Prague, day 3

My alarm went off at eight, and I got up to have breakfast. Robin and Andrew were already up, so we were ready to step out the door at about 9 a.m. We retraced their steps from the day before until we got to the entrance to the Mala Strana park. We had a pretty big climb to get to the top, and the boys went clambering up between the paths. I found the most unusual slug I’ve ever seen. I dubbed it Mary.

At the top of Mala Strana, we came across a beautiful rose garden, and a pile of offcuts after pruning. This was a good opportunity for fun. I took a hilarious photo of Robin and Andrew tangoing, adorned with roses, and Andrew arranged some in my hair and then proceeded to take many photos of them.

We found our way easily to the mini Eiffel tower (hoping that people wouldn’t think that we’d stolen the roses off the bushes), and Robin went up it while Andrew and I rested and ate. Robin enjoyed the climb and the view. We moved on in search of the Strahov monastery, but had to concede that we wouldn’t find it and so went in search of St Nicholas church. We arrived back out on a road, and very strangely, found ourselves next to the Strahov monastery. We couldn’t go in, but it was baroque and absolutely beautiful. We didn’t have time to go into the library.

We headed down a hill packed with tourist shops, finding an antique instrument shop on the way that had baroque-style flutes for 8000 crowns, and the first of the marionette shops. At the bottom, we found St Nicholas, but again decided that we didn’t have time to go in. After walking on a bit further in search of the Lennon wall, Sandy came flying at Robin, and the rest of the others followed. They’d just got off a tram on the way to meet Simon at the astronomical clock. I’d been handed a flier that settled the Vltava/Moldau argument and Nik spotted it immediately. I told him about the antique instrument shop, and he couldn’t believe that I hadn’t tried to play one.

We all moved on to the Lennon wall, and I took lots of photos. I was amused to see some Paul McCartney lyrics written on there. Sandy wanted to leave a Bison message on the wall, and so got on Robin’s shoulders to do so. Then he found idiot box number three and climbed into it with Clare. Nik soon joined them. Then Doug, Alex and Robin joined them. Nik insisted that I get in too, and took some photos with my camera.

By now, we were late meeting Simon, and so we went speedily over the Charles Bridge (crowded and overrated I think), and eventually found the clock, and Simon. It was lunch time, so Simon suggested that we go to a restaurant he’d found playing jazz. Everyone agreed, so we made our way there. They had a three-course tourist menu for 300 crowns. Most of us got a half-litre of Budvar, which I enjoyed very much. I had a salad for my starter and everyone else had soup. Most people had goulash for main, but Nik and I had a mixed grill that was very tasty (he finished mine off). Most of us had chocolate pancakes for dessert.

Time was getting on, and I had to leave before the bill came. This was quite disappointing, because I’d wanted to go with them to see the metronome and the Jewish quarter.

Sandy jumped up and hugged me, and then steered me towards everyone else to hug them. It only lasted as far as Simon because I stopped him. Nik hugged me and asked me to let him know when I was home safe. Then Andrew got up, walked up, put his arms around me and picked me up! I shouted in surprise. Then I left.

I walked to Namesti Republiky, walked all around it, but couldn’t find the place where I’d been dropped off from the airport. So I reverted to the knowledge I’d got from Google maps before I’d left, saying that the Hilton was the next block up. I found the Hilton, but unfortunately it was the wrong one. By this time I’d missed the 3 p.m. shuttle, and had to get a taxi to the right Hilton in time for the 3.30 p.m. I was in plenty of time for my flight, in fact I had to wait a while for them to announce the gate. We boarded without incident, and I nodded off a few times on the way home. At Stansted I missed my coach by seconds, and so had to wait for the next one an hour later. I filled in the time looking at my great photos.

Then I was home.

Prague, day 2

I slept until 9am, but was very tired still. Another beautiful, hot day. Andrew and Robin had already gone for a walk along the river, and the others started to appear. I ate breakfast and had a shower. Nik and Sandy went to fix up the apartment people for the glass Sandy had broken the night before. By the time we were all back and ready to walk out the door, it was about midday. I’d said to Nik that we should have been out earlier. He said he agreed, and suddenly rounded everyone up. The plan was to get lunch first, and we stopped at a Giros place on the way to the metro station. It was so hot that I couldn’t face anything hot, so I ate a salad and bought a roll to take with me. It was decided that I would do my long itinerary the next day and that we’d go to Vyšehrad.

We set off walking up past where we’d got the cake, and over the bridge, snapping photos as we went. Robin finally found a Snoop Dogg poster and Nik was forced to grovel and apologise for doubting him. We crossed the road on the far side of the bridge to look at a statue. We crossed back and walked along the river bank, and Robin and Sandy found the first idiot box quite quickly. They were quite restrained though, acting out what looked like an eighteenth century drama.

