There were a couple of options available to us - a) catch a metro from a line that was working to a station where the line we needed wasn't shut, or b) catching a bus - but we weren't super confident so we decided on a third option: catch a cab. This was pretty easy 'cause there was a rank outside the metro station and since it was a Sunday morning it wasn't super busy. But we did make sure to get them to agree to a fare before we got in, as everyone had warned us (several times over) and got quoted a reasonable price (like, 10 AUD) and jumped in.
[Side note: we left from Budapest-Nyugati, a different station from the one we arrived at; Budapest-Keleti, it seems, is a bit like Paris in that it has more than one and the direction in which you're going determines the station. I didn't actually realise this until I was looking at the ticket and noticed the different name - lucky I did. I now double-check every ticket for the station.]
It didn't take us very long at all - again, early Sunday morning - and we were at the station. Some navigation was required but we found our train, got some food and settled in for the first leg of the journey.
We were to switch trains at a place called Břeclav; what I didn't realise is that this meant we would travel for a short time through Slovakia rather than just from Hungary to the Czech Republic - though I'm not really going to count it as a country I've visited. Anyway, at some point while in Slovakia, we got delayed, enough so we were obviously going to miss our connecting train. But I was now used to this sort of thing, and just assumed we'd get the next one. That turned out to exactly what happened, and we just boarded the one that came about twenty minutes after we got off the first one and (after kicking some young American guys out of our seats) off we went.
By the time we got to Prague, found our way out of the train station and to our apartment, it was quite late in the day; late enough that we couldn't do much other than find somewhere for dinner and then sit down to do some planning. So that's what we did.
Budapest by dawn's early light. Did I mention we could see the Danube from our apartment? Because we could. Next to the delightfully brutalist bunker that is the Marriott.
Same view, a bit later.
Does anyone know what this thing is? There was one in the cupboard. I assume it's some kind of clothes hanger, but it might also be a Hungarian martial arts weapon.
More early morning Budapest.
One last shot of Budapest. Like everywhere else in Europe we've been (and will go to), there's construction everywhere.
My first (and not last) Czech beer, a Pilsner Urquell. There's also a pic of me with pork knee and a dopey expression, but (as usual) I need to get a decent version of that from Rochelle.
Czech koruna. Also big denomination, but not as big as Hungary. It's about 16 koruna to the Australian dollar.
They have one of my favourite pastries, what the French call a pain raisin, here. Only here they're called a šnek - though that means 'snail' and not 'snake'.
Some shots of Prague. You'll probably notice it's similar to both Vienna and Budapest. Not surprising, given the same people were in charge of all three for quite a while, and not all that long ago.
The famous Astronomical Clock.
We booked a walking tour; when we went into a side street to get the first talk from the guide, the weather was poor. When we came out, it was quite nice.
No, that's not the real pope waving from the window.
Back to the clock.
Now in the Jewish quarter. Like Vienna and Budapest, it's a sad tale of a once-significant population that's now tiny.
Where the legendary golem was said to have resided.
I was tempted to ask them if they'd help me succeed on Broadway.
I think our tour finished up around there. So we caught a metro to the museum that was having a special exhibit on Celts.
We went on a cruise on the Vltava, but alongside the steps to get down to the dock, there were gourds. So many gourds.
Crusing.
There's a museum about the Charles Bridge (an actual bridge, not a person) so we stopped in there for a look.
Another Saint Sebastian for my collection.
At some point we just started wandering, and eventually came across the famous Dancing House.
We were on a bridge when the light was just right.
Dinner was again traditional Czech food. For some reason I was given this. I was not amused.
Our tour guide had recommended we try the Czech dish called svíčková - beef in a vegetable sauce with bread dumplings and topped with blob of cranberries and cream and a slice of lemon. It's excellent.
The clock, but by night this time.
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