Up we rose this morning to organize a day of sightseeing. We waited around until 9.30 as the lunchtime river cruise many of up had chosen as an optional extra was in doubt due to flooding. Sure enough, the cruise was cancelled and we were given an entire free day.
Our first stop was the Museum of Torture, where we morbidly walked through dark, dungeon-like rooms to read about different methods of torture. While some of them, like the chastity belt were optional (though to prevent rape when women’s husbands were away) others involving the genital region are too gruesome to describe. We were all doing a bit of cringing.
Next up was a stroll to a puppet shop where Justine and I bought our tour manager Megs a marionette monkey. Prague is big on their marionettes, and Megs is big on her monkeys so we thought the combination just fit. We also saw Town Hall in the old square that still has half its side missing as a reminder of the atrocities of WWII. Then it was back to the astronomical clock to hear it strike the hour of midday, with all the little characters – including a skeleton – coming to life to ding the bells. And once they were there, a live trumpet player sounded the hour at the top of the tower. What a job.
Once the music had finished sounding, everyone got their fill of ice cream and Justine had chased a pigeon, we headed back to Charles bridge in search of some Czech cuisine. This time, I got stuck on one side of the road by myself because I’m too polite when the red man is flashing. Pity I was leading everyone to a restaurant I’d seen and they had to wait anyway! I had beef goulash for lunch which was absolutely delicious. I love having an excuse to dip bread into gooey, meat sauce.
When we got out of the restaurant there were police cars everywhere. We got away quickly for fear of being accused of something, but decided that the cash exchange store next to the restaurant had been robbed. It seems like a good story and I’m sticking to it. Then we went our separate ways and Ash, Justine and I wandered around the shopping centre next to our hotel trying to find some t-shirts so Justine didn’t have to wash more until we got to Berlin.
It was a simple dinner – for me, KFC, for Justine, McDonalds – before we headed out to the beer factory. Each table had four taps of beer, which were tallied in litres and how much each table had drunk. It was bus against bus as we tried our worth. Our table was the highest of our bus, reaching third place at one stage. I’d had some flaming absinthe as we’d arrived so after three and a half beers I was ready to go home. Or be taken home. It doesn’t matter, it was a good night even though our bus lost.
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