Prague and all it's Wonders

We left our wonderful but cringily named hostel 'Czech Inn' after abusing their very good breakfast buffet. A half hour walk took us to our supposed next hostel, the Abex Hostel, which we had booked online over breakfast. Feelings of discomfort arose as we walked behind what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse leading to a railway track, all following the signposts for the hostel. We got in there by walking across a rusted metal platform. I think to both our relief they hadn't received our booking in time and were full.

There was nothing they could do but were very kind and directed us to a hotel of a friend of theirs, 'Hotel Sunshine'. We got there and checked in without too much hassle. It was nothing special, but a secure couple of beds and shower for the next two nights. We got the metro to the main station and began to wander towards the old town. Prague was the kind of city that just kept hitting you with how beautiful it was, the buildings were gorgeous, easily surpassing any of the towns we had passed through on our hitch. Our walk led us through the tourist areas, over Charles Bridge, past the castle and up towards Petrin Tower. It looked like a mini eiffel tower and 2 euro got us to the top. It was nice to get a sense of Prague from above, just a shame that the sun had gone behind the clouds as we were up there. In the evening we grabbed some food from a local shop near the hotel and sat in our room writing up postcards and journals.

The next day (Saturday) we took a train ride to Kutna Hora, an hour outside of Prague to visit the Ossuary. On the way there we passed through a town fair. It was fascinating to see all the different things they had to offer, and amusing to see exactly some of the same things you find in any fair at home. We got to the Ossuary and it was incredible. In an unremarkable church lay this morbid but beautiful work of art, in the form of a mass grave of 40 000. There was a chandelier made from human skulls and bones, and a very elaborate crest. We wandered around, occasionally laughing at the bunch of German goth kids who seemed to be trying to exercise some kind of superiority over everyone else, just by grace of being goths. After the trip back and a quick stop at the hotel, we met Claire and Alex, the two hitchers we had met in Newcastle, at the main train station. We went for a very nice meal and exchange of hitch experiences before wandering into town. They happened to meet two other hitchers they had met in Berlin, Kenneth and Lucy, and en masse we went to a local bar. It was lovely to swap stories, all united although virtual strangers. After a lovely evening of social activity we headed back to the hotel for our last night there. On Sunday we left the Sunshine and checked into the more central Oz Hostel, equally uninspiring but a clean bed and a good location for our last night.

Next we met Kenneth and Lucy before their flight home. We sat in a park over the river and Peter played Ukulele whilst we watched the people go by. We went our separate ways and Peter and I headed up to the castle after grabbing a bite to eat. There we found not only fantastic views over the city, but also a toy museum. Instantly drawn in we decided to go for it. We spent ages in there looking at the most interesting assortment of old tin toys, rather sinister dolls and a range of other things. On the top floor they had a barbie exhibition. I think we both loved it, me maybe slightly more as I was delighted every time I saw a barbie or a dress that I had owned. After that we walked down away from the castle grounds to do some gift shopping and stumbled upon a lovely garden filled with peacocks.

We sat there for a while watching them before moving on to the hustle and bustle of the old town. Gift needs satisfied we bought some food (oddly from Tesco) and went back to the hostel. Here we are on our last night in Prague, both reflecting on the journey and the holiday. It has been such a fantastic experience, and we were well rewarded with such a beautiful city at the end. There is the torn feeling of wanting to stay to explore more, but I think we are also both anxious to get home so we can share our stories and adventures with everyone.

The Last Day of Hiking!

Berlin was a very nice city but, sitting in our cosy room at Lette'm Sleep youth hostel (on Lettestraße, haha), after a walk around the sleepy Wednesday-night centre, we realised that we would not be able to make the most of Berlin without being there for at least a few days. In fact, all of our city stays had only been for one night, and it seemed a shame to have to leave a place before we properly got to know it. This in mind, we decided that we would depart from Berlin early on Thursday, and try to do the whole Berlin-Prague trip in a 'one-r'. This would allow us a proper long weekend in Prague, and a chance to truly appreciate it.