By the time they got to idiot box number two, they were right in the swing. Nik and Simon started it, and everyone joined in. There were such gems as the ‘man pose’ with Sandy, Robin and Nik, after which Robin grabbed Sandy, pulled him out the back of the box and Nik and Robin carried him over to Andrew and put him in his lap. Simon pulled a muscle pose, then Nik grabbed him and picked him up. Then Sandy and Clare being a scared young couple with Nik menacing them, complete with claws and teeth. We took a timed photo of all of us, only it’s a revolting shot of me.

We gradually got everyone moving again, and walked through a traffic tunnel in search of the entrance to Vyšehrad. We went too far, so pulled out the maps to sort ourselves out. Without being sure of whether we’d get there, we plunged blindly up the hill, through lovely green country and tunnels, and somehow found ourselves inside the entrance. After all that effort, we stopped for an ice cream, and Sandy and Clare decided they wanted to go back to the apartment. First, though, we walked around the top of a look-out and took some photos. I walked to the opposite corner and spied a roundabout down at the bottom of the park. I alerted Nik to it, who alerted Robin to it, and they plotted an attack on Doug to get him on it (for a reason that still escapes me).

They blindfolded him, sat him on it, and pushed it around. Doug jumped off immediately, but was soon back on and having fun, as was everyone.

This fun included giving Nik high fives on the way past, and smacking Sandy’s backside, and Andrew and me taking action shots of the roundabout in motion. We found a non-functional water fountain.

It was time to move on, and those of us who wanted to found the cemetery, and went in search of Smetana and Dvorak. I found Smetana, and someone else found Dvorak. We stopped for a little rest, then went in search of the museum in the dungeons. The dungeons were from a building that no longer existed. Nik was particularly amused that the King, not being very partial to his brother, the bishop, built a new palace to get away from him.

It was now time to get back to get ready for the opera, and so back at the bottom of the hill, we caught a tram back to the apartment.

We had showers and spruced ourselves up. While I was having my shower, they all started inventing their own board game, called Destination Westwood (I wasn’t part of the joke) and headed out for dinner first. It was similar to the search for cake: there just weren’t many places to go. We eventually settled on a Mexican place and ate in record time so that we wouldn’t be late. Robin asked me whether I’d mind if he came on my long, early morning mission the next day. I agreed enthusiastically.

We ran to the tram stop, got a tram, and walked fast through the shopping precinct, only just making it to the theatre in time. We walked up lots of stairs and found our seats. I was between Simon and Alex. I was disappointed because it was not the same theatre as in the guidebook, which I’d showed everyone. The orchestra was very good, and Donna Anna was amazingly good. Other cast, like Leporello and Masetto were good, but Don Giovanni couldn’t project his voice, and kept getting behind the beat. I was also put off by the small company, and so missed Nik’s huge ‘Don Giovan-ni!’ moment. It felt like half the action was missing. I don’t think that Nik was wonderfully impressed either, but he certainly didn’t complain.

We filed out, and went in search of ice cream and pubs, but finding neither, we looked for the nearest metro station and got off at Andel. Except we took an exit we’d never taken before and ended up a little bit lost. Nik and someone went on a reconnaissance mission and found where we were meant to be. So we got back to the apartment close to midnight, and after talking to Nik briefly about my plan for the next day, I almost immediately went to bed. And slept like a log.

Prague, day 1

I got the 4.30 a.m. coach from Parkers Piece, arriving at Stansted at 5.30. I had some breakfast, which was a mistake, because it took me longer than I expected to get through security, and consequently I was one of the last three people onto the plane.

The flight took an hour and a half, with a 90 mph tailwind and an annoying child behind me. Coming over the Czech Republic into Prague was amazing. The houses really looked like brand new shiny toys, and I spotted some extremely green, dense, conifer-style forests. The temperature shot up the instant I got off the plane.

I got some cash, persuaded a man on the exchange counter to break my 1000 čK note, and went in search of the shuttle bus to the city. I found it easily, and paid my 120 čK (£4) for the journey. I took off a layer of clothing and rolled up my jeans to deal with the warmth. The shuttle took me to V Celnici, right near the Old Town Hilton, and I spotted Nik walking towards me almost immediately after. He stopped dead in front of me and loudly sang ‘Don Giovan-ni!’ before even saying hello. What a welcome.

We first went to pick up the opera tickets from the office in Ovocny, surprising a man with no shirt on. Then Nik managed to take me the scenic way through the not-so-nice parts of town in his mission to cancel the hostel for the Wednesday night, charging across roads in front of traffic, and we had a very bizarre game of charades involving monsters and Munsters while he was on the phone to the apartment people. Then to the nearest station, and he roundly insulted me for validating my train ticket the wrong way, but I won the escalator race. The train ticket cost 330 čK (£11) for three days, and included buses and trams as well. Bargain!

