Prague Day 4

Prague Zoo
After spending the first 3 days almost non stop sightseeing, we opted for something more relaxing on day 4 of our trip - Prague Zoo was described as Prague's hidden gem, but seeing as there was a road sign almost outside our hotel we decided it couldn't be that hidden.
How wrong were we?!
The lovely reception guy at Miss Sophie's told us if we got to Nádraží Holešovice that there was a nice relaxing walk through Letna Park that would take 40 minutes or 20 mins brisk walk.
It took almost an hour of brisk walking after having to double back around the expo grounds next to the Tesla arena, however it was worth an exploration with it's fantastic Art Deco buildings



So after a prolonged walk across the park, across the river to Troja and then the Zoo sign posts vanishing, we managed to see a group of school kids and decided to follow, luckily this lead us to the Zoo rather than making us seem creepy.
So we paid the approx £5 entry fee for the day (for a mere £18 you can get a yearly pass!) and entered into the most amazing environment and were immediately face with brightly coloured Macaws.
It just wasn't like any zoo I've ever been to, whilst some areas were 'enclosed' by nets (I assume to stop birds flying away) but allowed you to enter via a kissing gate system, some were just open to allow the animals free reign of the zoo/park which is built into a hillside with a variety of surfaces. Everything from rocks for mountain goats to pastures for ponies, and a very real river running through the middle housing the same sort of wildlife you'd see in a British river - mallards, moor hens and kingfishers.
We spent a good 7 hours there and still missed out a huge chunk of the Zoo, but our personal highlights were the Indonesian Jungle area with Fruit Bats & Talapoin monkey




Also when this monkey decided to pee at me


And the lemur area is amazing, they just sit on the fence literally inches away from you and pose, so cute

and finally the chair lift, I wasn't brave enough to take that transports you from the top to bottom of the Zoo or vice versa

I can honestly say this was a mind blowing visit, totally exceeded al expectations in terms of how close you can get to most of the animals, and for big cats and other more dangerous ones, they are behind thick perspex rather than a cage, also for a top tourist attraction the food and drink was very reasonable once again (less than £2 a large beer etc..)
If you go to Prague and don't czech out the Zoo, you're a fool!

Prague Day 3

Kutna Hora

Day 3 of our trip to Prague we went Kutna Hora a small town about an hours train ride from central Prague, which started out as a silver mining town around the 13th Century. Famous for it's Bone Church as well as several other religious buildings which I'll get to in good time, this was one of the main reasons for choosing Prague as our next destination and we'd done a bit of research on Trip Advisor on how to get there.
Trains run frequently from Prague main railway station (which itself is worth a visit with its grand old Art Nouveau booking hall) which is about 5 mins walk from the National Museum and a joint (for 2 persons) return ticket was 262ck (approx £8). Once arriving at our first Church we bought a discounted ticket that got us into 5 attractions for 165ck (approx £5) which was a fair bit cheaper than the organised tour we saw for 700ck (approx £22) which included public transport and only entry to 2 attractions and whilst we didn't have a personalised tour guide, we really didn't need one as there was plenty of (free)information available in English. There was a local taxi service which charged approx £1 each to ferry you from the Bone Church end of town to the main town - the driver provided us with a map and suggested a walking route through the town - we also booked him to collect us at the end of our day and take us back to the train station - perfect!

After arriving at Kutna Hora train station, it was pretty easy to find the route into the town - we just followed everyone else! Past the Philip Morris factory and you come to a crossroads type area in the suburb of Sedlec, to the left is the Cathedral of Our Lady and to the right the Ossuary of Sedlec (afore mentioned Bone Church).

Cathedral of Our Lady (click to view full size)




The Cathedral was first a Bohemian Cistercian Monastery founded in 1142AD and has had a troubled history due to debt & conflict, it is home to breathtaking architecture and detail.

Sedlec Ossuary (click to view full size)




Sedlec Ossuary or The All Saints Cemetery Church is decorated almost entirely of human bones, originally piled in a pyramid by half blind monks in 1511 - the current 'design' was by Frantisek Rint and was created by the remains of approx 40,000 people and you'll be glad to know the bones were disinfected before hand! The Ossuary is a far less creepy or solemn than the Paris Catacombes and even had a little gift shop area at the entrance, where you could purchase afore mentioned taxi tickets.
We then got our taxi to the main town of Kutna Hora, we were dropped outside the impressive Gothic Cathedral of St Barbora.


