Prague

We arrived in Prague a little after 1600, but spent a long time looking for the hostel. Its well worth it for the vast, clean double room and en-suite. Everybody soon gathers in the bar for a group feed and watering session – even the coach driver is going for it as tomorrow he has a day off from his busmans holiday. The beer is good, but the wine is like lighter fuel.
The following morning there are quite a few people who are 'tired'! Luckily, we all have a later start as there's no sitting on the bus today. There's plenty of sitting on a tram though as we all eagerly clamber onto the first one to arrive and only realise it's going the wrong way when we get to the terminus - on the wrong side of the city. Thankfully Rick takes charge and susses out the underground system and gives everyone an ultimatum to either go with him or make there own way to the centre. There are soon about 20 sheep gladly in tow.
When we arrive, we join a 'free' walking tour which is ok to begin with. However, it soon starts to grate with David, particularly when we get the adverts for the pub crawl, the castle tour, the ghost tour, etc. However, we do learn some interesting history and learn about the significance of keys and freedom in St Wenslansas Square.
When the tour concludes, we are left to our own devices and we spend the remainder of the day wandering around the various tourist sites and have a coffee stop in a local bar off the beaten track. The owner immediately takes the opportunity to charge tourist prices for our milky hot beverages, but its nice to just sit a while. We also wander through a market that seems to specialise in hanging, cackling witch puppets that jump and dance with fiery red l.e.d. eyes – scary. There's also a Land Rover in town that seems to be taking an equally epic trip (from Amsterdam to Tokyo).
Our wander takes us past a couple of film sets, a ride up a hill on a funicular, over many bridges, past some impressive sculptures, statues and grand buildings and finally up to the castle just before it closes. It's interesting in such a busy city with thousands and thousands of people how soon you quickly pick out recently acquired familiar faces as we bump into several of the group during the afternoon.
After wandering back down the hill from the castle and toward the river, we manage to catch the right tram back to the hotel, but fail to get off at the right stop as we dither at the back door of the tram and don't open it in time before it has set off again. This does help David to suss out a small cafe that will offer him a different tea to fries or pizza though, so it's well worth the additional couple of hundred yards walk.
As we drive out of the Czech Republic, we stop by at a small town called Sedlec. The venue is The Ossuary, Das Beinhaus in Sedlec in fact, a church full of old bones that have been put to use to 'decorate' the inside – make your own mind up!
And now its off to Vienna.