At 6am, while crossing the sportsground in front of the T Klub, a phone call informed me that the day's business/bureaucracy/bullshit had been suspended until next week due to a malfunctioning payment system at the Saudi embassy. I shook my head in disbelief on realising that I was paying for a system that doesn't work, thus delaying the start of a new job.
Watching the sunrise and mulling over my next move, train missed but feeling quite perky, I carried on down to the square from where the 407 bus took me through forest to Varnsdorf and a transfer onto another bus to Praha. Bus is cheaper than train, but it's a far bumpier ride, jolting along the backroads of Bohemia via Svor and Novy Bor for 3 hours until the capital city arrived, bathed in sunshine.
After a strawberry milkshake in Holesovice, I jumped on the number 6 tram. This line is a 15 minute tour of many of the city's more modern quarters - crosslng the river Vltava then the city's heart at Vaclavak (once Europe's biggest whorehouse), pausing at Masaryk station, passing the art deco Arco cafe, Charles square, downtrodden Nusle before finishing on Cuba square in communist Vrsovice,
Watching the sunrise and mulling over my next move, train missed but feeling quite perky, I carried on down to the square from where the 407 bus took me through forest to Varnsdorf and a transfer onto another bus to Praha. Bus is cheaper than train, but it's a far bumpier ride, jolting along the backroads of Bohemia via Svor and Novy Bor for 3 hours until the capital city arrived, bathed in sunshine.
After a strawberry milkshake in Holesovice, I jumped on the number 6 tram. This line is a 15 minute tour of many of the city's more modern quarters - crosslng the river Vltava then the city's heart at Vaclavak (once Europe's biggest whorehouse), pausing at Masaryk station, passing the art deco Arco cafe, Charles square, downtrodden Nusle before finishing on Cuba square in communist Vrsovice,
The Zizkov tower (photo, left) was my leading light, side-tracked by Koh-I-Noor, which doesn't make diamonds but is a pencil factory just up the road from Bohemians 1905 and Slavia Praha's football stadiums sitting almost side by side. The photo above right is the building where I bought my very first computer: a big chunky secondhand 386 that was later put to use as a table in my parents garage in Kent whenever I went outside to smoke.
The final stop, of course, was Shotgun and another spot where I go to smoke. Happily ensconced on a bar stool I was entertained by fellow Shotgunner Micky, a Prague native well on the way to Lalaland by 3 in the afternoon ...
Reappearing above ground at dusk, I was thrilled by a new walkway that took me straight out of Zizkov, under the railway tracks and directly onto platform 5 at the Main station. Awesome urban planning. Bravo! The journey to Zizkov has become even more user-friendly.
The final stop, of course, was Shotgun and another spot where I go to smoke. Happily ensconced on a bar stool I was entertained by fellow Shotgunner Micky, a Prague native well on the way to Lalaland by 3 in the afternoon ...
Reappearing above ground at dusk, I was thrilled by a new walkway that took me straight out of Zizkov, under the railway tracks and directly onto platform 5 at the Main station. Awesome urban planning. Bravo! The journey to Zizkov has become even more user-friendly.
By the time we'd reached Decin, castles had appeared in the night sky, hovering over Masaryk square as I munched on onion bhajis, drank tea and chatted with the Nepali waiter from Lumbini, birthplace of Buddha.
Full moon rising as I stepped off the train at 23.57 into cool fresh Lipa air before negotiating the horsefield to reach the comfy nest of home.