I'm not sure which city started the Christmas market trend, but Vienna's have been the best so far. In Vienna, there were many stalls and lots of beautiful items on sale. Unfortunately, Prague didn't cut it; there was mainly junk on sale.

The most interesting items at the markets were the Christmas food and drink treats.

• Trdelnik -- a sugary donut type item which was cooked by wrapping the dough around a wooden spit and spinning over an open fire. At the main market there were six stalls selling trdelnik. Each of stall had a line about 20 people long. Obviously a very popular item at Christmas time. Makes sense, because they were yummo.
  
  
• Grog -- on our first evening we were intrigued by a menu entry which read "Grog". In Australia, grog is just another word for alcohol. We had to give it a go. Unfortunately, we discovered that grog is a disgusting concoction consisting of rum and hot water. Only Andrew was able to finish his cup of Grog (he loves a challenge!).
  
  
• Czech Spa Wafers -- They are delicious! A very thin wafer sandwich with a sugary filling. They are delightful toasted or heated in the microwave for a couple of seconds.
  
  

At the corner of the Old Town Square, you can find the Astronomical Clock. On the hour, the clock performs a little show. We arrived at 11 am just in time to catch the display.

On the hour the fun begins. The little figure of Death on the clock inverts his hour glass. It is time for the end of Vanity, The Miser (used to be called The Jew!) and The Turk, the other figures on the clock. The Turk shakes his head "Noooooooooo!". Above the clock a couple of windows open and busts of the Apostles scroll past the open window. The cock at the top of the clock crows to signify the end. The whole show takes about 60 seconds.

I always find the size of the crowds that these displays pull hilarious. There was a crowd of about 100 people all waiting in anticipation. A minute later, it's over and everyone is left wondering "Is that it?". After our experience in Prague we can now say that we've been unimpressed by clocks the world round. (I remember waiting for 20 minutes in Munich to watch some figures twirl for a minute or so. It was so not worth the wait!)



Other Prague Highlights:

• Jewish Quarter -- The Jewish Quarter in Prague used to be one of the biggest Jewish ghettos in Europe. It is the site of the world's oldest Synagogue which is still in use. It is also the site of the legend of Golem. (A legend I only know about from reading Terry Pratchett, so I'm sure my knowledge is a little shaky.)
  
  In the Jewish Quarter, the Jewish Cemetery is artificially raised high above ground level. The floor of the cemetery is about 10 metres above ground level. In the past, Jews were not allowed to bury their dead outside the ghetto. The lack of space meant that the Jews were forced to place newer graves on top of older graves. There are actually 12 layers of graves and over 100,000 people are buried there. All in such a tiny area.
  
  
• Charles Bridge -- The Charles Bridge is Prague's most famous bridge. It's a pedestrian only bridge that crosses the Vltava River. One of the Charles Bridge's claims to fame is that it is featured in the movie xXx. (I didn't say it was an impressive claim to fame!)
  
  
• Prague Castle -- This is the beautiful view of Prague from the top of castle hill. We can say Castle in another language now. Castle in Czech is Hrad (which is the same as Slovak, so I'm not sure it counts).

I continue our travels back in time with some recollections from our visit to Prague in December.

Our visit to Prague had two main objectives: visit and admire beautiful Prague and browse the Christmas markets. In 2006, we visited Vienna in the lead up to Christmas and had a lovely time browsing the Christmas markets. We were hoping for more of the same from Prague.

We always try to do a guided tour of each city we visit. No point stumbling around a city on your own. You'd never learn anything interesting that way. We prefer walking tours over bus tours too. Benefits of walking tours include an opportunity to appreciate the scenery, familiarisation with the geography of the city and getting a bit of exercise (which is much needed after all the drinking and eating we do on our mini-breaks).

We decided to do a Best of Prague tour, a four hour tour around the Old town and the New town, across the Charles Bridge and finishing at the castle. At the end of the four hours, we were exhausted and cold but definitely more knowledgeable.

I love that Prague's New town is more than 650 years old. It was founded in 1348 by King Charles IV.

Our tour guide was an eccentric character. He had a weird sense of humour and a tendency towards negativity. He was excited by the fact that the Czech Republic is one of the most non-religious countries in Europe... "Atheists! Yes!". He didn't think we should bother to read Franz Kafka or visit Dresden, Germany... "Kafka, skip it." "Dresden, skip it." He provided us with a few catch phrases for our weekend in Prague. Very entertaining.

We figured our guide was an architecture major as we received a lecture on the style of each historic building that we passed. We even received a little quiz at the end of the tour. I can now identify Gothic, Baroque, Rococo, and Art Nouveau styles of architecture. I'm not sure I care. Or as our guide would say, "Architectural styles, skip 'em!".

Although after a little bit of research, I've discovered that Prague is quite well known for fine examples of different architectural styles. Maybe everyone in Prague is obsessed with architecture.



More photos on Flickr...

Well, December is not going to see the everyday blogging goodness that you experienced during November. I guess I should make an effort to blog though. Maybe, I'll aim for every second day instead of everyday. Posting everyday is hard.

We've returned from our mini-break to Prague. We had a super fun time. But, how can you not have a fantastic time when visiting a beautiful city like Prague in the company of lovely people (John, Leah, Ian, Sarah... we're talking about you.)

I will eventually post about Prague but I'd like to finish writing about Poland first. So you'll have to wait for a little bit. But while you wait, you can ponder this. People from London are called Londoners, people from Paris are called Parisians. What do you call people from Prague?

Natalie was back in Sydney last week. While she was here, we had dinner at the Prague Restaurant in Potts Point. Natalie had a yearning for some Svíčková (beef stew) and houskový knedlíkem (bread dumplings). Na zdraví Natalie! (photos)

Way back in the old FormTrap days, Armen once remarked that he must "get back to his elephants". We all stared at him blankly..."elephants?". Armen was paraphrasing a proverb which obviously does not have an English equivalent. He meant, "I want to get back to the problems in my code." While searching for Czech phrases on the internet, I came across an interesting webpage which lists some Czech translations of well-known proverbs. The literal translations of the proverbs are slightly different to the English versions.

English Saying	Czech Saying	Translation
To have a frog in one's throat	Mít knedlík v krku	To have a dumpling in one's throat
To give someone the World	Dát/snést někomu modré z nebe	To give/bring someone the blue from the sky
It's raining cats and dogs	Lije jako z konve	It's raining as if from a watering can
To keep one's fingers crossed (for someone)	Držet (někomu) palce	To hold one's thumbs (for someone)
To beat about the bush	Chodit kolem horké kase	To walk around hot porridge