| 2011.
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At last we visited the beautiful City of Prague and were
not disappointed! It was chilly and breezy when we arrived (apparently
it snowed the week before) but 48 hours later sunny and mid 20s. Stayed
at the Ibis Old Town, perfectly adequate and excellently situated. 10
minutes from Wenceslas Square and from Old Town Square so we just walked
everywhere (except on the tour).
Did the "Ultimate Tour" with Prague Tours. Quite expensive
at £44 each (don't believe the blurb - Prague is not cheap) but
after a walking tour from Wenceslas Square we had a boat trip on the
River Vltava, lunch at a Restaurant in the Old Town (adequate), a tram
ride up to the Castle and a guided tour of the Castle and Cathedral.
Our Guide was excellent, almost perfect English and very knowledgeable.
Worth the money. The price also included free tickets for a "Ghost
Walk" which we did one evening. Fun but we wouldn't have paid extra
for it.
The Prague Music Festival was on while we were there so went
to a couple of Concerts, one in a Church and one in a Monastery. Hint:
don't accept the price they say. First of all we got a concession because
of our age and a further reduction because we are British! Whoever you
are I can't believe that you can't negotiate about 50% off the price.
Both were just short Concerts with small ensembles but, hey, we weren't
paying £100 a ticket at the Royal Albert Hall! Both, of course,
featured Smetana but this wasn't a bad thing as we like his Ma
Vlast enough for it to be in our collection. Good value.
Another thing Edna was very keen on seeing was the Black Theatre of
Prague. Rather clever use of lighting means that things move around
on stage without the audience seeing the "actors" moving them.
Saw one based on Beatles music (how could I not) and enjoyed it, as
did the other sixteen people in the audience! Once again, not cheap
- perhaps this is why there were so few people there.
Many highlights including Charles Bridge, Old Town Square,
the mini-train tour from Old Town Square, Edna's Goulash served in a
loaf of bread and the beer! (I drink about 1 pint of beer a year but
Czech beer....I had several years worth!).
Obviously some down sides among which were the in-flight "meals"
on BA. A drink plus a biscuit or a small packet of crisps. Wow! Makes
you proud to be British.
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