We found our way back to Anděl station, and the apartment, where everyone was thankfully dressed and ready to go. Sandy gave me a giant hug, and I met those who I didn’t know (Robin, Doug, Clare and Alex). The plan was to get some lunch and go to the castle, so all nine of us trooped outside, and back to Anděl station, where the others bought their own train tickets. Nik went on to confirm the apartment booking. In the interminable time it took the others to get their tickets, Nik met us back at the station, then we all went to the nearby tram stop. Simon was in charge of tram navigation, and he did well. We got off near the castle, and voted for lunch on the run. Nik charged off across the road in front of a tram towards a hot dog stand, and the rest of us got sprayed by a council truck. We ate, then started to head up the hill towards the castle. On the way we found a statue of Churchill that proved to be an idiot trap: photos were taken. We kept on, stopping briefly at the lookout, and then bought our entry tickets to the castle. They were 125 čK for students.

The castle itself was uninteresting architecturally, but St Vitus cathedral within it was spectacular. It was very gothic, and very black, and very tall. There was a big queue to get in, so we just dawdled around it for a while. Nik managed to get in and out very quickly, but Andrew and I still hadn’t been in and wanted to. So we all split up: some going to the old royal palaces, possibly elsewhere, and Andrew and I joined the queue. He knows a lot about architecture and windows, and so we had a good old chat, and took photos with our nearly matching cameras. The stained glass was absolutely gorgeous, and the light was reflecting through onto the pillars.

We met some of them back at the obelisk, and still had ten minutes to quickly see the old royal palaces. I took some photos of the beautiful ceiling and pillars, but a man asked us whether we had photography passes, so I put the camera away. We went quickly out onto the balcony, and I warned Andrew not to look over the edge because he gets bad vertigo (he still had a glance and regretted it).

We met the others back at the obelisk, and wandered back down the hill. Nik really wanted to see the Kafka museum, and so we went off in search of that. On the way, Andrew spotted that Nik had walked straight past an ice cream shop, and so we stopped in, and I had coffee and ‘smetana’ (cream), which was extremely good, and phenomenally cheap.

I wasn’t sure about going into the Kafka museum, but in the end, most people were, and it was cheap, so I went in. I knew nothing about him, and I didn’t learn much in terms of basic information, but I now know a lot about his frame of mind. One of the video exhibits was playing Smetana’s Moldau, and Nik commented about it being called Vltava. I said that I was 90% sure that it was called the Moldau; he was 90% sure that it was called Vltava. There was a mirror room to represent the endless bureaucracy of the office, which made cool circular patterns when you stood in a particular place. We went and sat in a nice park outside the museum for a while, then made our way back to the apartment.

Once there, Robin, Sandy, Doug and Andrew went shopping for the makings of pasta carbonara for dinner, and some breakfast things. Once they were gone, and I had started to help with the washing up, Nik told me about the plan to get Doug a cake for his birthday. So I went with Alex to try and find a shop that sold cakes. This proved more difficult than Nik anticipated. He suggested walking in the direction of the metro station, but there were just no food shops at all. So we turned left instead of right (to the metro station), and found even less joy. Just as we were giving up, I turned and saw a coffee sign. We tried there, and there were slices of delicious-looking cake. This was good enough for us, so we grabbed them and went back to the apartment before Doug et al returned. Nik continued translating the rules for the Bison game that he’d bought for Doug from German into English.

They got back, and Robin started cooking dinner while we read and ate crisps and those pretzel sticks. I think some card games broke out before dinner, and most people gave me their cheques for the opera. This resulted in my name being written on a piece of paper for spelling purposes, and Nik drew a picture of ‘Mary’ below it, in honour of all the Marys that he’d been working with in Erfurt cathedral. This was a running theme throughout the trip, but Mary was usually quite a scary figure. I looked at that piece of paper later on, and Nik had added ‘Mary’ as my middle name. Nik also asked me what my sightseeing plans were.

We ate, played some more card games (I was introduced to Bang and to that other one with the changing rules). Then the cake came out, and Doug’s present. Nik hadn’t finished translating, and Doug spotted that it was in German quite quickly. There was more card gaming, including Uno, and then Bison was ready to go. I was put in a team with Nik and Robin, but Robin bowed out. Nik understood the rules better than anyone, which involved placing a prairie/mountain/river tile and attempting to get the biggest territory possible with the most bison, fish and turkeys on it, so quite naturally, we won. Somehow.