We sat outside here to eat our packed lunch (hmmm ham & cheese butties) and watch what appeared to be a young sparrow hawk or kestral be harassed by one of the local stall holders, who decided it needed a drink
This cathedral was not dissimilar to the other one, so I wont bore you with the simuilar interior photographs (although the are not any less impressive), however from up here there was an impressive view of the town below
After lunch we embarked on the rough walking tour marked out by our taxi driver, which was cool as it took you past pretty much all the interesting looking architecture and places and also the Czech Medieval Silver Mine museum, which was slightly odd. We had a very strange tour - basically it was timed tours, so we had to leave our bags locked up then rush to join a tour that was about 15 minutes in (although that was fine, I really don't think I could've managed the entire tour), the tour shows the history of silver minining and it's importance to Kutna Hora and takes you into a real mine. Now I'm only 5'4" and I banged my head about 5 times, thank god for the hard hats - at times it was so narrow and the ceiling so low you were almost crouched, not very comfortable ending up down a hill about 300 yards away from the museum. At first we thought our tour guide was uninterested in giving the tour but it turns out it was her first tour in English which was why she was constantly looking at her notes and her intonation wasn't great, but all things considered it was a way to pass 45mins.
The town itself is full of interesting buildings, churches and this stone fountain, currently under renovation.
However we found a much better way in the form of a bar that advertised Staropramen for 28ck (less than a pound) for half a litre - bargain! after a couple we headed to meet our taxi and back to Kutna Hora train station, back to Prague for another meal at Jiny Stav

Prague Day 2

Prague Day 2
Wenceslas Square, Petrin Hill & the Old Town Square
Day 2 of our Czech adventure saw us head out in the opposite direction towards the National Museum, as it turns out this was literally 3 minutes walk from our hotel and whilst we weren’t too fussed at what was inside, we took a few photos of the impressive building and it’s view over the infamous Wenceslas Square, which is more of an oblong by the way.
Národní Muzeum
View of Wenceslas Square
I’ll be honest, Wenceslas didn’t really live up to the hype, sure there was really interesting architecture if you looked up, but it was mostly shops/restaurants.. Nothing to do per se. We passed through in under 10 minutes and after a slight hitch with figuring out the tram system (we were told to validate tickets at the station, rather than once on the tram), we were off to Petrin Hill!
Petrin Hill is a fantastic place to have a picnic whilst enjoying the view over Prague, you can either walk up (if you’re mad) or take the funicular railway (I do like saying ‘funicular’ quite a lot) which has two stops; one half way up and one at the top. At the top of the hill are some very pretty gardens, an observatory, a grotto and a mini Eiffel Tower – Petrin Tower which you climb to the top of for even more amazing views over Prague – including a nunnery, which ties in nicely with the 12 Stations of the Cross that surround the tower.
Petřínská Rozhledna
View from Petrin towerThere is also a ‘Labyrinth’ on the hill which unfortunately sounds way more impressive than it is – a simple mirror maze that takes all of 30 seconds to get round, with a final hall of amusing mirrors.. A whole 60 seconds of fun, unless of course you’re a child in which case its money well spent.
We walked part way down the hill to the 2nd station for the funicular railway and then caught a tram on to the very popular Old Town Square – home to amongst other things, the Astronomical Clock, very expensive ‘Irish/English Theme Pubs’ (avoid like the plague unless you enjoy paying £4 for cheap, crap British lager) and the worst ‘Aquarium’ I’ve visited (it was more like some rich dude’s fish tanks – nothing exotic or exciting).
The Old Town Square itself was quite busy as it was the World Cup, so like our home town of Manchester, there was a Hyundai Fan Park which consisted of large screens to show the matches, along with food & drink stalls, the difference in Prague was that A. These were open all day and B. When the football wasn’t on – they had an orchestra playing classical music – all for free! The beer wasn’t overpriced either at 50ck for ½L of Budvar (around £1.80) – in fact the only problem was the lack of somewhere to sit in the shade as it was over 30c most days we were there!
Of course before we left the Old Town, we couldn’t miss the world famous Astronomical Clock (and tower) – every hour on the hour the clock face opens like on the Children’s TV Show Trumpton - and at the same time a man in traditional dress plays a trumpet out of the tower!
Astronomical Clock
After we made our way back to the hotel tired and hungry, we found a very nice pub/restaurant called Jiny Stav which was a traditional Czech cuisine restaurant, although they do have English menus. Whilst there were some amusing translations on the menu (such as Pork Medallions from Italian Guy) the food was top notch, so much so, that we ate here another two times during our 5 night stay!

