Christmas was over and we were off to Prague (Praha), Czech Republic from 27th to 31st December (how Brits do dates - just something else backwards). Mark's brother, Paul and family arrived a day earlier and were staying a day later.
We booked with BMIBaby, which is the British Midland International (BMI) "low cost" airline - you have to pay extra for EVERYTHING -including checked luggage and booking online - I mean come on, seriously!?! So we packed very light with only one checked bag for all four of us and weighed our luggage before we left to avoid any further charges for overweight luggage. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I don't weigh very much, and neither does my family - the weight allowed on a flight should be total weight (person + luggage) especially for a 3 yr old child who only weighs 30-35lbs and whose seat costs almost the same as an adult's. But I digress...
Our 2.5hr flight was in the late afternoon getting us to Prague at 7pm and after collecting our luggage AND pram at the carousel (I hate it when they don't leave the pram at the plane gate on arrival even though you drop it off at the departure gate) we got to Hotel Pav via pre-booked transport at about 9pm. We were pretty hungry, but didn't feel like venturing out anywhere so we got chocolate and raspberry crepes from the hotel bar (yeah, kinda random) and Gemma had her jar of toddler spag bol (spagetti bolognese) that airport security in Manchester made Mark open and taste(!) -requiring us to consume it that day seeing as we didn't have a fridge to store it in - how annoying.
Now That's Random: the guy that checked us in at the hotel was a Czech-Canadian from Saskatchewan and went to U of T (knew exactly where Yonge/Eg was).
Prague is one hour ahead of England time so that combined with Liam sleeping with us for the second week in a row, Gemma waking up through the night due to teething pain and Krystal coughing her face off all night due to a '3 week cold', we were a bit off schedule in the mornings. Luckily, the hotel breakfast was until 10:30. The food in Prague consists of lots of salty pork - mmm... salami, bacon & sausage - which thankfully our kids love. So for breakfast, ridiculous amounts of bacon were consumed by Liam 'The Baconator' Nicholson. Other typical cuisine includes pork anything (Mark tried pork neck, goulash, cabbage, sour crout and dumplings (although we didn't end up trying the dumplings).
It was quite cold in Prague - nice in the sun, we had a lovely first day of -1C however one day was -16C and that was too cold for us to walk around outside for a few hours with small kids (yes, we're Winter Wimps now that we've been in the UK).
The currency, Czech Karuna, or crown, was going for about 6cad=100czk or 3.50gbp=100czk. I think we spent $18cad at Starbucks one afternoon for 2 large lattes and a cookie - yikes! The Czech haven't yet adopted the Euro, although it is widely accepted, and we saw on BBC news they may not due to the crash of the Euro a couple months ago (blame southern Ireland which is complete shite right now financially). We chose to use the Karuna for ease, which seemed to go over well with the locals (especially at the markets). It's not as cheap as it used to be even 10 years ago. It's really come out from communism well since 1989.
We felt pretty unprepared for our trip to Prague as we usually do a moderate amount of online research prior to travelling, but didn't have much time to do so for this one. Our sis-in-law, Dawn, on the other hand had an extra guide book that we borrowed and we pretty much just texted them to see where they were each day and went to the same place:) We didn't catch up with them until dinners though since our schedules were totally off - which was probably better seeing as Liam and Ella had seen so much of each other the week before.
The city is quite stunning and simply walking around, admiring the mixed architecture styles of centuries past is a lovely experience - but not so much when you're 3 years old. Liam enjoyed running around the grounds of the Prague Castle complex, and some of the alley ways and park spaces. We didn't bring his Kid Sit stroller seat as we read that the city is full of cobble stoned sidewalks and roads, which would make for a bumpy ride, so when he got tired, it was up on Daddy's shoulders. Our hotel was located in 'Old Town' and we could pretty much walk to sites and restaurants in a reasonable time (took us longer with Liam walking). Paul and Dawn's apartment hotel was just a 5-10 minute walk away. We felt quite safe walking around everywhere we went.
We did venture on the tram system and while looking for how we were to pay once on the tram we were told by a pleasant Czech woman passenger we were to buy tickets at news agents and then validate them once on the tram. This honour system of transit is quite popular in Europe - there must be just too many people to collect and check money/tickets each time. After our 'courtesy' ride we were good to go and took the tram a lot (Liam enjoyed the experience). The older trams look like TTC streetcars and the newer trams look like the streetcars Toronto is/was supposed to get - not up on current Tdot politics. Prague also has a Metro, subway system, however we didn't need to use it.
