Warning - photo heavy post!

Phew, just about caught up with myself after a very busy few days! 

Hugh and I had booked to go to Prague for the weekend last weekend. With all the snow we were not sure if we would make it, but up until Friday evening the flights were still going out from Stansted. So, the alarm was set for 4am - eugh! and off to sleep we went!

We arrived at the airport just after 5.30am and were very relieved to find out that our flight was on time. As we had time to spare we went off to Starbucks and had a very nice toasted panini and a cup of coffee.

After a shortish flight we arrived in Prague about 10am. We managed to negotiate our way around the public transport system, which was extremely efficient, and make our way to our hotel. There was snow on the ground, of course, but what really got to us was how cold it was! We thought it had been cold in the UK, but it was -12 Centigrade there, which took our breath away! Having left our suitcase at the hotel we set off to explore.

The city was beautiful. The architecture was superb and we spent a lot of time looking up, but at the same time trying not to slip on the snow! Actually I had never walked on snow like it before - it was like wading through deep sand on the beach, but in some places still very slippery!

We visited the Christmas market in the Old Town Square which was very pretty.

There were stalls selling beautiful Christmas decorations, lots of sheepskin gloves and booty slippers, gingerbread, hats and other gifty bits. There were also food stalls and we had a lovely hot sausage in a roll for our lunch (actually, Hugh had two!).

We then walked round to Wenceslas Square, which is actually more of a rectangle! There was another market there and we had a cup of hot wine, which warmed us down to our toes. 

We walked all the way to the top of the square and saw the statue of Wencelas and then walked all the way back again to our hotel to check in.

As you can see, the hotel was a bit basic, but it was clean and warm and as we were only there for one night it was more than adequate. Having unpacked we lay back on the bed for me to read to Hugh from the guide book to decide where we were going next. After about 5 minutes of reading I realised that Hugh was fast asleep and snoring away! Oh well, if you can't beat them, join them!

Having been refreshed with a 30 minute nap (!)  we wrapped up warm again and set off for another explore. By now it was dark, which gave me new photo opportunities! We strolled to the Charles Bridge, which was crowded with people walking back and forth, looking at the statues and the views.

After meandering back to the Old Town Square and looking at all the Christmas lights now glowing nicely in the dark, 

we found the restaurant I had booked for our evening meal and went in ... and down ... and down! The restaurant was in old Roman cellars and was superb. It was also a jazz club and so we had live jazz music to listen to whilst we ate.

And what did we eat? Well, I had a tomato and mozzarella salad followed by a plate of the most delicious goulash with dumplings and fresh vegetables. With no room for desert we had a coffee before wrapping up again and venturing back to the hotel, where we collapsed and slept deeply for 10 hours!

I think that is enough to regale you with for today. I will tell you all about what we did on Sunday soon. Thanks for dropping by and don't forget Sian's Christmas Club on Sunday!