Full Circle
Trip Start
Feb 02, 2010
1
10
Trip End
Feb 26, 2010
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Friday, February 26, 2010
The British Airlines flight from Prague to London was probably one of the scariest and most spectacular that I have been on! The reason for this was primarily the extreme wind conditions in London. As we approached the runway the plane was rocking back and forth in a similar way that you would rock a small boat or canoe to scare your younger siblings. The landing was equally as rocking and bumpy too but fortunately there was no damage and no injuries. It was spectacular because the sky was practically clear of clouds as we flew over London so we all got the best view ever. To complete the picture it was sunset too so all of the buildings gleamed along with the Thames.
My luck improved however after waiting for 5 hours at Heathrow: the Qantas plane that we were to take home is the newest in the Qantas fleet and one of the biggest in the world. It was the Qantas Airbus A380. Image a plane piggybacking another plane… at two 70m wings and four engines that could literally house a Hummer and a caravan and you have the A380. The plane took off effortlessly, powered by those four big engines. It was also the smoothest landing I have ever had too. The upholstery of the aircraft was beautiful, the seats much more comfortable than any other plane I have been on and the in flight entertainment was the best yet. You can charge usb devices through a port in the side of the chair or plug into the internet. There is even a camera on the top of the tail wing that you can watch live during the flight.
A new category has been added for movies which is 38 of the most recent Oscar winning films. That pretty much set me up for the trip. I watched Crash (best film 2005) which continued my recent theme of seeing / reading anthological films / books (at Prague I bought Stephen King’s "Just after Sunset"), then moved onto American Beauty and Unforgiven (a Western). The only problem I have with the plane is the same I have with every plane and that is LEG ROOM! GRRRRRRR!
Anyway Dad and I have been waiting with anticipation to get to go on one and every flight I go on I always joke that it is an A380. Now I can actually say that I have been on one!
I have no idea how I am going to sit still these next 7 hours or so… to tell you the truth I am very eager to get home and seeing everyone again. The first face I hope see when I get out of customs is my lovely girlfriend Simone, who volunteered to pick me up at 6:30AM, her time. Mum and Dad are planning a big breakfast too and seeing as it has been perpetually night this entire trip I can’t wait for a decent meal!
Well I suppose you want to know about Prague (ah Prague!) ey? Well when I left you we had arrived in Prague (ah Prague!) and had visited the Prague (ah Prague) Film School and went to a Vegetarian place called Clear Head, as recommended by the Lonely Planet. I was certainly the lonely meat-eater there, thinking blissfully of meals gone by; bratwursts and bangers, battered fish and Yorkshire Pudding Pies. I guess one of the best things about is the beer: it is cheap, it is good and it comes huge! A 2 pint glass of Pilsner makes any meal tolerable (even though this one was particularly good!)
The next day I went to the Prague Castle with Bethany and Diana whom hadn’t as yet seen the Charles Bridge, let alone been on the other side of the river. It is similar to our part of town except that it is even more medieval and cool! The walk was interesting. On the one hand we are rugged up quite a bit despite the weather warming slightly, and on the other it was a steep up hill ascent to the Castle on cobblestones. From a distance it didn’t look nearly as far however when we got to the top the view was more than rewarding. The only thing wrong with the view from Prague Castle is that you can’t see Prague Castle! I guess the defining landmark you can see on the horizon instead is the 216m Tv Tower. From afar it looks much like a rocket launching pad- even wikipedia agrees with me in this statement!
The view was as breathtaking as the walk. Prague is called the city of 1000 spires and it is easy to see why. There are so many buildings with spires on them. Some have multiple spires coming off their spires. It is crazy! Crazy but beautiful.
After realising that the admission to the castle was a bit more than we wanted to pay we decided to just admire the building from the outside, which wasn’t very hard to do anyway! On our way back we stopped at McDonalds to complete Beth’s mission of eating at McDonalds in every country she goes to. At 30 crowns (around two Australian) a pop, the toilets there were not cheap. McDonalds is actually one of the most expensive places you can eat (unless you are into fine dining) in Prague- everything else food-wise is just so cheap! I forgot to mention as well that the afore mentioned beer is cheap too- around the same price as a toilet stop in Prague.
For lunch we went back to the old town square where I got some of those delicious looking potatoes and onions. Diana and Beth both got hot dogs- or what they though were hot dogs! They actually turned out to be barbequed salami logs! I had one myself at a later stage in the tour and it was very nice. I went to a stall that had several hams roasting on a spit. This stall sold hunks of this roasted meat and that was it. I was like a dog with a bone! I guess that made up for the previous night!
I am very sad to admit this part of the trip… I had no intention of doing it and had no idea that I was going to be doing this. I knew Simone would not be happy at all. It made me nervous to think of it in fact. I was dragged into it! Peer pressure it was…. I saw the movie Valentines Day. Shock horror! This is the sought of thing Simone has to drag my wailing and clawing body into and I did it without her… and in Prague (ah Prague!) We all had a laugh at it when it finally finished which was good because if I had seen it with Simone I would have had to pretend that I liked it. “Yes darling it was a good movie. Yes, I know you have a good taste in movies. The character development was superb, darling!”
