It was an OK breakfast - nothing startling; and not all our clothes are dry either. We set off and fortunately there are signs with Choo-Choo trains indicating the station.
Trains are running late - track works with bus replacements in between, a cyclist’s nightmare. But my timetable reading had indicated the 9:01 was OK for us - and it accepted bikes.
Arctic on the platform waiting! But not raining.
Train arrived 10 mins late - you walk across the across the tracks to get to the platforms at many Czech stations - an OH&S issue I would have thought, but at least no stairs!
Train duly arrived - 10 mins late - with no indication of a bike carriage! We walked along the platform pushing the bikes, everyone else having boarded. I thought to myself: ‘we are going to get left behind!’
Fortunately the guard sticks his head out just as we are about at the back carriage and we pull off the panniers, lift the bikes one after the other up to him and he takes them into a compartment. We shuffle on with the panniers - tossing them up the 3-4 stairs and climbing in after them. Very elegant - not!
Fortunately we get a compartment to ourselves. I don’t think anyone would want to join us anyway.
Our conductor comes by to check our tickets. A real clown he turns out to be. David asks (a bit late now!) if this is the direction to Prague, and he points the opposite direction and waits for the look on David’s face and he cracks up laughing. Turns out he knows a bit of English and asks us where we are from and he tries to get another joke at our expense - the only humour I’ve seen since coming into Czechia.
It’s about 50 mins from Nymburk to Prague.
It took an age to get to our B&B - only 4 kms! The roads are cobbled, some with tram lines, some one-way. I don’t think I saw another cyclist - it is absolutely non-cyclist friendly. We passed Wenceslas Square (the statue is named after the patron saint of Bohemia) and crossed the Vltava River via the Legion Bridge - a cold wind blowing and the sun dipping in and out, along with spits of rain.
It is a gorgeous B&B - the House at the Big Boot (Dům u velké boty) located in the Embassy district; we are opposite the German Embassy. Laura who greeted us spoke perfect English. After storing the bikes and hanging up our still-damp washing, we set off in brilliant sunshine, although I suspect it’ll be changeable weather today.
This is our last day in Czechia!
The Hradčany Prague Castle is just around the corner from our B&B. Crowded of course. We didn’t go in. On the way down we stopped for coffee and waffles - listened to Coldplay on the sound system. Nice! Very good coffee.
And gingerbread!
From here, we walked down to the famous Charles Bridge (Karlovy Most) - and another squall of rain had us pulling our jackets close in around our bodies and the umbrellas went up all over the place. Hopefully when we cross the bridge later, the weather will be better.
We wandered through the old centre of town (sadly, the Astronomical Clock was under restoration), up to the Republic Square with its Art Nouveau Municipal House and then into the Jewish Quarter with the statue of Franz Kafka (the Bohemian Jewish novelist).
The weather was alternatively lovely in the sun with bright blue sky or freezing with a bitter wind, dark cloud and little showers of rain. Overall we were very blessed.
By the time we walked over the Karlovy Most again, the sun was out and we had lovely views both ways along the river.
We had tickets to a concert at 6 p.m. at St Nicholas Church so we waited in the square opposite with a coffee (a coke for MF2 - no kofola here!).
Nice concert - some Bach, Vivaldi, Saint-Saëns and some Czech composers I don’t know of from the 1700s: cello and organ. Beautiful church.
Quick dinner (goulash and dumplings - standard Czech fare!) and then back to our B&B to get ready for tomorrow - train to Dresden.
Walking distance: 15200 steps according to MF1.
Your stunning photos capture some great sights in this wonderful city. Love the gingercats :)
ReplyDelete❤️😃 yep, the cats were cute! Didn’t eat one tho!
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