Goodbye CZ.

Ok people,

This is it, the last post from the Czech Republic. Tomorrow morning we hop on a train and head on into Germany. Slight change of plan though, and instead of Munich, we're heading to Dresden.

Anyways, we've been killing a bit of time in Prague, and it's been pretty spiffy. First we walked to the old town square. In there is this awesome clock, called the astronomical clock. God knows I couldn't figure out how to read it, but apparently you can read the date, the phase of the moon, what constellation in the Zodiac the sun's in front of, and a pile of things I've since forgotten.

It's also got this groovy little act going every hour, on the hour, from 9 till 9. John filmed it, so we'll show you when we get back. All the little figures around it move and stuff!

Anyways. John and I then went on a Segway Tour. It was awesome, John and I got the guide, Paul, all to ourselves. We cruised along the sidewalks, at definately not legal speeds (there's a 10km/h speed limit on Segways in Prague) and saw the sites. We saw a house Einstein lived in, and lots of pretty buildings. Paul was really knowledgable, and right about our age, so it was cool. On a side note, it's amazing how much attention you get when you're riding along on these things, I mean it was scary. Like not making it up, everyone was looking! Must really help with the ladies, I should have asked Paul.
Anyways, here's a couple of pics I snapped along the way, one has Prague castle in the background.



After rolling around the town on our two wheeled chick-magnets we met back up with Mum, and climbed up to Prague castle, it's not much of a castle really, as there are no thick walls, parapets, or battlements of any description. It's more a palace. It has this cathedral inside it, and I'd rank it among the most beautiful inside that we've seen. It's immense inside, yet graceful, if that makes sense. This might help explain.





John and I climbed one of the cathedral towers (mum wasn't game) where I snapped this shot, looking over Prague.














After waiting till they let you into the golden lane for free (no way I'm paying 15 bucks to see a street, full of shops) we busted on it. The golden lane is this little back lane, right near the castle, where somehow original cottages have survived for hundreds of years without someone knocking them down and replacing them with the apartment blocks that are everwhere else. It's very cute. Here's proof.





Our next day in Prague doesn't have many pretty pictures, mainly due to the fact it was raining, and we spent most of it shopping. We did duck into the national museum though, and checked out their dinosaur and anthropological exhibits. It was pretty cool. I decided to add this photo, because the dinosaur is cool, and johns face is funny.















After 10 days in the CZ, I would like to summarise with a few of the interesting customs, arranged by the good, the bad, and the weird.
GOOD-
Nobody wears shoes in homes, nobody. Everyone gets around the house wearing slippers. Because of this, every household has to have a large selection of slippers, in a wide range of sizes, such that they can offer any guests that they have over a pair of slippers to wear around the house. I thought it was very cute, all in all.
Beer restaurants. This is not a restaurant with a wide range of beers, oddly enough. In fact the range is usually rather limited to what's pretty local. In beer restaurants, the beer is not brought in in kegs, or bottles. It seems to be stored in massive steel vats. The beer is served sparkling not with carbon dioxide, but air. The difference is you don't belch, don't feel bloated, and somehow the beer tastes better. A definate good custom.

BAD-
Shower curtains. What the hell happened to the shower curtains? Most bathrooms have a bath, with a hand held shower-head coming off the tap. The bad thing is there is not shower curtain! This is even in bathrooms where there's a place to fix the shower head, making it a proper bath-shower. We could not fathom the reason for this, as we inevitably put water everywhere! This deficiency was compounded by the fact that the bathrooms had no central drain, so any water on the ground had nowhere to go. A definite down point, as I semi-regularly got my towel.

WEIRD-
When people serve their guests dinner, they don't dine with them. Instead, they eat their meals at another time (I never saw them eat?!) such that they may fully wait on their guests. Whilst this had a few advantages, namely that any empty beer in front of you was promptly changed for a new one, it did feel kind of weird, eating whilst your hosts sit nearby, not eating.

Ok then, I hope I've enlightened you all. I must pack and get ready for Dresden!

Bye all
Bob (John's reading, but says hi)