We got up nice and early so as to have plenty of time for breakfast and pack up before hitting the Mucha museum right as it opened at 10am. But when we got down to the cafe we went to the day before for breakfast it was closed (it was a Saturday) till 9am. So we went for a little walk. When we came back at 9.05am... still shut! I guess Czech time is fairly flexible on a Saturday morning. So we gave up on that plan!
We had a look in the bakery with grumpy lady, but there was no honey cake and it looked like she hadn't put out any new stuff from the day before, so we weren't interested in braving her frowns and stares for old food. Next door however, we discovered what we thought was a confectionary shop (from the display in the window) was actually a small but decent supermarket. The hostel had a wee kitchen and dining room, so this supermarket solved all our breakfast problems! We grabbed crunchy muesli, yoghurt, and milk and headed back to the hostel. Our very first DIY meal the whole trip! We felt very proud as we nommed it down and laughed heartily about how little it had cost us...
Then off we went, bags in tow, to the Mucha museum. We were slightly later than schedule due to the breakfast debacle, but the museum was small so we still had plently of time. We were both very impressed with Mucha's work, which apparently defined the “Art Nouveau” era. It was mainly stylised figures (mostly women) surrounded by swirling designs and flowers etc. He is most famous for his posters for Sara Bernhardt performances in Paris.
We couldn't take photos, but here, have a look at his stuff:
There was a 20minute documentary about his life playing in loop which was really interesting – after his years in Paris he still felt very loyal to his Czech origins and returned to Prague late in his life to paint his Epic paintings – 20-odd enormous canvasses depicting various historical stories etc. of the Czech people (I think). The paintings weren't displayed in the museum but there was some of his other paintings there. His paintings were quite different to his design/print work but still pretty good.
Greg and I were so impressed with his stuff that we bought the book in the shop, even though it was quite expensive! We will have to look into getting some prints when we are home for around the house because his stuff is the kind of thing you would want on the wall in your lounge – beautiful colours and really interesting to look at.
Once we were done at the museum we still had quite a bit of time before our train and the station was only over the road. So we stopped in a nice cafe for a coffee. The cafe was very 'trendy' and so dog-friendly they had put out a dish of water for the dog at the table next to us (with human owners also present, obviously). Greg tried an odd drink...
Happily caffenated we headed over to the station. I used to the last of our Kcs to buy up a bunch of stuff for lunch from the bakery in the station (I returned to Greg who was watching the bags, with armfuls of food...).
Another pleasant train journey to Berlin. A nice 5 hours long – a good amount of time for a train journey. Much blog was written, photos were sorted, and Greg got lots of reading done. By this time he is on the fourth Game of Thrones book (and continues to dominate my e-reader...;) ). It was Greg's turn to do planning but somehow it still ended up being me...
When we arrived in Berlin it was a small mission to get to our hostel – required taking both the S-Bahn and then the U-Bahn, simple in itself but crappy when that means going up and down a lot of stairs with all the bags. At least *most* of the places had escalators and lifts. Greg bless him carried both of our big bags on the stairs when there wasn't. The final short walk from the underground to the hotel was punctuated nicely by the rain, as we tried to figure out what direction we were facing and where the heck the hostel was.
Anyway we got there and the hostel was pretty nice. Our private room was clean and spacious and the living areas downstairs were comfortable. It was around 6pm and as usual we were fairly wiped out. We took a while to sort everything out, get our bearings, and make a bit of a plan for the next three days. The upshot of which was the decision that there was nothing else we needed to do tonight except eat. Greg was also starting to feel a bit under the weather which was crappy.
Looking smug because he had won the food envy competition.
Going by the hostel's map of nearby restaurants we went somewhere selling 'German food' since we were back in Germany, after all. The place turned out to be quite fancy, so dinner was a bit of an expensive affair but was also quite delicious! Not sure how 'German' my 'weiswein' (white wine) risotto was but Greg's homemade giant ravioli was amazing! We quite often have a little competition when the food comes out to see who was most successful at ordering something yummy – often a challenge when you've ordered off a menu you only half understood. Initially I was a faily constant winner but by this time in the trip we had evened out, and that night Greg was definitely the winner!!
Another amusing moment was when the friendly young German waiter asked us where we were from and we said "New Zealand" and then he said where in New Zealand and we replied "Christchurch" and he immediately went "Oh F**k!" and hastily covered his mouth and apologised. Evidently he knew all about the big quake(s) and having visited Christchurch himself prior to the devastation he was extremely sad to see such a beautiful city destroyed and the loss of life etc. So we all had a wee chat about that (although his english was buried under a rather thick German accent so sometimes it was smiles and nods and hoping that we would figure out what he was saying before we had to reply appropriately). Really nice guy though.
Delicious but frustratingly small dessert!
By the time we left
the bacteria was starting to hit Greg hard, so it was home for some
rest!!!
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