We’re back from Prague, and I can happily say it was amazing… if you ignored all the other tourists. I’ll leave that particular complaint for a separate post I began composing in my head while we were in Prague, entitled ‘An Open Letter of Apology to the People of Prague’.

Prague itself was beautiful - the weather was good for 90% of the time we were there, and even when it wasn’t there were plenty of shops and alley-ways to duck into to shelter from the drizzle. The Old Town Square was filled with stalls for the Christmas Market, and everywhere you could smell roasting nuts, cinnamon, mulled wine, and slowly roasting meat. The architecture was incredible as well - some of the church interiors were so lovely that you had to take a seat to take it all in. The area around Prague Castle was great as well - St. Vitus Cathedral had the most breath-taking stained-glass windows I’ve ever seen. At one point we got sick of the main tourist traps and went on (a very long) walk from where we were staying to see the Bohemians football team play. Although they are near the bottom of the Czech league, they seemed to be a strong team, and the supporters were out in force even though it wasn’t a big game. Their mascot, oddly enough, is a kangaroo - the team went on a tour of Australia in the 1930s and were gifted with a pair of kangaroos, and they decided it was a good idea to keep the symbol as their team emblem.

The odd Australian connections continued when we were having dinner in a beer hall and were accosted by an Oompa band who demanded to know which countries we came from. When Rob answered ‘Australia and Wales’, the tuba player got excited and gestured to some koala souvenirs he was wearing which he had obviously been given by some fanatical Aussie tourists. The band then proceeded to play ‘Skippy the Bush Kangaroo’ for me. If I hadn’t been so mortified, it may have made me home sick.