After a big breakfast and some very strong mugs of nescafe, we are ready to take on the world. Bizarrely Czech beer doesn't seem to give you a hangover, so we are pretty fresh.
As much fun as it was to wander aimlessly, today we have opted for a slightly more structured walk. We are going to take the funicular up the hill to Hradčany and then walk down through Malá Strana.
We have the usual mixture of looks, bewilderment and smiles as the kilted nutters walk through the snow down to the metro station.
On the Metro, a Kiwi and an Ozzie girl ask us if we are going to watch the game. We had both completely forgotten that Scotland were playing New Zealand at rugby today. No doubt if I was back in Amsterdam, I would be out with The Kiwi and his cohorts enjoying a thrashing in a kilt in some ex-pat bar.
We continue down through Wenceslas square with the antipodeans and agree to head to an Irish bar with them for a pint or two:
When we get there, we decide different. The bar is horrible; full of English, Scottish and Irish tourists who come to wonderful cities like prague, and do little more than drink Enlgish, Scottish and Irish beers in English, Scottish or Irish bars. It's not for us. We are here to conquer this city in the modern way, by talking to as many new people as possible, and seeing the sites between wild nights out. We make our excuses and tell them we'll try to make it back for the second half.
It's a little bit of a walk to the Legií Most Bridge which leads to the Funicular, and the cold is setting in. we seem to hae forgotten to take regular stops in doors to warm up today. We meet several people on the way, including a group of Dutch who claim I was talking dutch to them in a club the previous night - must have been a good night - I was a multilingual drunk.
At one point a group of Czech guys stop us. One of them is fascinated with us. From what I can gather, he's a country hick in Prague for the first time. Even though we had little common language, it was good craic and warmed us up a bit.
We eventually make it to the bridge and get some good photos of the river stretch out before us and of the Prague skyline. We're just along from Karlovy Lázně, and we can't help at smile at our memories of the previous evening:
At the other end of the bridge just before the Funicular is a monument to the victims of communism, it's prety cool, and depicts a man slowly building from deterioration as he descends the stairs:
By the time we enter the funicular, we are freezing. Not our bums and bits as everyone would expect, but our knees, feet and faces. It's now about minus five and we are about to head up the hills where it will be colder.
We get to the top at Petřín and head into Štefánik Observatory and Planetarium for a warm up. From here, we continue along a route towards the Petřín Tower:
We decide it's too cold to increase our altitude by climbing it, and instead opt to sit inside and warm up with some Gluiwein and a hotdog. It's not much warmer in here, but a phone call from Nine Inch Niña warms us up, cos I get to tell her how we've been hitting prague in style.
From here, it's a walk through the park to the castle and it's surrounding buildings. It's a country walk down hill which I'm sure is beautiful in the summer, but dusk is falling and we really are freezing our bollocks off. To remedy the situation, we decide to march/jog down all the step singing Pearl Jam in unison.
During Elderly woman behind the counter in a small town, we change the line:
"I just wanna scream... HELLLO"
to
"I just wanna scream ... AHOJ(Czech for hello)"
We laugh at ourselves and keep our spirits up, much to the hilarity of many folk out enjoying a quiet wander and being disturbed by two men in kilts, jogging down a hillside singing music they don't know with scottish accents.
When the path plateaus, you get some lovely views across the prague skyline, and the darkness falling improves them ten fold:
The area around the castle is full of wonderful winding streets and little higlety piglety shaped dilapidated houses. It has a really old world feel, and I'm sure it would have been a good setting for a Czech Hovis advert should there ever have been one.(Dvořák, the composer of the hovis advert music is czech):
There is now quite a crowd of walkers, as the castle and surrounding area are very popular with tourists. We get a few looks, pose for a few photos and generally brighten up peoples cold days.
When we get to the castle, I'm pretty unimpressed. The last Scot that Mowgli did this walk with was heard to quote:
"Thats no a castle, thats a building"
I know what he means. After some really impressive little streets, the castle doesn't look that impressive.
Just a regal 17th Century building. It does however stretch for a fair while, and the cathedral behind it is absolutely magnificent.
As we follow the path around past the cathedral, we flash our bums at a few foreigners and talk to a few folk. We walk for a while with a mexican artisit and his daughter - who as a photogrpaher is fascinated by the fact that we have Converse trainers on with our kilts. Maybe we'll appear in some exhibition in the future.
I stop off for a pee and get stung about 3 euros for a Gluwein. This definately is tourist territory, but I needed it. Maybe we need to start taking hip flasks out with us, but I'm sure we wouldn't last as long in the clubs.
I'm glad when we can see Charlse Bridge approaching as it means we are back to civilisation, and that we can be a little warmer.
