Travelling to Prague

I love train travel!

Left Berlin for Prague, I caught the train from the main Berlin Station the Hauptbahnhof and it’s huge. I think it may be the biggest railway station in Europe.

Berlin Hauptbahnhof

View from a platform, all very streamlined.

 I love travelling by train, it’s relaxing, I plug myself in to music and sit back and enjoy the trip. (I’ve been travelling by train in Europe so long that I’ve progressed from listening to music on a Walkman, a Discman, an mp3 player to now an ipod!)

View from a train window, Germany

The Czech Republic, with no passport checks between certain countries anymore, there's no stopping at borders for the passport officers to come on board so only knew when we crossed the border by the signs, they weren't in German!

Once I arrived in Prague I thought I would get a taxi to my hotel since it’s my first time in Prague and don’t know the city at all. Weeeelllll, that was the idea until I went to the taxi rank, showed one of the drivers the name of the hotel I wanted to stay at and he quoted me 25 euros to take me there. (I’ll give you all a moment to convert that into your local currency and then be as outraged as I was!) I knew the hotel wasn’t far, and I only paid 6 euros in Berlin to go 3 times the distance! I said no, I’d walk!

So armed with a Google map (I always print off a map to take with me so I have an idea where places are, a note of caution though, Google maps aren’t always the most accurate. But in this case they served their purpose) off I went. Along the way I luckily passed a tourist information office and was able to get a much better map of Prague. They also helpfully showed me a quick easy route to my hotel. Found my hotel easily enough after 15 to 20 minutes of walking, stopping at tourist office and rolling suitcase over cobblestones (not that easy!). No way was it a 25 euros taxi ride!

Checked in, another perfect location, right off the main square. Then went out for a walk around and was blown away by the amount of tourists. I knew Prague was popular, that’s why I was there as well, to see it, but there are just hordes of people! I thought Dubrovnik was crowded with tourists and tour groups, Prague is Dubrovnik on steroids!

It is beautiful and I’ve only just seen a tiny bit at the moment, just very, very touristy!

Old Town Square, picture taken early evening, after the Military Parade that was there in the afternoon had all packed up!

On the Charles Bridge