It's All About Me...

Forget Vienna! Come to Prague!

10:30 pm, Sat, Oct 7, 2006

Ok, so we have only been here for 6 hours, but the moment we set foot in the Old Town Square (Staromestske namesti... no clue on how to add the Czech accents/letters), I told Dan, 'Now this is what I expected to see in Vienna!' And we both agree that if one has to choose, we would pick Prague. True enough, Prague had escaped bombings and damages in WWII unlike Vienna, where there was a lot of rebuilding post-war. Without the deep pockets of royal families and what not, they were not able to recreate what was destroyed. But still,we have hardly seen the city and I am already chomping at the bits and can't wait to see more of Prague.

Our train trip from Vienna to Prague was quite uneventful. We called our hotel when we arrived and they sent a taxi for us - I was expecting a shuttle, but that was good enough! I was impressed by the hotel the moment we got in - the entrance was nothing spectacular, but we walked into a sleek and modern reception area beyond which was the restored/renovated interior of an old apartment building. There were spiral stone steps with wrought iron railings. We took the small elevator to our floor and found out that our room was right in front of the elevator. Dan went back down to ask for an exchange of room and was told that they would switch for us tomorrow - that is a big plus already.

It has been a while since I booked the hotel, so I have forgotten how the photos on-line looked like. We were both really pleasantly surprised when we found ourselves in a 2-room suite (now, that would explain the name Hotel SuiteHome Residence). The living room consists of a fold-out couch, TV, dining set and kitchenette. The bedroom is quite a bit smaller, but not a big deal. The bathroom is compact as we expected of Europe, but the design is modern and everything looks nice and clean - what more can one ask for? It is great to have the sitting area because when May Shiu and Neil arrive, it would be a nice place to hang out and chat.

Another thing which brought big smiles to our faces is that they have wireless connection here, so no need for proxy server and such - instant internet connection. Yeah!

We rested for a bit and then headed out to check out the neighbourhood. The hotel is located just at the edge of Nove Mestra (New Town) and it was a nice walk to the Wenceslas Square (Vaclavak namesti... this is the Wenceslas in 'Good King Wenceslas'). So it is not really a square - more like a huge pedestrian strip lined with shops, hotels and cafes. There are some amazing buildings with facades of various styles - Art Nouveau, neo-Renaissance - along the way which help me overlook the blatant commercialism that exists, unfortunately, for me, the tourist.

This was just an intro/check-out-the-neighbourhood walk, but it was hard not to take photos of all the beautiful buildings and sights around us. We walked from Wenceslas Square to the Old Town Square and stopped on the way to have dinner at a small restaurant tucked away in a courtyard off the main passage. Having read my Lonely Planet Guide on the train, I found out what the 'standard' meal is and of course I had to start with that: Roast Pork, Sauerkraut and Dumplings. The the guide book writer was right - they sure are heavy on the salt. But it was very tasty overall and I love the dumplings because the texture is actually very much like the bun part of the Chinese Roast Pork Buns or Lotus Seed Paste Buns, or the rolls with Shanghainese food.

Alas, since I have not idea if beer will make me blow up in hives again, I had my dinner with Coke. Had a sip of Dan's Pilsner Urquell just for taste, but I did not like it too much. Just my luck to be allergic to the beers that I acutally enjoy drinking!

It started raining as we were in the Old Town Square and it got quite a bit colder too - just like home in October!! But I am so excited about all the sights that we will be seeing that a bit of cold and rain did not dampen my mood.

May Shiu and Neil will not be here unitl after 9 tomorrow night, so we will wait to visit the castle with them. Our plan is to visit the Jewish Quarter tomorrow and re-visit the Old Town Square.

Well, I'd better hit the sack so that we can have an early start!

posted by Anne-Gigi @ 12:26 PM