Author: David Sugden

I'm am now almost-retired after many years of self employment. I used to teach teachers how to use modern and emerging technology Effectively, Economically and Engagingly ('E'-learning). Before that I was a chef and eventually a chef-lecturer. I update several blogs regularly and have others that don't see me quite as often. -EduVel.wordpress.com, was my main work blog and reflected my work role and thoughts around teaching and learning in the 21st Century. I don't update that any more. -Saturdaywalks.wordpress.com is more personal and could be about absolutely anything. [This blog is updated regluarly]. -Shoestringfoods.wordpress.com is my 'food' blog - aiming to show others how easy it is to prepare and eat healthy, nutritious, economical food. [Not updated too much]. -Cosynookbooks.wordpress.com is where I reflect upon the books I've read. This is likely to be updated less regularly than the others, because I forget to do it :-( and because most books I read now are 'e' books. -dsugdenholidays.wordpress.com - is where I log the more recent trips and holidays we have had. [This blog is updated regularly]. -sugdenonline.travel.blog - is something of a project. I have found some old holiday diaries and am now transferring them online. [This is updated regularly - 18.09.19] I worked in the catering industry for most of my life - teaching chefs for almost seventeen years after working in hotels, hospitals and in a wide variety of self-employed roles. :-)

Prague Day 2 – Bohemia #5

Day 4

Following a late breakfast, we set off back into Prague, again by tram. This time, we weren’t going to knacker ourselves up walking all day. We went for a drink in the same bar where we were mugged yesterday – just to show them that we had learned from yesterday’s spanking, yet found that the beers had gone up to 50 Zlotaks. That still compared favourably to what we would pay at home and anyway, it was pleasant sat by the river, watching the boats go by.

We then went and booked a ‘City Tour’ by bus. This took us to some of the places we had trudged around yesterday, but this time we had a running commentary this time and enjoyed our two hours very much. It was certainly the first time I had ever paid to follow a man with a yellow umbrella, especially as the sun was bursting with heat. To ease Ben’s hunger, we had a late-afternoon Bratwurst, a hot-dog sort of thing, which was disgusting. We then went to look around one of the larger supermarkets in Prague. Not air-conditioned, but cool, compared with outside. We found a deli-bar in the lower level, where beer was 12½ Zlotaks per 500ml glass – bonus! We settled in here for quite a while, watching the customers come and go and the intriguing antics of the serving lady. [See comment on yesterdays post]. We christened her Ludmilla. She was a large lady with a penchant, at quieter times, for sneaking pieces of meat out of the salads and into her tummy! As time went by, we saw each meaty salad become more and more meat-free.

Given one more drink, we may well have stayed here to eat (it wouldn’t have cost more than a fiver to feed all three of us) but Ben didn’t fancy anything they had (he likes meat), so we decided to go back to the hotel for food.

This was a mistake. The food was still buffet service, like breakfast and had probably been there about three hours when we got to it. The soup was pretty fair. If a little greasy, but the main course was a choice between pot-roast pork and lumpy meat in gravy with something else I cannot remember, but with sauerkraut and lots of boiled potatoes.

We got up early and set off for Berlin. Breakfasted and washed, we were off by 09:00am and called at a small supermarket to buy food and drink for the day. We saw people queuing to get in, but there were no queues in the shop – which was weird. So, Stephen and I went in anyway and picked up the food and drink we wanted. A small comedy occurred when we tried to buy 6 slices of a nice lean meat they had on display. No one spoke English, French or German (and of course we had no Czech), but we managed and even got laughs from all around. We then queued up to pay.

It was now that we saw what the problem was. The Czechs no longer needed to queue for bread, or for meat as these items are freely available – they queue instead for SHOPPING BASKETS! As one was discarded, it was taken up by someone else wanting to do their shopping. So, please remember, back in 1995, there was a shopping basket shortage in Prague. Perhaps if, instead of making gnomes for German men to take home after visiting the ‘Sexy Girl Fun Palace‘, they could have made shopping baskets?

We also had a ‘Czechout Girl’ teasing us (we think), she was so happy.