The Christmas Markets were still on until the 31st so it was nice to visit those each day for treats and shopping. The Czech have their own 'beaver tail' called trdlo, or a version of that. It's dough, rolled around a rod, deep fried then sprinkled with sugar, mmm... trdlo. The market stalls looked exactly the same as those in Manchester... hmm.
The Czech Republic is the birthplace of Pilsner Beer , so needless to say, Mark and Paul felt required to taste test. Every restaurant seemed to serve (and recommend) Pilsner Urquell, which actually does taste delicious (I'm not typically a fan of Pilsner lagers).
The best place we went to, according to Liam, was the "Train Restaurant", Vytopna Railway Restaurant, where they have a miniature train system delivering drink orders from the bar through to the each table in the restaurant! Liam (and the rest of us) were amazed! It was very exciting getting our .5L Pilsner Urquell's, juices and milks delivered by rail. Liam Hearts Train Restaurant. Choo Choo - good find Dawn!
Other Sights we saw were:
- Prague Castle and complex - current structure is largely from 14th century but previous structures existed since 9th c, we caught the changing of the guard, which occurs each hour, by happenstance (even got 'directed' aside by lead guard to get out of the way), where Kings used to be and where President of the CR holds office now, seen from just the outside due to a huge line up and Liam's disinterest in actually going into castles, complex includes palaces and churches;
- Charles Bridge - from the 14th century, crossing the Vltava River and full of statues and kiosks;
- Jewish Quarter, Josefov, which, again, we opted to see from the outside and not pay the fee (about $30cad each) to go inside the buildings and cemetery seeing as Liam wouldn't appreciate the strife of the Jews dating all the way back to the 13th century (truly horrible way to treat humans);
- Wenceslas Square - the main strip consisting of British faves M&S (Marks & Spencers), Debenhams and Tesco;
- Modern Architecture by Frank Ghery "Dancing House" (he's Canadian/American and also did AGO redesign);
- Astronomical Clock - from the 15th c, has an astronomical dial representing the position of the sun and moon and displays "The Walk of the Apostles" each hour where crowds gather to see 12 small sculptures appear through an opened doorway at the top and rotate as the bell is rung, other dials rep the calendar and zodiac (the 'old school' one with 12 signs).
There were tons of European tourists while we were there and as we were approaching the end of our stay, we could see that the vibe was changing in the city - instead of the older tourists there for the markets and history, the younger crowd started to roll in for the NYE party (Prague is a very popular destination for stags and party groups by Brits and other Euros thanks to its beer halls).
Overall, Prague was quite lovely. Very European - like one big Yorkdale Mall with 'trendy clothes', fur coats and hats, dogs carried in bags and, unfortunately, people smoking everywhere. Although the city introduced a smoking ban in some restaurants in early December, it's still quite a smokey city and the '3 week cough' I had worsened intensely whilst there. We would definitely recommend it, but realize your limitations if travelling with small children. And I feel like we could have stayed just 3 nights and still have done everything we did/wanted to do.
On our last night, we took the tram too far in one direction on the way to dinner with the other Nicholson's, but eventually got to where we wanted to go - a fun pizzeria with a kids play area. At the end of the evening, I got VERY misty eyed (okay, I almost started to 'ugly' cry... more than once) as it was our last time seeing Paul, Dawn, Ella and Gavin until next Christmas when they plan to come back to Canada for a visit from their 2 year stint in Malaysia. What can I say, I'm just not good with 'goodbyes', even if they are just 'so long for nows'. It was so great for the two Nicholson Family's to be together for two weeks at Christmastime after not seeing each other for 4 months. It was really great for all the cousins.
Best Liam/Ella Overheard Conversation:
Ella: "Do you know Buzz Lightyear?"
Liam: "Yeah, I know Buzz Lightyear. Do you know Woody?"
Ella: "Yeah, I know Woody."
After the kids were put to bed that night, Mark and Paul tried to catch a Czech World Juniors hockey game at one of the sports bars on Wenceslas Square but were totally puck blocked - none of the bars were showing hockey!!! In total shock, the guys opted for a couple Pilsners at an American Bar, an Irish Pub then an English Pub. They could have watched an NBA game though - how random, eh?
Our flight back to Manchester was fairly smooth (we did miss the call to board while sitting in the gate reading kids books and ended up getting on the plane dead last). I was a bit worried about re-entering the UK with my Visa as it was the first time we actually left the UK, but it was a simple entry and I wasn't required to show any other documentation other than my passport with Visa. The Border Agency lady asked if I had a job, and my 'nope' response was suffice. Then back to our house, via airport transport, to celebrate New Year's Eve with laundry - lots of laundry.
Photos: Facebook
New Year family update coming soon...
Cheers to 2011,
The Nicholson Family
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