Praha

Of all the cities we have been to so far, this is hands down my absolute favourite.  Part of that may be that we are meeting Marty and Drea here but the city is just the perfect combination of things I never knew were important to me.  The history of the last 100 years, the mix of old and new, and the much wider streets with nature, oh and Cannabis and Absinthe shops on most corners.

Our first night here, we meet up with the family and head out to dinner based on recommendations from Marty and Drea’s friends.  I’m pretty sure every city that they go to - they know someone living there and so get a much more local itinerary and recommendation, which we are thankful for.

After being flat out refused at the pizza place for a table for 6, we head over the bridge past the dancing house to the second recommendation - a poke bowl place.  We see the Mexican restaurant just in front of it, and as the waitress / owner speaks fluent Spanish and lived in Melbourne for a while, we decide Mexican is where it's at tonight.

The next day we booked a walking tour based on the history of post war communism and the giant nuclear bunker.  Wow, do I have a new appreciation for the resolve of Czechs and Slovaks after this tour.  I think about the “witch on the first floor” in Bratislava, and chide myself a little for judging her constant sour demeanor and expressions.  Knowing what life was like for her living through this period of change has me disappointed in my ignorance.

We get to try on some of the officers' uniforms in the bunker, it's at least 10 degrees colder down below and feels fantastic.  The bunker is still functioning and used by the police and other agencies but is mostly a museum of a time I can’t even comprehend.  As we descend down into the bunker, the siren’s go off, so you get to hear what it would have been like if a nuclear attack was imminent.  

We casually posed with bombs, assault rifles and grenades, all the while knowing that although this was the biggest bunker in Prague, it would never hold more than 5000 people (20% of the population at the time) and only for approx 3 - 5 days.  Then you had to take your chances to get out of the fallout zone which was approx 50 km from the epicenter.  So your chances of survival were pretty slim if Prague got hit with a nuclear bomb.

As Uncle Marty and Aunty Drea are with us, Gareth and I get a bit of a reprieve from the kids.  We are no longer the centre of their world, and we basically all bombard them with conversation.  It would have been exhausting for them traveling and then being set on by all of us.  It's probably the same way Bob and Barb got swamped when they met us in Split.

Apparently you can’t come to Czech and not eat a Chimney cake, or at least according to Marty and the kids.  These things look and taste sickly.  And the incessant wasps in Bratislava and Vienna who are trying to eat your meat, are coming for your ice cream in Prague.  Drea has the statue pose down pat, and I'm flinging my arms around trying to kill them all.  Don’t quote me on it, but I think the only one to finish the sickly ice cream cake was Marty.

Earlier in the day while looking for where the tour started, we didn’t get time to appreciate the surroundings, but with icecreams in hand, we got to marvel at the square that has Prazsky orloj and Chram Matky Bozi pred Tynem.  The first is the Astronomical Clock, considered a national treasure, it served as the center of the Prague uprising against the Nazi’s at the end of WW2.  The second, and one of my favourite places on this trip is also known as Tyn Church. It is so unique as a gothic statement on the landscape with nothing in common with its surrounding architecture.  

And that's Prague, a mixture of architecture, old and new and then very futuristic.  I love this place.