Prague, Day 1 – Bohemia #4

Day 3

… We missed the first day’s breakfast but the next two day’s fayre was interesting …

(This post is just one day)

Each morning we were offered two types of bread; long thin slices of white along with large slices of brown (but a particularly Czech type of brown bread). To go with these, we could have as much sliced meat as we liked (as long as we didn’t mind all the fat or its appearance), cheese and overcooked (nearly knackered) eggs – but of course we were used to knackered eggs already. The jams were interesting too, one I tried seemed to be rhubarb and apple with a hint of chilli. Very small cereal bowls were provided for the two cereals available. Coffee was left in a flask on your table at 07:00am when they opened the breakfast and bugger you if you wanted any more.

It sounds appalling when I read this back, but it really wasn’t all that bad¹. The hotel was ideally placed close to the number 9 or number 4 tram line into the city and for 15p. (return, we were told) we were easily transported into the city in about 20 minutes. The trams were quite fast when they wanted to be, but only had single seats up each side as this allowed more people to get on with their bikes (and no doubt, cows, sheep and furniture when moving house) or to stand. There weren’t quite as many bikes here in Czech as we saw later in the week, and that is probably because Prague is set in a deep valley through which the river Vlatava runs, a tributary of the Elbe.

We went down into Prague (or Prag as it says on the map we have, or Praha as seen on most city advertisements) that first afternoon and looked around. There were lots and lots of tourists, many more than we had anticipated, almost all of whom were (as Stephen liked to say) “bloody loud mouthed, noisy Americans”! He would say it louder if they didn’t hear him the first time. (lol).

The weather had warmed up by now and we were quite hot. Stephen carried the rucksack around today. This contained all of our raincoats, as it had rained so much the day before. Ben carried the video camera and I had my heavy Zenith² with me, so by the end of the day we were knackered. We decided to stay in town and look around until we fancied our evening meal. It didn’t seem worth going back up to the hotel and then back down again to eat. So, we stopped now and again for a beer. Stories had it at the time that a pint of Czech beer can be had for around 15p. Right in the centre of Prague. But, we didn’t find that. At one place, by the river we did find beer at 15 zlotaks³ for a 500ml glass (approx. 37.5p). We were happy enough with this but when we came to pay we found that the packet of pistachio nuts we had eaten, cost just over £4.00. After being mugged in this way, we were much more careful whenever we stopped for a drink.

The city centre is beautiful, with lots of old and ancient buildings. The Charles Bridge (closed to traffic now) heaves with tourists and craftsmen and women. Everyone is there to view the 30 statues that line the bridge. Some are brass and some are stone⁴ and stand there on the bridge rampart for all to see. They are a little blackened with age and in need of a good clean up, but are worth seeing anyway. Over and then up from one end of the bridge are the parliament buildings, via what seemed like thousands of steps. We climbed these and had a good look around the cathedral at the top. The bright and colourful windows were magnificent. These windows were brighter and more colourful than Notre Dame’s rose window which we saw in February⁵. We eventually walked back down and off the other side of the bridge looking for the famous Wenceslas Square, but to no avail. We did find it later in our visit – it should really be called Wenceslas Rectangle as it is just one long and wide street bang in the middle of the business district.

We did find the Old City Square, on one corner of which, is the famous astronomical clock and a massive statue to something or other on the opposite corner. This old square was surrounded by buildings with Dutch Gables, in the very eastern European style. The square also hid another church which we christened ‘golden balls’ because of the unusual decoration around its towers. We spent some time in this square, with a beer and just watching the world (and people) go by. Much to Ben’s frustration I think. He may well have been better taking his young self, off on his own at this stage but he stayed with us.

Before crossing the bridge towards Old City Square, we had decided to take a boat ride up the river. I cannot remember how many Zlotaks that cost but it was reasonable and included a coffee and a piece of cake. This was probably a local speciality, in the style of a Swiss roll and may well have been called a Czech roll. The sun was gorgeous and we were able to see lots of the famous buildings up and down the river.

As we walked wearily back from the Wenceslas Rectangle and across the now thinning throng of tourists, we started to look for something to eat. Ben had been doing this for an awful lot longer I think. Everywhere was getting full and we eventually managed to get seats at a table just vacated by an English couple who worked in Prague. The restaurant was slightly up river from the main tourist haunts and situated on a large boat on the river itself. Our table was on the top deck and we had beautiful views of the floodlit buildings on the opposite bank. The food was fair to middling and relatively inexpensive, certainly cheaper than those meals we would buy later in the trip, in Berlin.