Prague Day 1

Charles Bridge, Kafka Museum & Prague Castle
We arrived in Prague on the Sunday evening, our flight getting in around 11pm, our taxi driver Ihab from bohemiantaxis was fantastic, recommending the best times for visiting the Charles Bridge (after 10pm or before 10am) to avoid the tourists, as well as a few bars & restaurants to try. Arriving at Miss Sophie's around 30 minutes later we checked into our ultra modern room - but not before the guy on reception gave us a map of Prague and highlighted the places nearby we could get food/room supplies. Miss Sophie's could be filed under the heading 'Boutique Hostel' with its ultra modern & minimalistic design. Whilst there are several dormitory rooms, there are also apartment style rooms (self contained with kitchenette) and en suite rooms - which is what we chose. Our room included a fabulous wet room style shower with an enormous powerful shower head, as well as a fridge - handy for keeping the beer cool. We had full use of the kitchen facilities in the basement along with a lounge area complete with record player (and records!) and DVD's.
Monday morning we took a leisurely stroll towards the Vltava River, which was about 10 minutes away from the hotel. We wandered up towards the Charles Bridge and crossed over it and on to the Kafka museum which was one of the best museums I've visited, as well as objects of Kafka's and his life story, there were also rooms that were built upon his worst nightmares. Outside is another oddity in the form of a moving statue/sculpture of 2 men urinating. Not far away was the Lennon wall, a John Lennon inspired graffiti wall as well as a bridge with hundreds of love padlocks attached – a fast growing declaration of love across many cities.
With the day still young we then opted to climb a very tall tower at the end of the Charles bridge - with amazing views over the city, from here we tacked the steep hill up towards Prague Castle. At the Castle there are some guards with cute pastel blue suits, although they must have been sweating their socks off in the heat! There was also Prague Picture Gallery within the Castle, that thankfully has free entry 4-6pm on Mondays, as it was pretty disappointing and personally didn't think it was worth the £5 entry fee!
Vltava River
Sculpture outside the Kafka Museum
John Lennon Wall
Love Padlocks
View from the tower at Charles Bridge
Guard at Prague Castle

After all this we walked back to our hotel exhausted, we thought we'd check out one of the local micro breweries recommended as somewhere good to eat also. Pivovarský dům was literally 2 minutes away from the hotel and served lots of different beers including coffee and cherry varieties. We had a lovely meal with some great beer, highly recommended, after this we went back to our room for a well earned sleep!

Postcrossing

If like me you still get excited at the prospect of something other than bills plopping onto your doormat, then maybe Postcrossing is for you. The premise is quite simple, you register with the site, click for an address to send to (you can send up to 5 at first), send your postcards to the address provided then sit back and wait to get one back! Once you receive your card, you register the code that should be written on it so the sender knows you've received it - there is also the option to scan & upload your card to the site.

Be warned though, there are some serious post card collectors out there (one of my first addresseees prefers "map and single view lighthouse, but also will accept Flags, Famous People, British and Foreign Royalty, Disasters, Aerial tramways, Cliff lifts, Lifeboats,Chain Ferries, Carpets, Prisons, Clocks - not too specific then!), so any old tat from the local shop wont cut it!
Most people however, are happy to receive something showing your area, which led to the surprisingly difficult task of finding decent images of Manchester. I think I will be trying out the make your own postcard options from Moo in the not too distant future.
Today i received my first card from Finland, and it was a very cute picture of Moomins, which is great, as i love the Moomins

Race for Life

On July 11th, I took part in my first (of many, I hope) Race for Life. Although this wasn't through lack of trying! (for the previous 3 years I had either found out about it too late, or been on holiday when the races were in Manchester).
The race was at Heaton Park, in Prestwich, Manchester. The race was due to start at 11am and the Race for Life website suggested getting there an hour early, so to beat any traffic we left sunny Salford at around 9.30am (on a Sunday!), only to arrive at an overcast Heaton Park 20 minutes later. Because it was Race for Life, Heaton Park allowed on site parking for a £1.50 fee (although it was advertised at £1 on the RfL site, thankfully Jen brought a purse full of change!). We stepped out of the car in our t shirts to the quite chilly weather and walked for about 10 minutes to the main site.
as a Race for Life newbie,I was unaware of the vast array of stalls offering everything from burgers (at 10am??) to massages! with sponsors including Nivea and Go Ahead there was much entertainment. There was a main stage with a Mancunian celeb (who i'm ashamed to say I don't know, who introduced the Nivea Boys (rather buff men who dance in a camp fashion to S club 7, etc...)and other presenters (who again I don't know as I don't listen to local radio).


