Day 181 to Day 183 - So many bones ......

Berlin (Germany) to Prague (Czech Republic) - Clarion Congress Hotel

Day 181 - The train trip from Berlin to Prague was easy and comfy, train travel is certainly much less hassle than flying. As per usual, we had booked a hotel near a railway station. In this case the station was inside a shopping complex with the hotel attached, so it couldn’t be easier. As it turns out, when we made our reservation they were almost fully booked, so we were upgraded to an executive suite. Finally .... after 6 months of hostels and hotels it was probably about our turn!

We caught the train in to the centre of the old city for the evening and were surprised by the number of people around. The huge old town square was full of tourists, and it was also very warm, so there was a great atmosphere, and with the lighting on the old cathedral it was quite a sight.

Day 182 - Today we've been on the road for 6 months - it has gone so fast, and we are well behind where we thought we'd be by this time, but we've also changed our plans a number of times along the way (because we can!).

After enjoying the walking tour of Berlin we decided to try one in Prague. This time we signed up for a free one, they bank on large numbers with tips at the end, plus the upsell to their other tours.

It started off much more disorganized than the previous one. It took 45 minutes to get started and there were about 50 in our group alone. Our guide was perhaps a little on the young side (though at least he was Czech) and at times over the top and repetitive but we still saw a lot of the sights (clocks, cathedrals, churches, town squares, headless statues, 400 year old mummified arms ....) and also heard some of the interesting history, including the events after WWII and the Velvet Revolution.

After the tour we decided to continue on with the paid tour of Prague Castle (so the upsell worked!) and this time had a guide more to our liking (who also happened to be Australian). As we walked around she filled us in on more of the medieval and communist history of Prague.

It was a long day and we both felt we'd had enough by the end, but we had seen and learnt a lot - plus our attitude to group tours seems to be changing!


Day 183 Today we caught the train to Kutná Hora, a small town about an hour from Prague. From the station we walked into town, and it was really warm, the whole week's forecast was for mid 30’s.

After seeing the town sights (including St. Barbara's Cathedral) we caught a local bus to the Kostnice Ossuary. This place is famous for its human bone collection. About 40000 bodies were dug up and arranged into all sorts of shapes, including pyramids of skulls and a coat of arms complete with a bird. However the grand display is a chandelier hanging from the ceiling made from every bone in the human body.

We finished the day desperately trying to find reasonable accommodation in Vienna with air con. We failed miserably and ended up spending much more than anticipated as we are leaving tomorrow - and K needs her air con!