Monday, April 19, 2010

Prague, Czech Republic

By Claire
We are camping at Camping Oase, with our favorite price of €15, thanks to our discount ACSI card. It may prove to be our best one yet. We are located outside the city but the bus stops right in front of the campground. I am doing a load of laundry right now and they even have a dryer and new modern equipment that works fast! Fresh bread in the morning, friendly, professional service and a handout with detailed information about how everything works, what bus to take, what trams go where and much more. I think we are going to love Prague.

Driving in, we did encounter the worst roads in all of our travels. They were teeth-rattling and we had to scream to hear each other over the noise. This was on a major motorway and we had to pay €14.50 for a toll vignette! Other than that, the country is gorgeous, with shades of green too hard to describe or capture by photo. The amount of green grass is astounding and the number of lawn mower ads we saw is no doubt directly proportional to the total number of hectares in the country.

Men and their Lawnmowers--check out those hubcaps!




We really enjoyed this ad.



We buzzed along the bumpy, loud, irritating road and what did we see? IKEA! Time for coffee.

IKEA, Czech Republic--we've been noticing lots of larger cars in the last few countries.

Next door to IKEA we found a place much like Best Buy and decided to see what it would cost to buy a data SIM card here. They didn't have them and we had a funny time trying to say hello and thank you, the only two words we have learned. When I said thank you to the first guy, his eyes kind of widened but there was no recognition. Since he spoke English, I asked how to pronounce thank you in Czech. He said "Dikwee". That's easy enough. I tried it on another guy and received a blank look. The word is spelled Děkuji. You figure it out. Finally, a very nice guy escorted us out the door and walked us to O2, a place that sells mobile phones. They didn't have it or speak English. But, there was a huge Tesco grocery store right across from O2 and we decided to grab a few things. As it turns out, we have free WiFi inside Homer so we'll skip the SIM card here and pick one up in Germany.

Sausages—oh my!




Isn't this bread something?


We've been enjoying all the different Knorr packaged soups. One package turns into dinner for two for €1.19 and they are quite good. You can also buy a package of herbs, in this case Oregano, for about €.45.



The rest of our trip was uneventful--oh, I forgot about the fuel fiasco. I was trying to pump a little more gas to even out (round up?) the total cost, as the service guys do. Suddenly, Chuck said "it's running all over the ground." And my feet! What an idiot. I guess I don't have the touch. I reeked of fuel and had to scrub my shoes when we got here. Svetla, our sometimes wonderful GPS navigator, brought us right to the door of the campground though.

Kdo se moc ptá, moc se dozví.
He who asks too much will learn too much. ~ Czech Proverb



3 comments:

Karin said...

So happy you have arrived in Prague....love that billboard sign about the shoes! (You've gotten a taste of Czech humor...don't forget to go check out the loo in the Palladium at Republiky Square. Chuck has to go in as it in the Men's). I believe it is on the lower floors.

Anyway, you have arrived in a city I love, and hope you find it enjoyable. I shall pray to the Rain God to stay away!

Waiting to hear all about it!

Karin on Paros wishing like "H" I was in Prague!!!! Ha, ha.

Elisabetta said...

Karin--> "Czech out the loo ..." ah ha ha!!

Elisabetta said...

How could I forget: one of my hottest Italian lovers was half-Czech, and represented Italy in boxing in the 2004 Olympics.
Unfortunately, he ripped his ACL on the first round and came home with only an Olympic necklace .. however I DO have some REALLY good pictures of him wearing it ... and speaking Czech on the phone to his Mamma ...!!