Prague 1

First, the last word on Vienna. We didn't go out in the end. We stayed in, at the amazingly cheap hostel bar with a new crowd of hostellers. You could tell to try and go out would have been to force the issue. Besides, we made our own entertainment, in our stereotypical ways. Phil found a guitar for the night and I will tell you what I did when I next play 'I have never' I'm sure. But not here.

Onto Prague!
I think the train journey set the tone. We arrived at our departure station at 10am 2+ hours to kill and so, with backpacks on, took a seat opposite a Kebap store by the platform, already open for trade, and got fixated. We couldn't understand why there would be a market for Kebaps so early in the day and soon a random game spawned of guessing who the next person to order would be. Potential Kebap-purchaser after Kebap-purchaser strode by or ordered pizza from the same counter, raising the tension through the agonising minutes and soon we were chanting 'Kebap, Kebap, Kebap' under our breath in more and more animated ways to try and sway any potential purchasers to our food of choice...Kebap Olympics and the funniest travel footage yet was born, complete with voice overs and genuine moment of intense Kebap Euphoria when the final purchase was made!

And so begins even my weirdest first impression, to our new buddy Uruia, who in stitches at our commentary and also waiting for the next train to Prague, has come along with us to our current hostel and shall be our tourist buddy for the day...

Once we arrived in Prague we had time to get to the hostel, help Uria with her last minute booking, and drop our bags off before we were due to head to the Old Town Centre to visit my friend I met on-the-way in Madrid. Meeting Samantha at the Old Clock Tower we soon went in search of authentic Prague...Who can say they found it in A Native-American themed pasta restaurant, and an alien themed bar of the same name next door?? I can. Phil can. Sam can.  Sam didn't give us tradditional dumplings and stew, but the popular tongue-in-cheek side of Prague culture. These places were busy, fun, miles out, and cheap. We spent the night trying to put Sam's word to the test after she'd claimed to be able to 'drink people under the table' since adopting the 'Prague 24 hour drinking culutre' (they drink more here per capita than any other city) with the very fruity cocktails and the local aniseed spirit 'Bechorovka'. Sam was a lot of hot air...a drink and a half through her chair became a difficult obstacle to navigate. We slowed things down, enjoyed banter instead of alocholic comas, and strode out about 1.30am.

Which any good dietician will tell you is NOT the time to purchase, let alone eat a fried cheese burger - literally a wedge of cheese, battered and fried, in a bun served with ketchup/mayonnaise. 'Smazny Syr' is again a local delicacy and it was insisted we tried it. It's safe to say I like cheese, I like ketchup and I like burger buns, but its not going to be imported to any of my future dinner parties...Sam on the otherhand, with her easy going tour guide approach, is more than welcome to come join, if ever I have one. A great start and really goes to show traveller buddies are worth keeping on to.