For sometime now I have always wanted a Polaroid Camera. You can buy digital ones now which print on demand and can function like a normal camera too however it is the look of the printed Polaroid image that charmed me. Morgan, Jill’s son is currently doing a photography course at Melbourne, and it was he who helped me find an excellent camera shop. It was actually more of a museum then a store, selling cameras from all eras. It was great! And in the corner there was one neglected looking Polaroid camera. Some would argue that despite it being a colour one (and I really wanted black and white) that this puppy dog face act of neglect is what made me buy, others would probably say it was because it only cost $14 Australian. The film unfortunately costs a lot more. Let’s just say I am paying $3.80 a photo.
It is very charming though! I decided only to take photos that I absolutely needed. Like a test shot of me out of focus at the store! $3.80 there. And then one of me at the Charles bridge that turned out purple because it the weather was too cold. $3.80 there! The next morning it was much better weather, being warm and sunny and the resulting photo was a little overexposed but printed fine. But still $3.80 there! Jeez I have expensive habits!
On the last day of the Study Tour we all went on a short walk to the “Alternative” side of Prague. When you say the “Alternative” side of Prague you have to make it sound as if it quotation marks, you see. 20 minutes our fearless navigator (and birthday girl) Ashleigh said. 2 hours later we decided that we were getting sick of walking and took a coffee break at a store called Shakespeare and Sons. It was a bookstore and a cafe, and had some very questionable characters smoking some even more questionable substances. I walked out of the store picking up a bargain; it was a book called Animal Farm by George Orwell, the same guy who wrote 1984, the only one of my high school texts that I actually enjoyed.
We were close to the TV tower now and on closer inspection we noticed something very strange about it. What looked liked small black dots from the Castle turned out to be giant statues of babies, crawling up and down the structure. It left me asking why and unfortunately I have not as yet found out. Even trusty wikipedia let me down!
Movies are very cheap in Prague- for the price of a single concession ticket in Australia you can get a full adult price ticket as well as a medium popcorn and a drink in Prague. The injustice Village! With that in mind, the remanding members of our Study Tour went to see a much better film (in my opinion), New York, I love you. This was the day after the walk and most people had already gotten in their respective planes and trains and it was just Dan, Bre and Myself remaining, all of us leaving the next day.
Bre moved in with Dan and I for the night and was the first to go very early the next morning with Dan following close behind. That left me, with my flight leaving at 2:50 being the last one in the country. I think it was really the first time I felt lonely. In London there was always things to do and it was a race against time to do them. This though was a different race against time as I had to save as many things to do on the plane as possible. So as I sat there by myself in the hotel room, waiting for 10:30 (check-out time) to role around I guess I did feel I bit lonely but it gave me time to reflect on what had been a great month!
London was so amazing. The entire time I constantly had to get a grip on myself because I was so amazed that I was actually in London! It was crazy and epic, everything I imagined and more. The highlight of London was the London Tower. I never knew much about it, assuming it to be literally just a tower like the ones on the bridge. However in it I was given a great history lesson, a great tour around one of the most important places in history, a medieval castle, a very funny guide that reminded me of Rev from high-school and best of all A CHANGING OF THE GUARD THAT I DIDN’T HAVE TO WAIT 2 HOURS FOR!!! The pure logistics of London was amazing; there are so many people and the city does a great job at moving them all through the cities arteries.
Berlin was something special again! I guess you could say it was snow, or maybe it was simply being in a city that was the epicentre of the 20th Century, but Berlin was fantastic and fantastically weird. I have never been in a city with such a diverse range of architecture. Whilst pre-war buildings are a rarity, the style lives on in many newer buildings, especially in the Mitte area, where I was staying. The Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag are brilliant buildings that are much loved by the city and its tourists.
There also are a range of impressive buildings made during the National Socialist era, and even more so in that of Soviet era in the Eastern side of the city. Symbols of that time exist prominently around the city; the TV tower is a demonstration of Communist extravagance, as is the large Karl Marx Alle and International Theatre and of course the Berlin Wall still remains in various chunks.
The most astonishing thing about the buildings though is how crazy the afore mentioned styles have made the new ones!
And as for Prague… ah Prague, what a beautiful city. We were blessed with very good weather for winter and I guess this has kind of skewed my interpretation of the city against the others but I dare say that it was my favourite. Charming, old, weird and lovely- a tourist’s dream. I don’t think I really made an effort to know the people sadly; I was glad just to be a tourist. In London I tried my hardest not to be- I wasn’t a tourist, I was an eager young person learning everything I could in a short amount of time. I didn’t eat in touristy places and I didn’t buy touristy things. In Berlin the festival meant I didn’t have time to be a tourist. However in Prague it was impossible not to be!
Stunning sites around every corner meant that I could just walk and not care if I got lost.
Well I suppose that’s just about it for me; I am now back in Australia and desperately trying to finish this blog and reorientate myself with the timezone that I am in. Thanks a lot for reading, commenting and rating my blog. I hope you have found it useful and enjoyed it and I certainly hope that you all get to go to these amazing places to one day!
See you round
Charlietravels
(AKA Nick Barber)
Comments
Since when do you say superb darling? ever!?!