Charles bridge is an attraction in itself. It's mobbed, and I can''t imagine what it looks like at the height of tourist season. Everyone crowd round one of the statues which is about half way as it is meant to bring you luck and ensure that you return to prague if you touch it. We decline based on the queues. We know we'll be returning to prague.
Into the city, we head into a bar for a heat, a pilsner and a Shopska Salata(I couldn't resist it when I saw it on the menu, but it was a far stretch from bulgarian cuisine). We've decided that given that my camera battery is dead, we want to go clubbing later, and a freshen up could be in order, we're going to head back to Mowgli' pad before starting the nightlife.
Back at Mowgli's it's good to get a heat, a shower and generally sit and do nothing for a little while. The amount we've walked and danced so far mean our feet are a little worse for wear.
Mowgli stays out in the sticks, and we've decided that one of the little local bars could be a good place to get some carbohydrates to mix with the beer and red bull in order to return some dancing.
We walk in in kilts. It's a very local bar, but they are over joyed to have two scotsmen in the house. They are so over joyed that they take use round the back of the bar where all the family and friends are sitting. It's folk night, so two guys are banging out Czech folk music interspersed with western pop songs sang in Czech. After Take me home country roads in Czech, I sign language that I would like to play. Mowgli and I knock out the pearl Jam songs we had been singing running down the hill. They are well received, but the locals want something faster that they can tap their beer glasses to. After running over everything that I can think of playing with Mowgli, we decide that Czech old men aren't ready for grunge and return the guitar.
It's still quite an achievement, you can't get pearl jam played in most bars I know - this one let me play it for them. The beers keep on coming as the czech tradition is that when you enter they assume you are drinking beer unless you say otherwise, and the beers continue to arrive until you tell them to stop. We dance away with the bar staff and sing along to a few lines in the songs which say something against soviets, but after 3 pints, we know we have to seek out some food.
We promise we'll be back, and Mowgli trys to explain that he stays just across the road and that you can see the scottish flag. The bar gilr answers that she's married with kids, so he seems to have been misunderstood.
From here, we quickly head down to the station, where they serve food until about 11pm. It's about 10.50pm. We each wolf down our chosen carbs. I have some kind of fresh doughball concoction with some really tasty ham through it. By the time I get through it and the ubiquitous pilsner, I can hardly stand up. The perfect situation for sitting on a tram for 20 minutes, necking a read bulla dn then dacning the night away.
Given that last night was so much fun, and Mowgli has never found a club to rival it, we head off to Karlovy Lázně again. If it ain't broke don't fix it!!!
When we get in, we decide that rather than peak to early like last night, we're going to head to the chill out room at the top and enjoy a few beers while getting used to the loud music.
We find a couch and relax. No sooner have parked our bums than two German girls approach us to ask what we have on under our kilts. Mowgli is very quick to display that we are in fact true scotsmen. The girls take a seat, and we gen up on life in Potsdam. One of them has very good English, having studied in New Zealand. The other just giggles a lot at first, but like many people I meet on my travels, she eventually builds up enough confidence to try out the English she learned at school.
We have a few more beers, and they bring over their friends. They are keen to get to the dancefloor, and suggest that we don't dance(If only they knew!!!)
They talk about is in german a few times, and regret it, when they realise I understand them. Mowgli and I talk about them in broad scots - they definately don't understand and seem to think it's a little unfair.
When they have finally convinced me that the dancefloor is a better option than sitting on a couch drinking beer to inoffensive music we head to the cheesy floor of the previous evening.
When we enter this room, we take straight to the podium at the back, as if it had been less than 20 hours since we'd last been there.
The German's are genuinely shocked as we strut our stuff to the cheesy hits.
Tonight is a much busier night, and people crowd round the stage, forming an audience in front of us. By the end of the first song, there are camera flashes everywhere. Most of these people have never seen a scotsman in a kilt, nevermind someone with our dancing style - i.e. Who cares how we dance, lets have fun.
After 3 songs, I need more beer. The red bull and dancing has my heart pumping 19 to the dozen, and I need to chill for a bit. Like a big polar bear we've broken the ice however, and other people are taking to the stage.
At the side of the stage are two scotsmen who we've met in the street a few times so far over the weekend. They are over the moon at how crazy we are, and tell us we're doing the nation proud. They offer to buy us a beer, and we tell them to just put it on the shelf beside the stage. This keeps going all night. Our shelf is kept full and we keep dancing.
We are on and off all night, but any time the party looks as if it's getting quiet, we take to the stage again,. doing various party tricks, and pulling various people on stage.
By 6am, it's time to think about heading home. The Germans are staying on the Botel on the river. We walk them home chatting about music, life, travel and life. It's been a great night and they seem to have enjoyed meeting some scots.
By this time, it's about 7am, so Mowgli and I can get the daytime tram home. This means they're more regular, but it does mean that it's too late for dawn of the dead.
We head to sleep about 8am, completely danced out.......
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