Enter the most hectic hitchhiking day we have yet experienced.

Our early start actually turned out to be 9am or so, so not incredibly early. With the help of googlemaps and our own innate senses of direction, we took the S-bahn to the southern outskirts of the city. This actually provided us with a great view over the streets and houses as we passed through and over them. Conclusion: Berlin is a really great city, but definitely deserves more than an evening's viewing.

We settled down between a Burger King drive-through and a petrol station, and scribbled ourselves cheerful 'Dresden' signs on the back of last month's cereal packets. Most of the cars seemed to shun us, until a young man walked over from a nearby carwash, introduced himself as Trösten, and offered us a lift to Dresden. Trösten turned out to be a great guy, who spoke very good English and was interested in everything, especially languages. He had to travel between Berlin and Dresden every week to take care of the two companies which he had co-founded. One undertook electronic database analysis for companies, and the other, a pioneering project, offered a kind of social and professional networking website for mathematicians. He had a lot of interesting ideas about the learning of languages, and was full of fun anecdotes, like the time when he had mistaken the word for scrambled eggs for 'cocaine' in venezuelan spanish!

We had a great time hitching with Trösten, and when we arrived in Dresden we checked out some maps together and he dropped us at a roadside from where it looked likely we would be taken to Prague.

As time passed though, it became apparent we had not picked the best spot. Hundreds of cars drove past, but no-one gave us a second glance, even though there was ample space to stop. Puzzled, we walked partway into the centre of Dresden, then bussed it the rest of the way to the Central Station. After getting an internet connection, we decided to take the advice of the World Wide Web, and try a location in the South of the city, near the Teknische Universität. We encountered a couple of German hitchers who'd been there all day and were still trying. We waited for 3 hours and watched the passing traffic. Eventually, the temptations of a nearby kebab shop got too much, and we went in for a donner and beer. The waiter also befriended us by mysteriously bringing us shots of something awfully strong, possibly Ouzu. We sat gloomily and researched youth hostels in Dresden

We walked gloomily back out into the cold and semi-darkness and spent a gloomy 15 minutes scouting for alternate hitch locations for the next day. There were none. I thought it might be nice to wait 5 more minutes by the university and hope for the miracle. The miracle came!

A huge truck, driven by a very nice czech man, stopped at the lights and he gestured us inside. Our driver spoke very little English or German, but he made it clear he could take us to within 10 miles of Prague, and the rest was up to us. We didn't actually get his name in syllables we could understand and memorise, but he was a great driver, especially considering that he was carrying 40 tonnes of metal in two containers. Soon we were across the border, and standing outside a service station in the dark holding up optimistic signs. It got darker and colder. We went inside for coffee, and thought gloomy thoughts about sleeping the night in the café.

However, before we could get too downcast, a guy came out of nowhere and offered us a lift to the outskirts of Prague. Micha was another trucker, this time from Belgrade. He spoke a little more English, but still very little. He was again a lovely guy, and very happy to share his German chocolate-cakes with us. We were dropped at a service station, waved goodbye, and realised we had no idea where we were, and didn't have lots of cash for a taxi.

We walked into town.

And what a creepy walk it was...almost no-one about, a mix of woods and suburbs, then taller buildings, tramlines and finally...a hotel! Booked out. The next one was too. Eventually we got the youth hostel 'Marabou', where we got an internet connection. We also met Jan, and with a combination of the two, we found that most hostels were booked up for easter weekend. However, a few phone calls later, and we managed to get ourselves beds at the Czech Inn, one of the nicest budget places in town. We took a taxi there, czechked in and fell finally into wonderful, soft, clean beds at around 2am.

And never before have we deserved them so much.

Hannover - Berlin: 'Real' Hitchhiking

After four days on the road we are now beginning to feel like seasoned hitchhikers - the real deal! However, today was the first time we had to actually stand and wait for a while before getting picked up. It took a littlewhile to get out of Hannover,with complicated U-Bahn (or was it an S-Bahn?), bus and walking manoeuvres finally landing us at a filling station in Garbsen, a town just past the suburbs.

