Day 5) The city is calling

Now I am in Prague. A city that has been recommended to me by practically everyone. A city that seems to have a magical attraction. And I have to say, Prague is something special.

Prague is a tourist metropolis; most of the tourists seem to be drunk Germans, shouting and wearing German jerseys and leather pants. In the afternoon, the scene changes, suddenly drunk Poles in Polish jerseys come and shout...

For the first time on my trip, I have the feeling that I won't be able to see everything I want to see. After the peaceful Ljubljana, and the rather smaller Bratislava, Prague is a whole new world. For the first time on my trip, I have to buy a ticket for public transportation. Surprisingly, it costs less than 5 Swiss francs for 24 hours. Although Prague is relatively cheap compared to other cities, I need more money than in Bratislava and Ljubljana. The 2,000 crowns (about 75 euros) that I initially withdraw only last until the first noon. There is just so much to see.

My first destination in the city, after looking around the center, is the Eiffel Tower of Prague; a 1:1 replica of the Parisian Eiffel Tower, just one size smaller. On the way there, however, I come across the KGB Museum in a side street; a private collection of items from the Russian KGB. Of course, I have to make a stop there. The very passionate Russian guide and owner of the museum explains everything to us in great detail. From cigarette cases with pistols inside to Russian machine guns used in World War II to old music boxes that play Russian folk songs and marches, there is everything. Because of the detour to the museum, I arrive late at the Eiffel Tower and miss the originally planned communist city tour; it will be postponed until tomorrow. The view from the Eiffel Tower is breathtaking. The sights of Prague are spread over a huge area. After the tower, I also visit the Mirror Maze, which was built together with the tower for the national exhibition in 1891. Unfortunately, the mirrors have not been cleaned since the opening, so you can find the exit pretty quickly. This is really a shame because the maze would be very beautiful. Then finally, there is a rain shower. Finally, some cooling down. It gets even cooler when I visit the coolest bar in Prague. (Sorry for the bad pun) The Ice Bar at the Charles Bridge is completely made of ice, even the glasses are made of ice. 20 minutes in the bar cool down the body nicely. Once again, I get to know a group of nice Brazilians here. In the evening, I go out to eat with a group from my hostel (5 girls from a Dutch district graduation class; an American and an Austrian). We all get along very well. Afterwards, I go to two nice pubs with 2 Canadians from my room.

I only catch glimpses of the match against Poland; in time for the penalty shootout, I step into an Irish pub and watch the tragic defeat with 2 Northern Irish. They console me with the saying that Northern Ireland is even worse than Switzerland. I'm almost glad that Switzerland loses. After all, I will already be in Gdansk in two days.