Prague, March 2013

In April, I headed to Prague. Why Prague? I scrolled down the deals on expedia, or lastminute.com and it was a good deal, an appealing city to me (hadn’t been there before, but looked interesting), and the weather appealed to my mood – cool, even chilly, but not wet. It was also my first time in Eastern Europe.

I stayed at the Corinthia Hotel, it was a little dated, and somewhat out the way but nice enough. The hotel food – breakfast was rubbish and overpriced, I had dinner at the Asian Fusion restaurant there, which was tasty but the service was snooty.

I do not recommend the spa there though – I somehow accidentally got a chemical peel during what I thought was a standard facial (what kind of facial includes that?) and then had something called “honey therapy”.

My back was covered in honey and then pummelled. The skin on my back stuck to her hands and, oh, the pain. After a few minutes with tears in my eyes I said:

“Is this supposed to hurt?”

She responded,

“Is honey therapy.”

Er – OK then. Lesson learned – Eastern European beauty is painful. Next time, just stick to the massage.

This nearby Thai restaurant was amazing, though.

My favourite bit was wondering around – I roamed through parks, squares (near the clock, which is very cool) across bridges, up to see a giant metronome, up to the tallest point, and there was a mirror maze which was great for interesting selfies. And the John Lennon wall – I didn’t expect to, but I loved it. So charming, and beautiful, but chaotic.

Museums – I went to the Sex Machines Museum, where I watched vintage Spanish porn in a room of strangers and saw a lot of terrifying looking devices. It wasn’t sexy, more weird. Perhaps not a good place to go alone.

The Kafka Museum I unexpectedly found fascinating, despite never having read any of his work. His life as a German-speaking Jew during that time was incredibly hard, and his love-life I found oddly gripping. So many engagements, but never followed through.

The Museum of Decorative Arts had an exhibition of toy cars, matchbox cars, the history of which was more beautiful than I expected. I loved the sculptures by modern, local artists.

Going to shows (and movies) alone was, and remains out of my comfort zone, but I made an effort and went to see a light show. The dancers wear bright costumes, and are lit up, on a black backdrop. It’s mesmerising. Seems to be a thing there, and definitely worth checking one of them out! All done by mime, so no need to understand Czech.

Shopping wise, I got some interesting jewellery – there’s some great little design-ey shops and show rooms, if you wonder the backstreets!

All in all, well worth a visit.