We returned to the hotel by racing tram, had a nightcap and went to bed. Sleep came easily enough after last night but it was disturbed by the heat and general mugginess of the weather. Hot and humid.

1 – I probably typed this up originally, on arriving back home in England. I will have kept daily notes in a notebook. I’ve been back to Prague several times since this first visit and the catering has improved 20-fold.

2 – Neither video, nor photos seem to have survived into the 21st century.

3 – The Czech currency is Czech Krown (CK). We were so tired and confused this first day that none of us could come up with the same name twice. We referred to it as Zlotys, Kopeks, Marks, Croats, Kronas and eventually settled on Zlotacks as the more amusing and definitive name for a currency needing charisma. (Remember, this is all pre-€)

4 – These are gradually being replaced, to preserve the originals. http://praguemonitor.com/2016/11/14/prague-bridges-vulnerable-statues-replaced-copies

5 -I guess that this was when Stephen, Bev and I drove to Paris, to pick Emma up from her French work placement. She’d been working in a hotel in Besançon and had caught the train from there to be picked up in Paris.

Also worth a read: https://redqueenmusings.wordpress.com/2018/03/15/a-short-break-in-prague/ (thank you)

Prague at last – Bohemia #3

Day 3 – (Day 2 part c)

… and so, we said stuff it to Pilzen and headed straight through to Prague, where it was hoped we could get a hotel first thing in the morning, and sleep then …

By the time we arrived in Prague, it was about 03:30am/04:00am and we were done in. Stephen had been driving this leg and I took over as we reached the city centre. I was driving around Prague, that Wednesday morning, with no other traffic visible, no trouble with pedestrians launching themselves into the road and none of the very bust trams attacking me at any time. I drove around and around, getting a feel for the place but finding no hotels. We decided to drive back up the way we came in as we had seen a lot of roadside hotel booking agents back there. We thought we could sleep in one of their car parks and wait there until they opened in the morning.

But I got lost. I couldn’t find the road we had come in on.

We were eventually given a police escort back to the Pilzen road, after being stopped from trying to drive along some tram lines, which I hadn’t realised were for trams only. They had mostly been shared with general traffic. Whoops. The police men in the police car had obviously seen me looking either lost, stupid or drunk and decided to pull me over. Ben, our most fluent German speaker and I went to meet the policemen, we even tried French, but they only spoke Czech. We managed to convey the fact that we were lost and were trying to find the Pilzen road. I think that he tried to tell us, but saw only blank looks – so he motioned us to follow him in the car. Which we did. On the way, we passed a beautiful church, which we never found again, despite trying.

We tried a hotel up the road, that looked expensive and wondered if maybe this too would be closed up for the night. But we looked through the window and saw a receptionist playing pool. We attracted his attention and found us a room for three people at what turned out to be a very reasonable £62.00 for three nights. Bargain. It was basic, but reasonably comfortable and anyway, who at that time of night (it was already light by now) could be choosy? The room had three bench-type beds with reasonably comfortable mattresses and ‘too warm’ quilts. It was en-suite and breakfast was included. We missed the first day’s breakfast but the next two day’s fayre was interesting (which I will come to in the next post – the real day 3).

Through the night – Bohemia #2

Day 2 – part b

… We were looking forward to getting into Czech itself and finding a small hotel on the road, or at worst in Pilzen, and having an evening meal. By now it was about 20:00pm continued …

The traffic that had stopped in front of us was obviously waiting for the border crossing somewhere up ahead. This was the first for us today as all the other borders have now come down, we didn’t have to stop at all¹. We edged forward, on and off for about an hour and then stopped completely for another two hours. That was THREE HOURS in total before we saw the border post, which by now was the only light in the darkened night sky. At 20:00pm the prospect of getting a hotel was reasonable, even (we thought) in a relatively backward (tas it was then) country like the Czech Republic. But, as it approached midnight that prospect was bleak. When we got through the German side of the border, we drove for about half a mile towards the Czech side and then stopped just after their border post to get some money changed. We also had to buy a permit to drive on their roads – the whole place looked dingy, dismal and unwelcoming in the dark – and it was still wet and drizzly.

