Wednesday, December 4, 2024

Prague Day One

Today I was wide awake about 4am. I ventured out around 6am to the local metro station to get us 72 hour passes for trains, trams and buses. 

It was raining quite heavily, dark and only 1 degree cold. Thankfully no wind so not too bad. I got the passes and returned. Then Helen suggested 8 go out again to find us some water and other drinks. What was the closest supermarket was inside a 5 story mall, it was open so I had to find me way there. Mission accomplished, I returned with food and drink.

Helen had booked in at 10am to have a small tattoo done on her wrist with an artist she met online. She went off alone to do that, while my job was to find somewhere to exchange currency (which I ended up not needing) and then meet up with her. I have nearly two hours to spare so I took the long way, walking across one of the many old stone bridges. Here was my view.


 I then caught a team and found a mall nearby her appointment and sat in the foodcourt to write some blog. By midday I figured she would be done soon, so headed to stand outside where I thought she would be. Turns out, she would be another 45 minutes.

Once we met up, we found the nearest tram and jumped on. We headed into the bustling centre of Prague to find some lunch. We found a place that specialised in Ribs, we realise this is not very Czech authentic, but yummy! The ribs were generous and I had a couple of large beers, so by the time we left were feeling very satisfied. We had already walked a fair distance, and now walked more, to find a random tram and take a ride wherever. Turns out we took Tram 22, a very important tram route that goes up to Prague Castle and beyond. So we rode it to the end of the line and back down to the city. Amazing how steep an uphill the trams can do.

Nearby our hotel is the same shopping mall I went to earlier, so we went to buy more some milk and water. Also outside there is another smaller Christmas Markets. I had lost my beanie hat the day before so bought a new hat to keep my head and ears warm, then we headed  back to our hotel.

Right outside our hotel is a Absinthe Bar. We've never had Absinthe so decided to venture in. We did not know what to expect, but kind of expected to drink some nasty tasting shots and be on our way.

The place was underground, in fact went three floors underground, with each floor adorned with all sorts of random, scary and kitsch items. We walked down to the bottom, an old cellar from centuries ago, that still smells of old wood and alcohol. We were the only customers, and there was only one staff member. He was super helpful, explaining all about Absinthe including its history, how it is made, different varieties, and then recommended two for us to try. There was plenty of theatre as he burned off the alcohol, caramelised some sugar with the flames, and finally had a special fountain to mix water very slowly and gently into the drink. All most interesting and much more than we expected! One of the drinks was rather nice, the other not so much, we sipped on them for about half an hour before leaving.


Having already had plenty of food and alcohol for the day, we didn't venture out again in the evening. We had walked 11.96km today.

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