Before World War II

I heard sirens the whole night sleeping in unarguably, the best accommodation we could buy with our money. Its either Prague's Police force are really efficient or its simply not really safe to be walking around at night in Prague. I still manage to sleep well. Fatigue no doubt. Add fever to it and you will sleep through anything. Yes, its Day 5 and fever is still riding on my poor body. But it did not stop me from following the gang out for a day of exploring Prague town.

The first impression of what I saw reminded me of Old Town Ipoh on a large scale. Rows and rows of Neo Classical British style building everywhere, preserved in wonderful condition thanks largely to its Iron Curtain. We begun exploration on foot and with the aid of some maps. Our first stop is the Powder Tower. This not the talcum powder you splash on your chest and armpit but gun powder. The city used to have a wall around it, much like the Great Wall of China, but it was demolished and what was left is the lookout Tower which is also used to store gun powder.

Nowadays its a tourist site that offered a good view of Prague City. But first you must wind your way up the killer steps. But the view is nothing to sneeze at :)

After a breathtaking view from the top, of course we have to walk around these historical buildings dated back at least 4 generations. Surrounded by them, one can almost imagine Victorian dresses, horse carriages, Shanghai beach and Heineken commercial. We took tons of pictures which I touch up a bit to make them look more historical... hahaha

We spend the afternoon, looking up the food court recommended by the landlady, which is great by the way. Its where the locals used to eat, and we wanted to try something local. The disadvantage, no one spoke English. You close your eyes, point on the menu and pray you didn't just ordered beef or cow gut or rabbit meat. I got lucky, I ate some salad which turn out to be crab stick salad or known to the locals as krabbi. I guess you will never go wrong with mayo.

You walk much better when the belly is full and it doesn't even matter you have totally no idea where you are. Public toilet are notoriously hard to find and I ended up going to the hospital to borrow one. When you are desperate.....

The last stop for today is the Jewish Settlement. The Jewish population in Prague is about 15k, which is 30% of the population. Jews is of no secret to the outside world but I come from a country where you can only watch 'Holocaust' with pirated VCD, its a fascinations. The Jewish Museum, one of the oldest historical buildings, give you a very good insight on their community, their religion, their lives, how they buried their dead, rejoice their new born, celebrated their festival, cope with the Holocaust massacre. The feeling is much like an archaeologist uncovering some lost civilisation. The entrance fee is more than E15 but I am glad I went and I understand more of the race that was nearly annihilated during WW II.

The journey back to the hostel was sober, each lost in their own thoughts and of course the endless walking can kill your feet when the roads are brick roads. We went to Wenceles Square to take a picture of the famous Astronomical Clock. Maybe its the Buddhist Blood in me, but I don't find the 12 apostles fascinating. However I do find the design of the clock intriguing. Since we had no idea we had walk so far away from Hostel, we had to take the metro home. Their metro was deep underground and the design 10 times better than what we had. :)