I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down

So....I've been lazier than usual with this blogging thing, but Prague was gorgeous, and when we weren't out getting some culture (and clothes, shoes and earrings) we were sleeping or eating, leaving no time for blogging! Oh, also we were busy being robbed.

Yes, we were robbed. Our private room was 'broken into' (someone had a spare set of keys and snuck in), and one of Judy's bags was stolen, and also.....Kim's DS. Which I had last, and left badly hidden under her doona. How was I supposed to know that was the day we were going to get robbed? Anyway, to alleviate my horrible guilt, we're going DS shopping in HK, and she'll get a shiny new one. Just call me Santa Claus (who leaves peoples' things out to get stolen).

But moving on.....In the time Kim has written three blogs, I have written none. So not entirely sure how this will turn out. Bear with me, folks.

So Prague. The Czech Republic. Awesome.

We had an awful train ride from Rome via Vienna. We were in a regular 6 seater compartment, and for the first four hours, were sharing with a group of Italians who had been in Rome for the march/political rally. They got off, and Kim and I dragged the curtains closed and shut the door in the vain hope of getting some sleep (it was midnight at this point), but alas, a mentally unbalanced hobo got on and had a seat in our carriage. Slightly terrifying, but mostly just VERY annoying. She kept talking (to us, and then when we failed to respond, to herself), and walking in and out of the compartment for no apparent reason, then made several very loud phone calls (at about 2am). Anyhoo, she got off, and we had a little while to ourselves until 4 Americans got on. They were perfectly pleasant, and the rest of the train ride was just shite due to the horrible cramped conditions and constant interruptions to our much-needed beauty sleep.

Despite these (admittedly pathetic) complaints, I still love the trains - planes have nothing on being able to see the entire stretch of Spanish countryside between Madrid and Barcelona or watching Switzerland fly by as our train meanders in and out of the Alps.

Sooooo.....When we got to Prague, we realised we had NO Czech currency, and more importantly no coins with which to purchase our metro train tickets. So, after much um-ing and ah-ing over how much to withdraw, we got some cashola, thoroughly confused ourselves as to how the bloody system works (they have no cents!), bought our tickets, and with a severely pained Kim in tow (I think it was our food combinations on the train....a little dodgy even for us), I troddled off into Praha central to find our hostel.

Found the hostel, settled in nicely (settling in is my specialty), and went to dinner at a cafe/bookshop right across the road. Lovely.

The next day, we went on a guided tour of this little Czech town named Kutna Hora, on the way checking out an intensely disturbing church decorated with the bones of about 40,000 human skeletons (known, not surprisingly, as the Bone Church). The day trip included a tour of the town itself, the mint (where all the pretty, pretty money came from), a traditional Czech lunch, and a tour of the outside of an awesome Cathedral. All in all, it was really cool, and totally worth the however much we paid.

We also had a wander through the Christmas markets. Let me tell you people, if you go to Prague, go at Christmas time. The Old Town Square was absolutely stunning. These amazing old, Gothic buildings surround the square, and at the moment the square itself is chock-full of these little wooden stalls with scarlet roofing and Christmas lights coming out the wazoo. They were selling everything from amber jewellery to these strange round, hollow rolls covered in sugar. It may sound tacky, but it could not have been more quaint and Christmasey, and being the sucker for Christmas that I am, I loved it.

After having two meals at the same cafe, we decided to branch out and have a meal at a lovely tavern just down the road from our hostel, named The Dog's Bollocks. It was AWESOME. Best steak I've ever eaten outside of home (no dad, they weren't better than yours), and we had broccoli and all sorts of healthy things.........as well as a fair serving of booze.

Kim just called me sweet cheeks. It was weird.

OH! The glass factory. We, being the nerds we are, signed up for a tour of a family-owned crystal factory just outside of Prague. When we rocked up to the tour bus, we were (not so) taken aback when we realised that we were possibly the only two on the tour who didn't qualify for some form of pensioner discount. But it was all good, because we're used to being dorks.

The crystal factory was cool. We got to see glass blowing (not really done by artsy gypsy types, but really by middle-aged dudes with a penchant for muscle shirts, sandals, and no underwear - don't ask how we know), and the cutting/decoration of the individual pieces, and then we were allowed into the store to buy silly amounts of fragile crystal.

Ok, trying to keep it snappy...

Crossed the Charles St Bridge, which was beautiful, did some window shopping, went to Prague Castle (old, castley....you'll see pictures), went home via the bookshop/cafe to have some internet time, and it was then that we were found by a hostel employee to tell us that our room had been broken into, which brings us back to where I started this rant.

Needless to say, the theft was distressing, especially to the Judester, who copped the brunt of the loss, but it was also rad, as we were transported to a police station in a Czech cop car, and waited for over an hour to make a statement. Awesome.

So we're now in Berlin (I'll write more about that later), but just wanted to make a sidenote, explaining the title of this blog. I have been clumsier than normal for the past few days. I have so far managed to slip/fall over in the shower a few times, punch myself in the face while getting dressed, fall down the stairs on the train, fall onto my arse getting off the bunk when my feet slipped out from under me, and tripped down 3 stairs at the hostel, resulting in me doing the-almost splits and nearly getting a hernia from laughing so hard. Hopefully this streak will end, but it's not looking good.......

So, that about does it. We're off to find some food (so, nothing new).

Miss you all lots,

Love,

Lis