And so here I am, back behind a familiar monitor. It seems like months since I last typed anything into this little window, which keeps you people up-to-date with all things, well, er… me! In fact it has only been six days. Still, here is the first entry of the year, so I guess I’d best make it a good one. I shall start by continuing where I left off… New Year’s Eve in the Czech Republic:

It was like no New Year’s Eve I’d ever experienced. Of course the evening began, as most evenings on holiday do, in a bar, drinking lots of Czech beer. On this particularly special evening, a few of us even saw fit to drink some Absinth. Now that stuff is strong, not recommended if you want to sober up in a hurry! As midnight drew closer, the ten of us (along with hundreds of other people from many different countries) made our way into Wenceslas Square (Vaclavske namesti). The atmosphere was awesome. There were people letting of all manner of fireworks in the street, a sight that I’ve never seen before. You could feel the excitement building by the minute. Never a group to stand still in the cold for too long, we meandered down to the Old Town Square (Staromestske namesti). More people. More fireworks. After more alcohol and more fireworks, we made our way to the banks of the Vltava River. The little hand touched 12 and the world exploded in a million different colours. The smell of fireworks mixed with the smell of champagne. Corks popped, bangers exploded and people cheered. 2001 had begun. It was truly breathtaking.

The wonderful thing about Czech beer is that never seems to create any problems one waking up the next morning. Hence, New Year’s Day began a lot earlier than one might expect. Armed with kar’s invaluable copy of The Lonely Planet’s guide to Czech & Slovak Republics we made our way to the wonderfully picturesque village of Vysehrad, which I believe means "High Castle". The cemetery here is also the final resting-place of famous Czech composer, Dvorak. You see, we weren’t just drinking all week. From Vysehrad we caught the tram up to the Giant Metronome on Letna Plain, above Prague’s city centre. Most surreal. A short walk from there and we were at Prague Castle and The Cathedral of St. Vitus from where we could see pretty much all of the city.

On Tuesday we decided to leave the city on the train for the Czech Republic’s fourth city: Pilsen (Plzen), home of Pilsner Urquell. Oh yes… a visit to a brewery! I have to say though, if you’ve seen one brewery, you’ve seen them all. Still, the tour wasn’t expensive and it was a day out. The city itself has a fair bit to see, including the massive St. Bartholomew’s Church.

We ventured out of town by bus on Wednesday to an old town whose name eludes me for the moment. This town was host to a castle and, apparently a fine winery. Alas, both were closed. On arrival back in Prague that evening, we caught the Metro to Muzeum station. Wenceslas Square was packed, even more packed than it had been on New Year’s Eve. This was due to a large demonstration about Czech Television, which you can read more about here. It was possibly the largest crowd I’d ever seen on any street.

Our penultimate day was spent outside of Prague too. We ventured to Karlstejn by train to see the castle. Once atop the ice-covered hill, we discovered, much like the attractions that we had been to see on the previous day, the castle was closed to visitors. Bugger! However, that didn’t stop me photographing the views from the top of the hill and, indeed, the castle. Karlstejn Castle is possible the most fantastic castle that I have ever seen. It looks like something that you’d expect to find only in fairytales. I can’t wait for the photos to be developed!

The end of the trip is quite uninteresting, really. Just some last-minute camera clicking, shopping and eating.

As you may have guessed, I really enjoyed my second visit to the Czech Republic. I loved the food, the drink, the sights and scenery, the people and, well… just the whole lot. I think that the thing that impressed me most about the country was it’s public transportation system; it ran like clockwork, despite the holidays and the snow. You wouldn’t find that in the UK. I’ve no doubt that I shall return and visit some more of the sights that I’ve missed. Next time, I shall try to learn some more of the language!