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Showing posts from July, 2011

Praha 14th April 2011

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Trdelnik We woke up at 8:45 to the sound of drilling as there were some roadworks going on outside our windows :(  Everyone got showered and dressed and we left at 10am to go to the Old Market Square, we saw the Astronomical Clock, walked around the market and had these sugary sweets called trdelnik. There were several stalls selling them. They are the most devine dessert I've ever had and the thing I miss the most about Prague. It is made out of dough and like a pretzel but with a more crispy consistency. It is made by wrapping the dough around a roll pin type device which is then rolled above hot coals to cook the dough. After it's golden brown it is then rolled in a sugar and cinnamon mix. Then you get to wat it! This has to be tried and searched for when you go to Prague as it's delicious! Trdelnik Outside the town hall there are several tour guides waiting to with umbrellas which is a sign that they are tour guides. Some are free and others you need to

Praha 13th April 2011

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We woke up at 7am, got dressed and packed the rest of my belongings. We checked out then walked to the Hackescher Market metro and got a train to Berlin Hauptbahnhoft. We had some time before our train to Prague so got some snacks and magazines for the journey. The train arrived at around 9am, we found our seats and sat down. This train was not as nice as the one from Dusseldorf but never mind. The journey was 4 hours long and I did some crosswords and Christine read a magazine. Next I read some of my book and fell asleep for an hour, when I woke up we were still in Germany but in Dresden at that time. It was 11am so 2 1/2 hours left on the train. I stayed awake for the rest of the journey and did my crosswords from my book and Christine was reading The Help which she said was very good. Czech Koruna Prague was a bit of a culture shock, more so than any other European country either of us had been to. It was a bit colder in Prague at 10 degrees, the language was completely indecip

Berlin 12th April 2011

We woke up at 9.30am and got ready. We decided to go shopping that day so we walked to Friedrichstrabe which is the main shopping street in Berlin. We went to H&M and the local department store, we were just windowing shopping as we didn't see anything worth buying. We had lunch and had a failed attempt at trying to find a beer garden that we were recommended to go to by a girl at the hostel. Unfortunately we could not find the beer garden and came across a park instead. We decided to go back to the hostel at around 3.30pm. Next we went to a home store called Butlers in Hackesher Market and got some German storyboards as a different sort of souvenir. We had no idea what they said which made it even more funny. There are some non chain and chain stores in the Hackesher Market area, we went to this independent accessories store where I got a purse. They also sold mobile phone covers, jewellery, scarves etc. We went to H&M again as well as some other shoes and clothes store

Berlin 11th April 2011

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Christine and I woke up at 9.45 and started to get ready. We walked to the Tiergarten where there was a gold statue where several former US presidents and other political figures have spoken in the past. It was very tall and grand, we then went for lunch near Alexander Platz called Schinkel-Klause . The restaurant had an outside area also and it was sunny so we sat outside. The food being taken out to people's tables looks really good so we knew that we had made the right choice in the restaurant. Christine and I both had Schnitzel which was very good, very juicy and tasty. Tiergarten  Next we went to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum , its about €8 to get in if you have a student card but make sure there is an expiration date on your card. It's a bit more if you do not have a student card. The museum was very interesting and informative, I learnt a lot. There are several artifacts from the war dating back centuries. After that we walked back to our hostel and chilled for a f

Berlin 10th April 2011

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We woke up at 9.15 and started to get ready. We went downstairs to the lobby at 10am, used the free wifi and had some tea. A good tip is to get as many tea bags as possible whenever you stay in hotels or hostels on your travels so then you just need to ask for hot water when you want some tea instead of paying for tea. That's what I did everyday on this trip for breakfast. We decided to go on a paid tour, there are several free tours you can go on but I would recommend this tour as the guide was friendly, very knowledgeable and worth the money. We used Insider Tours , there were several leaflets and information about it and other tours at the hostel so they will also be able to help you. There are also tours in other languages if English isn't your first language. The tour was €10 if you are under 26 and €12 if you are over. We went to the meeting place at Hackescher Market at 10.30 to meet the tour guide, she introduced herself and told us a bit about where we would be going o