Pros: Prague is an amazing place, but don't forget to arrive off-season, and for godsake remember to bring your shoulder pads and crash helmet.
Oh my God, it's a bloody warm one!!!!!!
Well it was certainly the day to make the most of it, the inclement weather that had hampered efforts to get around town without a soaking over the past week had long disappeared.
Transport tickets last for 90 minutes on the weekend, so i decided to grab some late breakfast at my favourite corner store just west of the Charle's Bridge before i launched myself into a day of mayhem. Caught the underground metro over to the suburb of Andel to visit the Mozart Museum, where the man himself finished composing Don Giovanni in 1787.
Still out on the lookout for a decent book, back into the city to no avail, so it wasn't before long that i find myself back in Andel purchasing Salman Rushdie's controversial book, SATANIC VERSES. Hopefully it should provide interesting reading over the coming week as i make my way back into the tranquil old town's in the Czech Republic for some much needed R & R.
Climb the tower of Charle's Bridge to get a better view of the throng below, i can't believe it's now mid-September and supposedly shoulder season, there is no way you will find this little puppy in this city in the midst of summer.
As i make my way over to the old town square, i hear an southern American accent pop out from the crowd, "I tell ya, he is DEAD". As i wake from my peaceful little world i notice a crowd gathered beside the roadside, paramedic's hunched over a middle-aged man on a stretcher, his brown eyes wide open on a expressionless face. Without haste they shove him into the back of the ambulance, to add to the confusion a siren can be heard in the distance as the police hurriedly make their way to the scene. So much is happening around me, i'm trying to absorb what has taken place, but all that i can draw from the situation is, "Gawd, my first sighting of a warm one!".
No time for contemplation as the relentless hustle and bustle continues, this place is not for the faint hearted is all i can say. The way the officers go about their business, it becomes obvious that death on the streets of Prague occurs with monotonous regularity.
It's mid-afternoon by the time i finally make it to the epi-centre of the old town, swarming with American package tourists, eagerly waiting the hourly performance of the gothic astronomical clock that has been performing the same old task since the early 13th century. The place is a haven for pick-pocketers, so having suffered a financial loss in this country already, i avoid the masses by making my way to the top of the town hall tower and to my delight, an exquisite view of the city. Catch a glimpse of nakedness in a photography exhibit as i make my way downstairs, worth a look i say, before i retreat for what's left of the day to one of the three known "tea-houses" in Prague.
Finally get back to the hostel some time before nine, a Finnish guy in the hostel is celebrating his 24th birthday, so i partake in the nocturnal activities of a night on the town. We venture out around 11pm, over the Charles Bridge to the underground Joe's Bar before we hit the clubs, oh boy it's going to be another late one!!!!!!!
Prague is an amazing place, but don't forget to arrive off-season, and for godsake remember to bring your shoulder pads and crash helmet.