is called the 'European' Road. This meant we were able to see and enjoy the landscape as it changed. Travelling north easterly direction the hillside went from gently undulating to more hilly and the stands of trees increased as cropping disappeared. Then it was time to cross the border into Ceska – no one around who was interested in our entry so we motored on. No sooner were we in Ceska than we passed a large outlet selling huge and small animals -tigers / lions/ camels, gorillas etc ( inanimate of course) and before we could blink another shop with row upon row of garden animals, gnomes etc! Across the road were casinos ( plural) and lots of gaudily posted signage for things we couldn't read. Some time later we left the route and did another of our ' let's take this road and see what we can find” routines. We drove through a village, road becoming narrower and bumpier and through leafy tunnels until we came out into another even smaller village where there was the mill pond. We had noticed that the settlements we had been passing for a while now had these mill pond arrangements – no sign of a mill or mill remnants though. We took photos of this site – quite different architecture and surrounding gardens than in Austria and leapt back into car as it was quite cold – around 12 degrees.

Czech farming village

What we did notice as we moved from Austria to Ceska is the way the farming changed – cropping still very strongly in evidence but fields are considerably larger in Ceska and stands of crops cover

more land e.g. the strips of different crops are much wider than in Austria. Also cattle and sheep graze outside more often than in Austria, although not in the numbers we have in NZ.

OK – soon came the end of sedate driving for now. We were on a motor way – 3 lanes each way and as usual all over Europe large trucks thunder on regardless of who might be in their way – indicating a shift into the second lane as they start to move into said lane with no concerns about who might already be in that place at that time.I am not yet used to these trucks or for travelling in a small seed pod of a vehicle at 130 kms and being passed by cars going more than that. Needless to say we arrived quickly in Prague once we were on that motorway aka 'time machine”. A fascinating drive into this very prosperous city. Our GPS took us to our hotel – what a hotel! We were driven to underground parking for our car ( and back) and liveried door man took our luggage up. All very svelte and extreme attention to detail.  [Stephen - Through some good luck the hotel turned out to be located in the heart of the old city - absolutely amazing atmosphere.]

Square outside the hotel in Prague

Yesterday's blog came to an abrupt end as Stephen came in from his cash searching expedition to whisk me outside into the squares and streets around the hotel. I will leave Stephen to recount the buildings near us and our walks around the old city – just to say that we were excited by all we saw – shops selling gorgeous goods. We found ourselves looking lustfully at crystal – lust increased when we translated the krona into NZ$s! The food stalls had us salivating at 5pm – dinner this night at hotel restaurant we had decided – the buildings so beautiful, so diverse and so surprising with little ally ways leading to such unexpected sites and shops. I am sure , if you have visited Prague, you will know exactly what I mean. Back to dinner at the hotel – very posh. I changed out of my travel creased skirts and top – feeling a bit of a scruff. My soup was amazing, potato and truffle mmmmmmm – I will have to buy a recipe book. I have decided this trip will live in our memories for lots of reasons – by no means least for the wonderful food we have eaten everywhere. Waistline increases but I actually don't care at the moment - time to meat sensibly in NZ

The prices are reasonable in Prague – we had heard this was an expensive city but it seems quite reasonable.

That was all we could manage for the day so it was fall asleep time in this comfy bed!