Wofford Travels – 2018-10-14 – Prague, Czech Republic
Day 1 – Prague
This was another travel day for us…a brief chance to slow down, although there is always a little stress when you are going to another country…how different is it from the one you just left? There are procedural things: when to bring out the passport (only at hotels), qcertainly the money issue, for example: Hungary (forints or Ft or HUF: 275 = about $1.00), Austria (Euro: 1 = $1.16), and the Czech Republic (Czech crowns or koruna or KC: 25 = about $1.00). So, the first and last countries have their own currency, with Austria using the Euro, very close to the US dollar. Interestingly though, we occasionally were able to use Euros in Hungary. We’ll see how it works out in the Czech Republic. But, we did get cash for all countries before leaving.
We had our usual sumptuous breakfast and then finished our packing. We got down to the lobby around 9:45, and ordered our taxi for 10:00. It was there in 1 minute. The ride to the train station took 5 minutes. Can’t ask for more than that.
Our train was on time and we were off to our final adventure. We arrived in Prague about 20 minutes late and the driver offered his apology. At the train station Tom worked on those “procedures,” getting the critical 3-day transportation passes…which applied to both the metro and the trams (electric busses). We took the metro to our hotel, Saint George.
Saint George is an older hotel, modest, but certainly meeting our needs…and not far by the metro to the Old Town. This is another location which has the “old town” and then the new, with it’s accompanying skyscrapers. Just for your information, here are the populations of the Eastern European cities we are visiting; Budapest, Hungary – 1.8 million (2015) / Vienna, Austria – 1.8 million (2014) / Prague, Czech Republic 1.3 million (2015). Let’s just say…there are a lot of people!
It won’t be hard for you to figure out our next activity…well, it is getting late. Yes, it’s dinner. Decisions, decisions, where to? It definitely helps to have our travel book, so with some checking, we settled on Upinkasu, with an old façade and equally old interior (love those thick arched doorways and ceilings), but updated service and menu to meet today’s needs. So, with that, Tom ended up ordering the Finely Smoked Pork Neck with White Cabbage and Home-Made Pancakes and I had the Pork Ribs in Honey Marinade with Mustard, Horseradish, and Marinated Vegetables. They were both excellent, but far more food than we are used to eating. I think we both felt like we “rolled” out of the restaurant.
By the way, the good news for us has been that a lot of people speak English in these large Eastern European cities (not so much in the outskirts). Although many are not at all fluent, you can certainly get by. This is a testament to their diversity and the recognition of the need to adjust to be successful.
So, “rolling” into our hotel, we call it a day.
NOTE: I don’t believe I mentioned the hotel name in Vienna. It was called roomz. It’s the complete opposite of St. George in appearance. roomz is affordable, relaxed, and VERY modern. In fact, ours looked brand new, with furnishing similar to those in Scandinavia. It is in the town called Gasometer (gas-oh-ME-ter). There’s a whole story to that name, which will be (spoiler alert) in a post-trip blog.
Tita