We moved on to Mwahahahaha, but Simon had forgotten the rules, so we went back to Bang. We played until 5am, and by then I was quite good at it, so it was very fun. Sandy, as sheriff, managed to kill one of his deputies (Nik) in record time. Andrew didn’t appear to be playing by any rules in particular. In one of the last games, I was a Deputy, and I thought Nik was a Deputy too. He was the renegade, and he thought that I was an outlaw. But when the other Deputy was revealed, we couldn’t believe we weren’t on the same side. He’d been sheepish about disarming the sheriff, and I’d been helping Nik and shooting at the other Deputy. So then the game dragged on and on, with us turning on each other, until someone got killed. It was great fun.

Nik moved upstairs with Doug and Alex so that I could have his bed in the room with Robin and Andrew.

Margate to Broadstairs and home to Cambridge

And started early the next morning. It was thankfully gloriously sunny now. I went down for breakfast, and they were singing again. I elbowed through the masses and went into the kitchen. The woman was very apologetic, and offered me breakfast out the back in the sun. It was lovely.

I set off walking back into Margate to get myself a hat, only none of the shops were open at 9.30. So I started my walk to Broadstairs (10 km) with the sun in my eyes, and minimal sunscreen. The first part was on a concrete promenade, then a section of sand, then a lovely grassy slope where I stopped for a breather, then around some cliffs, past a castle, along a road, up a path, down around another road, and up onto some more cliffs, and then I was in Broadstairs.

It couldn't be more different to Margate. It's tasteful, beautiful, happy, and there were hordes of people there for a folk festival (which I had known about but didn't think it'd be so big). There was morris dancing, and music, and kiddies shows and random music, and markets. I bought a hat, had a little walk, then got fish and chips to eat on the beach, and an ice cream. I had lots of time before my bus, so had another little walk towards Ramsgate, but came back to Broadstairs to check out the pier and some of the streets. Pier was boring, streets were nice, but uninteresting. So I went to the markets and bought two skirts. Then I went up the main street to wait for the local bus.

I got on, and had a nice trip back to Canterbury. Thankfully, I got back in time for the coach. The coach driver had a stand-up with some guy who wanted to get on without a proper ticket. Then we got stuck in a massive traffic jam just before the M2, making us 50 minutes late, so I knew I'd miss my connection to Cambridge. Somehow, the driver made up the time later.

We drove into a huge black cloud over London and it started raining again, and I just got to my Cambridge bus at Victoria in time. But it was running late, and that driver had a stand-up with another guy. We left half an hour late. Then we stopped to pick up more people at Stratford, and the driver had ANOTHER stand-up, and had to call head office twice, making us another half hour late. It was painful. Anyway, we got back to Cambridge eventually, and I walked home and crashed. Good bits, bad bits, but all interesting. V glad I went.

Canterbury and Margate

Got the bus from Parker's Piece at 7.45, changed at Victoria for the Dover bus. The driver of this bus was so funny! For example, he asked everyone to not have their mp3 players too loud, especially if we were listening to Cliff Richard. And then he went up the bus to open the skylight, and I heard him say to someone, 'You can't be cold! Weirdo!'. Anyway, it started to rain in London, and just kept raining.

I got off at Canterbury and had a wander through the shops (including Kew, and I couldn't find anything to buy). Got a crepe, kept walking down the main street to the West Gate and the Guildhall gardens and the river (v pretty). Then back up to the cathedral, which was closed for the next hour and a half. So I explored some streets - there are some amazing old timbered houses there. I got some sweets, then walked to the Norman castle. It's sad that people kept pulling bits of it down throughout history so there's not much left. Then back to the cathedral, which is really awe-inspiring. Henry IV and Edward II are buried there. Beautiful glass.

Anyway, back to the bus station, and caught a local bus to Margate, through the rain. I got off near the hostel, which was right on the seafront. I walked through the door. And was convinced that I'd walked into a 1950s hospital. There were people sitting everywhere. The men were wearing army greens, and the women were wearing these red, white and blue uniforms with little peaked hats like nurses wear. Feeling a little lost because there was no sign of a reception desk, and convinced that I'd walked into the wrong place, I asked where reception was. Someone went to get a woman from the kitchen, and she confirmed that I was in the right place, and took me into reception. She said that a church group was booked in for the weekend. I went up to my room, and thankfully it was otherwise unoccupied, very cute, and with a big window facing the sea. At about this time, the gospel singing started downstairs.

I went into the centre of Margate, and was thoroughly depressed by the run-down-ness and tack of the place, and with the packs of roving chavs. I had the wonderful choice of KFC or Domino's for dinner. I skedaddled back to the hostel, had a shower and went to bed. Noise from the other occupants continued late into the night.