The field filled up really quickly with women and supportive family members, I was really unprepared for how much it was going to affect me. Race for life provide you with a number and a paper backing to write on who you are racing for. I had already decided to Race for my Dad & Gran. At this point I was really wishing I had done race for life earlier, everywhere you turn are women with the names of lives lost or battling with cancer, some ladies also had photos strapped to their backs, and it really brings it home how much cancer effects everyone, the whole experience was really humbling and a major stepping stone for me emotionally.
Any ways, the warm up started about 11am, which was a bit late as we were supposed to have started running by this point, but by 11:20 we were assembled into groups: Running, Jogging, Walking.



I obviously joined the jogging group, which should have been renamed the 'running to be cool group'. Unlike the Running group which was full of people who actually, you know, ran. The jogging group comprised of people like me who had spent months training and a shed load of girls who'd obviously done zero training and managed to run past the crowds, then stopped to walk 5 abreast taking up the entire pathway, until there was a downhill section at which point they ran like there was a free vat of blue wkd at the end of the rainbow!. Which meant those of us who had actually trained for the event had to jog/run up grassy banks etc to get around the people who chose to walk and clog the course for everyone else, which happened a lot. I think next time I will join the running group and just stay at the back!
After about 10 minutes I checked my Nike Ipod sensor to see how far I had ran only to find it was broken due to an unfixed software update glitch from apple , that is still broken. Gutted does not even come close to how I felt at this time.


Besides this, I managed to complete the course in 40 minutes, although i'm sure I could have shaved a few minutes by knowing how close i was to the end. The course is quite deceiving as you pass people near the end then the course doubles back on itself up a hill! But at this point I had the prodigy on and didn't care, much love to Jen who waited at the finish line for me!
After finishing I felt sooo relieved, and managed to sit down and enjoy the sponsored goody bag with treats from Nivea and Go Ahead to name a few, actually the go ahead yoghurt bars are really tasty :). Me & Jen then took ourselves off home for swift showers, and into Manchester for cocktails.

So far I've managed to raise approx £150 through on & off-line donations, but there is still time, if you'd like to make a donation, check out Mine & Jen's page!

Fish Feet

Yesterday I went with the girls from work to Appy Feet at the Trafford Centre, to have our feet sucked by fish!
Appy Feet use Garra Rufa fish which are known for sucking only the dead skin, leaving healthy glowing skin behind. We'd also heard that along with leaving you with softer skin, it can also improve circulation and stimulate acupuncture points, and is supposed to be very relaxing.
For a mere £10 you can have your toes sucked for 15 minutes, so off we went to the Trafford Centre. Appy Feet doesn't take pre bookings, you have to walk into the shop and book (and pay) for a time slot, be warned they are always busy. We arrived at 6.30pm on a Thursday evening, and opted for a slot at 8.20pm. When we arrived for the treatment, they were fully booked for the evening and still with a steady stream of disappointed customers being turned away.


You sit in blocks of up to four people, and start by dipping your feet for a minute into one of those footspa things that were popular in the 80's/90's which disinfects your feet akin to the footbath at the local swimming baths, but less smelly.

Then the time comes to dip your feet, then hundreds of teeny fish rush to nibble at your feet, the sensation is varied and pretty indescribable, but to anyone who's ever used one of those footspa (turned on to vibrate), it kind of feels like that at first, then it varies between a tickling sensation and a vibrating sensation, people who have sensitive feet tend to scream (a lot!).


After about 5 minutes I felt really relaxed, i suppose some of that is down to watching the fish as well as the sensations. The staff at Appy Feet are also very willing to take your photo for you! There's also usually a crowd of intrigued onlookers in the store.
Highly recommended experience, my feet felt softer afterwards, and whilst walking around afterwards for about 10 minutes, they felt all tingly.
, water