Nevertheless, the road was now clear on our side, but long lines of trucks bordered the oncoming lanes. We drove for about 3-4 miles before coming to a standstill once more – in the pitch-blackness of Czech woodlands. The problem was that because of the trucks taking up space at the other side of the road, the oncoming traffic couldn’t overtake (because of the stream of stream of traffic we Screenshot 2019-06-21 at 16.02.55 were in, heading IN to Czech). Eventually, the Frenchman in front of us took his torch and walking stick and sorted the whole thing out. We had been here about an hour. The lorries eventually petered out after about six more miles. But, even then, we still passed other long lines of wagons parked up and down the roadside – even as far as Pilzen.

The first shop we saw in Czech was a large roadside shack selling GARDEN GNOMES and cheap vodka. And, I mean lots of garishly coloured gnomes. Even those shops that were closed had gnomes outside; all chained up and placed in cages! There were lots of ‘Non-Stop’ cafes and bars, we even stopped at a couple to try for rooms, but there were none to be had. The frightening thing though, was that wherever we saw a ‘Non-Stop’ sign, we also saw ‘Sexy Girl’ or ‘Fun Palace’ signs as well. It seems that one of the major Czech industries is to sell sex, gnomes and cheap vodka to the Germans, who apparently (a guy in Prague told us this later) come over in their droves for one or more (in whatever combination?).

Petrol was now our major concern and we debated whether or not to go on until morning, when there was more chance of a petrol station being open (seeing one at all would be a change!). We were tired and very low on juice, perhaps enough to reach Pilzen if we could keep moving but experience showed that this might not be possible. Just as we thought that we might have to pull over and sleep in the car, we came across a petrol station with a couple of hotels alongside. I filled up the tank while Stephen and Ben checked out the hotels. They were both full but so at least, was the tank – so we said stuff it to Pilzen and headed straight through to Prague, where it was hoped we could get a hotel first thing in the morning, and sleep then.

Day 2 continues into day 3 in the next post.

1 – These were the early days of Schengen – https://www.acs-ami.com/en/travel-articles/schengen-agreement/ .

Czech with Mates – Bohemia #1

Day 1

We set off from Mirfield in indifferent weather, about 15:30pm on Monday 17^th July. Despite taking the scenic route through Flockton, we made good time towards the M25, despite being held up by a large load on the M1. We were then held up on the M25 by slow-moving commuter traffic, about 19:30pm. This mean that our arrival in Folkestone was a little delayed but we were still very much on time to catch the 23:00pm¹ Shuttle. As it happens, we were able to board one earlier at 22:00pm and had a smooth run through to France. Even so, by this time, we were knackered and decided to get booked into a Formula 1 for the night. The one in Calais was booked up, the next one, in Dunkirk took some finding and when we got there, that too was booked up. However, we were advised that there were spaces in the second Dunkirk hotel, in Saint Pol sur Mer, just up the road. We drove around the deserted streets for almost an hour trying to find this bugger and when we did, found it to be beside one of the major routes north to Belgium – not the one we had taken².

Day 2 – part a

After the night here in Dunkirk, we set off for the Czech Republic.

We drove up through the rest of France and then through boring Belgium, through the small finger of Holland that juts between Germany and Belgium, and then into Germany. Lunch was by a service station in the finger of Holland. Lunch didn’t include a boiled egg as they had been overcooked by Stephen. He just laughed. We passed under the giant Dortmund-Essen conurbation, and passing Cologne Cathedral on our left. We carried on down past Frankfurt and underneath the planes that were constantly landing there (we got some good shots of undercarriage through the sun roof). We drove through Nuremberg and on towards the border at Weiden. The countryside here is beautiful and despite the rain, we have had excellent views since Nuremberg. Wooded mountains faced us as we drove up and in the direction of Czech and the rain was drying up. We were looking forward to getting into Czech itself and finding a small hotel on the road, or at worst in Pilsen, and having an evening meal. By now it was about 20:00pm.

That didn’t happen. See next post (Day 2 – part b)

1 – Given that ‘Day 1’ included a trip through the channel tunnel, which only opened to the public in December 1994, I guess that ‘our’ trip may well have been 1995. It certainly wasn’t later than this. I do remember having been through the tunnel before ‘our’ trip.

2 – This entire journey turned out to be an example of what we miss when we have SatNavs – which were unthought of back in 1995!