May 2006 - Tokyo & Europe
With two more full days left of my trip I decided to see as much as possible, so I marked everything on the map and just like the Louvre I started crossing things out one by one. I started the morning by going to the Museum of Decorative Arts. I partically enjoyed the Graphic Design section and the Clock section.
I stopped next at the Municipal House which had an exhibit on Croatian Art Noveau, very interesting, when I came back outside it had started to rain so I ran into the Powder Tower next door because I wasn't expecting this (my umbrella was very safely stowed in my room). I will also say that after the day I had yesterday, walking around in a T-shirt, this was a complete contrast, I was freezing!
Not wanting to get wet I decided to catch a train out to a shopping centre to have a look around, I was almost tempted to see a movie too but I didn't know if they were subbed or dubbed, so I headed back into the city after having to buy a bottle of water because I was 2 Koruna short of change (about 10 cents). BTW the shopping centre was crap and not worth my effort, the Lonely Planet guide on Prague was definitely written by a man; Not all shopping is created equal! By this time the rain had thankfully stopped so I continued to walk around to see all the buildings. I went out to see the Dancing Building, which I had wanted to see since I first saw a picture of it, quite an amazing building.
I walked back to Old Town Square close to 4pm and I will mention this now, there are SO MANY tourist here. They are like a virus, spreading everywhere (I know I'm one of them, but still). There would have been 500+ in Old Town Square waiting for the Astronomical Clock to chime 4pm and trying to weave your way through all the tour groups was rather annoying, and you couldn't really take any pictures without including people's heads.
I headed across to Mala Stana (the other side of the Vltava River) for dinner and went to this very hip and modern restaurant with a view of the Charles Bridge. I hadn't made a booking, so I didn't get a view from my table but the food was still good. I had Chicken Fajitas, but it was a DIY Fajita, they bought a little frypan with your chicken, capsicum and onion and then you had little bowls of Guacamole, Salsa, Sour Cream and Cheese. It was kind of fun and made dinner a little longer than my normal get food, stuff face.
I walked back down the hill and headed to Old Town Square for another Hot Dog ($1.60 and yummy, I'll have another tomorrow!). Finished seeing all the buildings that I wanted to see and started heading to the Museum of Czech Cubism.
On my way there I noticed two guys just ahead turn to look at me a few times. Then they came up to me and asked if I spoke English and told me they were trying to find a tourist information centre with a very dodgey map. Don't fear people the alarm bells were going in my head before they even approached me and I kept my hand firmly on my bag. When he spoke English he had an accent and then pronounced the street name that was on his map perfectly, where anyone else might have stumbled. I told them I had no idea, but the street that was on their map was over there and walked away. I think they wanted to distract me, or get me to open my bag to pull out a map... neither of which I was going to be stupid enough to do.
So, I continued on my way to the Museum of Czech Cubism, which was pretty small but very interesting, after that I wondered back to the Hotel, connected to the internet and started my blog. Now I have to start getting ready for my final dinner in Prague and the last supper of my amazing trip. I shall write one more blog on the way home and then sign off, until I go on a wild and wacky adventure again!