Usually, when you travel, you pick up a few key phrases right off the bat: hello, please, thank you, goodbye… that kind of thing. You know, the niceties. You hear them in every shop and restaurant, and those are the first phrases you learn. After nine days in Prague, I still don’t know how to say ‘thank you’. It’s dekuji, I know that, but I’m fuzzy on the pronunciation. Deek-wee? Deek-wee-you? Geek-wee? Who knows? I think I heard it twice.
As you may have gathered, the locals aren’t the friendliest. They’re not unfriendly, per se. But don’t expect every waiter and shop assistant to smile and switch over to English for you. I don’t blame them, to be honest. They live in one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, which means they are swamped by 8 million tourists a year – despite their lukewarm welcome.
SEE THE SIGHTS
Any guidebook or cursory Google search will tell you about all Prague’s usual suspects: the bridge, the clock, the palace, the cathedral. So, sure, let’s go through those quickly. Charles Bridge is always packed, so go as early as you can for a stroll across it. (It’s also beautiful at night.) It dates back to 1357 (construction took 45 years, so make that 1402) and has 30 statues mounted to the balustrade, most of them in the Baroque style and depicting saints and patron saints.
Czechia has quite a chequered past, so there are lotsthe bridge. (Being tossed to your death seems to be something that occurred regularly; there’s a room in the Royal Palace with a dedicated Defenestration Window.)
