Don Giovanni, a cenar teco m'invitasti, e son venuto....

I was sad to leave both Poets and Olomouc. After checking at the local internet cafe that we had actually got tickets to Don Giovanni, we headed up to the Archbishop's Palace for a brief look around the museum. It has obviously been very lovingly put together and it was a shame we only managed a couple of floors. After checking out with the lovely Poets staff, we headed for the train to Prague.

We travelled through beautiful Czech countryside and arrived in Prague in the late afternoon, with glorious sunshine to greet us. The hostel was right off the Main Square, a short walk from the station, although it took us ages to find and we were both glad of a shower before our evening at the Opera. The man who ran the hostel was a little bit grumpy, particularly as we told him that we wanted to be in a dorm rather than the 3-times-the-price single room (we think this might be why we got shoved with the German boys, but more on that later...)

Dressed in what passes for our finery on this trip, we headed to the Estates Theatre, which is where Don Giovanni was first performed. It is a beautiful little theatre, mainly gold and blue and as we had a box, we were able to see the orchestra really well. It was an entertaining and funny production, with lots of servants mucking around in the background; including at one point break dancing. The scene of Giovanni's descent into hell was was really moving though. Afterwards, we headed back to the hostel kitchen to rustle up some pasta and pesto, where we met some cool singing Italians, who we met from then on every time we went to the kitchen.

Breakfast the following day was a twisty pastry from the Easter Market which we have seen all over the place and had yet to try - yummy although very hard to describe. After breakfast, we headed out for a free tour of the city, a really good way of getting a general idea of Prague, but you do feel as though everyman and his wife is there with you. We saw all the obvious things; the astronomical clock, the Tyn church, the University, Wenceslas Square, the New Town, the Charles Bridge and the Jewish Quarter. Some interesting quirky things were also pointed out, like the little pictures which adorn some of the buildings, such as golden rings or elephants which were used before widespread literacy as a way of giving directions.

After the tour, we headed to a cafe for lunch in a shady courtyard before being good and heading out to find a laundry. What the people of Prague must have thought of us with our tatty Tescos bags of dirty washing is anyone's guess, but we felt quite proud. While that was being washed we did boring but important things like buying food and we went to the top of Wenceslas Square to see the monument to the students who set themselves on fire in protest of the communist regime. It is very moving, particularly when you realise that had they not set themselves on fire, they would have seen communism come to an end within their lifetime.

Having done all our washing and food shopping, we rewarded ourselves with a beer in the Main Square and put the worlds to right. That night we discovered that our four bed room was being shared with not two but three smelly German boys, who arrived after a night out at about 3 and proceeded to have a long, loud conversation before falling asleep, one of them on the floor, although they seemed to swap, loudly, in the middle of the night. Lucy and I were not impressed!

The following day, it poured down and so we thought we would go into the Synagogues of the Jewish Quarter. However, having queued for ages, we discovered that they wouldn't take card and deciding not to queue up in the rain again, we spent the rest of the morning in the wonderfully cheesy 'Kafka Cafe', drinking coffee and, in Lucy's case, reading The Trail. After lunch of a sausage under an umbrella and with it still pouring down, we decided to spend the afternoon updating the blog. Feeling very virtuous, we headed out for a reward in the form of coffee and cake in the Cubist cafe, a wonderful little place which is beautifully designed and does delicious cake.

Our evening was spent cooking veggie curry to have with our Australian friends, Kylie and Jason. We first met in Plovdiv in Bulgaria and this was the last time our paths were going to cross; they head west, while we go east. It was a lovely evening spent chatting, although both Lucy and I were sad when they left. It has been an unexpected blessing of this trip to get to know people who are doing a similar thing to you and they are so lovely, we keep trying to get them to come to England. The German boys will certainly not be receiving an invite after another disturbed night of loutish behaviour!