Prague

Wednesday before easter.
We had snow! All winter it didn't snow and all of a sudden it is spring and it snows? took photos from out my window and in the street, can't see it to well. Melting as soon as it hit the ground. Got into Poznan and it had started gathering on the ground. Camera battery ran out! We got to the main square and it was covered in snow, absolutely amazing, trust me, couldn't get pictures. Stayed in Wroclaw (also covered in snow) that night with one of Martin's ex host families. Magda (the daughter) showed us some of the hidden good places to out, got home about 4am.

Thursday
Woke up about 12, had to get transport to prague so packed quickly, got some photos of snow battery now charged and went to travel agent. Found out about a bus but not trains. Went to train station. Polish travel system really easy to use except when you want to leave the country. Couldn't find any trains, couldn't find the bus station. Evantually found bus station, it was just out the back. 5 mins late for the bus, bus 30 mins late so luckily still caught it. Bus trip was about 6 hours with some amazing scenery, crossing the border was just like going from VIC to NSW. Got to prague, found my hostel, tired, fell asleep.

Friday
Spent the morning getting lost in the alleyways of Prague. Met up with Laura and her friends at Prague castle. Her friends also from Euroa and they play hockey. We saw the changing of the guards. There was one guard who looked as though it was his first time. He could sense the change coming and became really fidgetty. The other guy looked as though he was loving it, actually he didn't, he didn't look like he was feeling anything, just standing there completely motionless. Changing of guards a very popular thing, may people there, didn't get to see it all. Walked around the castle a fair bit. St. Vitus cathedral quite spectacular. Went to Prague market, really disappointing. The food in Prague is absolutely awesome and really cheap. Getting excellent dishes in restaurants cost about $6, so did that a fair bit. Didn't quite live off bread and cheese as palnned to save money, rather massive plates of meat - pork, ham, duck usually, goulash, soup. Thurs night had duck.

Saturday
Woke up early to go to Kutna Hora. Spent the morning waiting. Planned to meet Laura and her friends at 9:15 to catch a 9:45 train. (Handy hint. If ever planning on going somewhere and are meeting up with a group of teenage girls, do not expect them to be on time, make sure you have time in hand). Girls were late, by the time made it to the station and figurred out exactly where to get tickets he had missed train, had to wait two hours for the next one. Not all bad, got to watch a woman have a go at a man with a walking stick. Both people seemed quite annoyed, don't know how it started but quite interesting to watch. Got to Kutna Hora and there was a market on, that was good, better than prague market and Kutna Hora is just a small town. We went to the ossuary. Inside were the bones of 40,000 people used to make all sorts of things like a coat of arms and a chandelier. A bit creepy. Then walked to the town square, empty - presumably everyone at the market. Then we went to St. Barbara cathedral. It is said to rival St.Vitus in magnificance. At first we couldn't find it and were starting to doubt the claim. He were wrong. He walked around a corner and wow! You could hear conversations stop as peoplewalked around the cathedral. Had wild boar goulash with gingerbread dumplings for lunch. Delicious. Had to run last 100m to train station to make sure we caught our train. This time we couldn't miss it, Laura needed to got back to catch a train to Bratislava.

Sunday
Decided to just walk around the city and look at everything. Walked mainly along the river, went back to the castle, got some good views of the city. Lunch was amssive, called the farmers plate. It had smoked pork, duck and roast ham as well as potato pancakes and bread dumplings. Once settled kept me going for the rest of the day. Checked into another hostel, my other one was booked out. Met these two Americans currenly living on the Croatian coastline and said that I could stay with them whenever I felt like it if I wanted to go to Croatia, score free accomadation.

Monday
Today I went to Czeny Krumlov. Is described as a fairytale medieval town and is a fairytale medieval town. This town was absolutely brilliant. It has a castle with gardens in which you can sit in for hours, little alleyways everywhere, a river running through it and some cafes with good hot chocolate to get away from the cold. Had to stand on a bus for an hour of the journey on the way there, a bit annoying but definitely worth it. Had awesaome lunch, it was beef cooked in cream with bread dumplings, again absolutely delicious. I love czech food it is fantastic!

Tuesday
Thought that a bus was leaving at 12:30, turns out the only one to wroclaw left at 9:00. Spent the day just filling in time. It snowed so i went to the main square to get some photos. For easter the main square was full of markets, they were good for a quick bite to eat. When at the bus stop I heard an Australian accent, looked up and it turned out to be Bec and Mel, two gappers. What luck, they were catching bus to Warsaw, i knew they were in prague but couldn't contact them so i was unable to meet up with them. Made the bus trip better. Didn't want to fall asleep in case i wound up i warsaw.

Wednesday
Arrived in wroclaw at 1:30am and had to catch a train to Poznan at 2:00. First time i had a carriage to mysely on polish trains. Got some sleep but definitely didn't want to be asleep around eta because the stations aren't well marked and you could easily arrive at a station not knowing where it was, but i do know Poznan station fairly well but just in case had alarm set. Arrived Poznan about 4:20 which meant by the time walked to bus there would be one going to Owinska. On the way there I saw someone stumbling a bit with another person. All of a sudden i recognised the jacket, it was Martin. What are the chances, 4:40 in the morning and we meet up? he missed the bus at 12:30 to Owinska. He thought i was going to be in the room when he got back, i thought he was going to be in the room when i got back, turns out no one had to wake the other one up. When we got back to Owinska there was some snow on the ground so i got some photos as proof. Puddles were frozen over, however temperatures having been increasing since then. The other day i wore a t-shirt for the first time.