Two Weeks Away

Originally we were planning on leaving Prague in the morning to get back to Berlin in the late afternoon, but we decided to change the train to a later one, in order to get a bit more time in this glorious city.

We were resolved to start early, but even thought we’d checked out and left the hotel by 10am, we were quickly foiled in this attempt by accidentally buying shoes. We came across a Doc Martens shop, and both bought a pair of the same shoes (“Vanessa” if you’re interested!) I really liked a pair of animal print heels, but they weren’t quite as comfy or as practical as the heeled sandals we bought. Which shaved off half an hour from the morning’s sightseeing time.

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, the main museum at the end of Wenceslas Square was closed, which meant we weren’t quite as late as we might have been, getting to lunch with I. We managed to drag her away from work again, and she was going to show us a great place to get traditional Czech food, the Imperial Hotel. Unfortunately it was booked out, so we ended up heading back to Municipal House to try out the “traditional beer pub” in the basement. Gorgeous tile work and great, if a little stodgy, food. I had the goulash and D had another go at Bohemian Ribs, accompanied by Czech “rum” (potato based, apparently, and quite aromatic) and Coke. Nothing like good old Barcardi ‘n’ Coke, I promise! Have it with a drizzle of lemon juice and it’s very tasty.

We rushed out on the tram to the museum near I.’s place to see if we could get some good last minute souvenirs, but they had condensed their gift shop, and we were forced to add to our collection of Mucha postcards.

Then we said a reluctant farewell to I. and to Prague and headed back to the train station to clickety-clack our way back to Berlin.

We arrived, checked into our hotel, and crashed!

Thursday:We had big plans of doing laundry in the morning, picking up our bags from the other hotel, hitting the Trippen outlet so D could drool over more shoes, and then visit museums on Museum Island, before catching up with my aunt and cousins who’d arrived in Berlin yesterday. Unfortunately the weather conspired against us, and a heavy drizzle all morning made walking cold and miserable. We split up to make things easier – D stayed with the washing while I went over to the Holiday Inn, inadvertently not locating the tram stop which would make all this much easier, and so I walked 15 mins in the freezing drizzle to the train station. Once I’d balanced all the bags around my person, I did find the tram back, so that was a relief!

At that point it was time to meet D’s acquaintance, K. She’s been living here for a few months and is much more knowledgeable than us on useful things like navigating the public transport system! Very useful when we were trying to stay out of the rain while finding the Trippen outlet in Kreuzberg. After some trains, stopping for a coffee (which was really nice-tasting coffee even though the waiter’s reaction to my request of a chai latte was “We don’t do yoga here”!) and walking around the back streets of Kreugberg, we located it.

This place was more easy to navigate than the gallery we’d visited last week, which involved asking the assistant to check for a size/colour, she rus off down the back, checks and comes back to tell you the answer. This shop had piles of shoeboxes of similar styles, with sizes and colours all in the same pile, similar to a Shoe Show kind of place. I did find one or two that I liked, and since the prices were generally less than half price, I did allow myself to be tempted by a pair of red cross-heeled shoes. D must have tried on every pair of women’s shoes in the shop, and eventually decided on 5 pairs. She said this was her Trippen pilgrimage trip – I’m not sure I was aware of this when I signed up! I promised her a three hour stint in a bellydance costume shop to pay her back sometime in the future!

Since it was getting late, we didn’t have time for museums, so we dragged our shoes back to the hotel briefly to unload, then headed out for dinner with the family. As we were walking towards the underground station, we saw white flecks in the air. It wasn’t just drizzling anymore, it was actually snowing! Yay!

We were eating at my cousin R’s place – he shares a flat in Friedrichshain. Almost the whole family was there – my aunt and three of my cousins. They were all ecstatic to see the snow, too, apart from R who has been living here for a while now, and is a bit sick of the cold!

It was great to see them, and we had a tasty dinner, sloshed down with quite a bit of wine. Fabulous!

The trains here are pretty easy to navigate – the hardest thing is that you actually need to go to a station ticket office to get a reservation to use for the international trains (like the Berlin – Prague one we were catching) if you have a Eurail pass. However, since the pass itself cost us 279euro, and the return trip from Berlin to Prague alone costs 200euro, I was pretty happy for that slight inconvenience!

The Berlin HBF is huge, but it’s well signed, so relatively easy to find the place you want, and there are diagrams for each train so you know which section of the platform to wait at! We found snacks before getting on the train – delicious fresh salads and fruit salads, amazing-looking fruit bread for D, and some ultra strong coffees. I had the first Chai Latte I’ve had here, and it was deluxe! Very spicy and delish. And hey, they have books in the vending machines!

The train was pretty uneventful, but we saw a few more examples of Germany’s dedication to renewable energy, this time wind farms. The scenery started getting incredibly picturesque by the time we reached the Czech border just south of Dresden, with steep river valleys, a ruined castle or two in the distance, and lots of old buildings.

Prague looks pretty much exactly as I’d envisioned. Lots of old, ornate buildings and old, ornate churches and old, ornate theatres etc etc. We wandered out for a reconnoitre along the river, found the iconic Charles Bridge and had a walk to the other side, fortified in the freezing cold by a nice cup of hot wine! Not quite as strong as the stuff in Berlin, but it certainly helps warm things up.

For dinner we checked out the next door restaurant, which happens to be the breakfast room of the hotel as well! Yummy, cheap food: I had the duck breast (wow!) and D had a delicious traditional ribs and a local beer. ($1.50 beer!!)