We sat making 'Berlin, Bitte' signs for a few minutes and them bravely went forth to the filling-station exit. Standing there for about half an hour, however, we were disappointed. We were the subjects of many a sympathetic glance, mocking smile and look of outraged horror, but no car actually stopped for us. Getting a bit fed up, we decided to relocate our lift-petitioning to another road. As we crossed the carpark though, we ran into a fellow hitcher, who was going in the opposite direction, but pointed us to a man who was going to Berlin. We press-ganged him in the carpark with a 'möchte sie zwei sehr nette Leute mitbringen?' (would you like to take two very nice people with you?). It seemed to do the trick, and this is how we got to know Harald Bär.

It was a strange coincidence that we met Harald because he too had a Scottish connection - he owned a shop that imported scotch whisky. He was a genuinely nice guy, and very interesting conversation, about topics as diverse as the German unification, travelling the world and the problems of the autobahn. He also drove incredibly fast, and in two hours we were in Berlin.

Since our arrival here we have managed to locate a youth hostel (the inexpensive and very nice Lette'm Sleep) and have been debating the all important question - to Dresden or not to Dresden? Tonight the plan is to check out some of Berlin, and relax a bit.

Amsterdam - Hannover

We managed to hitch off the ferry with an awesome guy called Steve, a seemingly very successful business man who helped to build the Eurostar! He was fantastic company and took us all the way to the central station pretty much. From there we went to a local cafe to check out the accommodation situation and booked a hostel nearby. Walking towards the hostel we took in the sights, the 3 different types of equally deadly traffic and several expensive but enticing bakeries. we checked in to hostel central amsterdam, and found our room at the top of some ridiculously winding and narrow stairs. After settling in, we wandered to the van gough museum, and the outside of the Anne Frank house (we didn't go in though, it was a bit expensive). It seems we picked the wrong time to visit Amsterdam perhaps - all the big buildings (Rijksmuseum, Royal Palace) were being renovated, and were covered with a scaffolding, so the city had an almost half-finished feel. However, it was a nice calm place to start our trip through mainland Europe, and there was definitely a good 'vibe'.

On Monday (almost today) we hitched from Amsterdam to Hannover, leaving around midday and arriving near midnight. The traffic was absolutely awful at first, but our driver was great entertainment! Sven from Wiedersbrück. He even bought us some food in Enschede, the best fried chicken I think we have ever had! Possibly heightened by our heavy sandwich diet during the rest of the day. We reached Hannover by midnight and Jalpan (who we met through a website called 'couchsurfing.com' where members can arrange to stay with each other when travelling) met us at the station, and took us back to his cool flat, near the town centre. We had some time to get to know each other a bit and talk about Hannover, and now we're just about to go to bed.

Tomorrow, Berlin!

Thanks Sven and thanks Jalpan!

On the Road!

We're off! Vicky and I started our journey to Prague this morning from Edinburgh, and we have now reached Newcastle. It has gone smoothly and very quickly, thanks mainly to a handy lift from Vicky's dad, who was heading in this direction (note: this is not cheating - we stuck our thumbs out). We are due to catch the ferry from the North Shields of Newcastle to Amsterdam at 5pm today. Until then are going to be loading up on sandwiches at Tesco (ferry food is a little expensive for us) and taking in our last few hours in Britain.

Just to recap our purpose and our mission in doing this hitchhike: We are trying to get to Prague entirely by hitchhiking, stopping in Amsterdam, Berlin and Dresden on the way. Our flights back are booked for the 5th of April, so if we don't make it by then we are doomed... However, previous hitchers who have taken this route estimate it should only take about four days, and we have left plenty of time. We are hitching to raise money by sponsorship for the charity Link Community Development (www.lcdinternational.org), a great organisation that works to promote education and communities in sub-saharan Africa. However, if you have heard from me at all in the last few months, you may well already know this! It's not too late to donate - if you haven't already and you want to, go to www.justgiving.com/PeterAndVickyOnTheRoad

We're off to the ferry now - more later!