New Years Eve

There was much anticipation leading up to New Years Eve here in Prague, for two reasons. Firstly, we were really looking forward to seeing in the new year with Nik, Lina and Tom and secondly, for the crazy firework demonstrations which go on all over the city. Fireworks are legal here and come Christmas/New Years you can find these little beauties in the front window of every shop. Little ones which just make a loud noise, single crackers and big boxes with just one fuse to light the whole lot at once! If you can think of it, then you can probably find it here. Jon and Nik were, of course, very excited by all of this and as soon as Nik arrived in Prague they were down buying out the nearest store of their fireworks supply.

Fireworks

New Years Eve day we decided to do some sight seeing. Up to Prague Castle, Mala Strana, Charles Bridge and the Jewish Quarter. It was a very cold but clear day, and needless to say, I have never seen so many tourists in one place! Walking through the Castle grounds was like pushing your way to the front of a crowd at a music festival - lots of pushing, shoving and getting lost. It was great to be able to show Nik Prague Castle though, and St Vitus Cathedral never fails to get an "ooooh" and an "ahhhh" from visitors.

Prague Castle and St Vitus Cathedral

St Vitus Cathedral 

Feeling very hungry by this time, we decided to check out a place called 'Yes Burger' for lunch. We had read about this particular burger place and Lina and Tom had been wanting to try it ever since their first time in Prague (back in August!). I am not really sure what to say here to be honest and I think the best way for me to express this lunch is to show pictures.

Nik's was the 'Golem' burger, the huge one on the end...he finished it too

So, feeling extremely full and ready for a nap, we headed home to get ready for the night ahead. We decided that we should have a special 'family' dinner and all get dressed up. We called it Family Pie Night, as I had made a pie for dinner. We all put on our best clothes and drank Moet, which Nik had bought for us from Dubai. It was a wonderful dinner and probably a little strange, but thats the way we like it.
We whiled away the hours before heading out for the celebrations by playing card games and drinking sweet Italian wine, courtesy of Lina and Tom. They also bought these special biscuits from Italy which you dip into the wine before eating. They were amazing and the perfect dessert.

Sweet Italian dessert wine with biscotti - Yum!

When we eventually headed into the city centre we were blown away by the ridiculousness of the celebrations. Sure, there were firefighters, police and medical emergency crews everywhere, but not surprisingly, in Prague, this doesn't make one feel safe. People were setting of fireworks everywhere. There were no regulations or rules, no designated launching area and certainly no person trained in pyrotechnics to be seen! At the stroke of midnight things really became insane. It seemed as though most people had been saving their crackers for this moment. The noise was deafening, the smoke in the air was so thick you couldn't breath properly and fireworks were actually going off in crowds of people! We decided it was probably time to leave, and after setting off one last firework, we headed for the tram.

Fireworks in Wenceslas Square

Exploding just above the building! 

All in all it was the weirdest New Years Eve I have ever had, and certainly the most dangerous. No one lost any appendages and we all made it back to the apartment safely, even if we didn't arrive back together! For me, this is one of those things which I can say I have done, and (thankfully) I don't have to do again.

Skiing Herlikovice

One of the conditions of Nik's visit to the Czech Republic, was that we had to think of somewhere fun to go for a quick trip while he was here. We thought of lots of different places but eventually decided that skiing was the best and probably the most exciting idea. Each having little to no skiing experience we decided that it would be a good opportunity to learn together as well as a bit of fun.
Jon booked and organised everything, all we had to do was make it to the bus station by 6:30am on the 26th December - thats right, the day after Christmas. We were feeling a little worse for wear but luckily we made it to the station without too much difficulty.
We went to a ski 'resort' called Herlikovice, which is located in the Krkonose (Giant) Mountains about 120km north-east of Prague. This particular mountain range is very popular for families as there are plenty of ski lifts and slopes of all levels. As far as amenities go there were none, or very little, but we found we didn't need any. Most people come to Herlikovice for just one or two days. Being so close to Prague, it is possible to go there for just the day.
Once we arrived, had checked in to our room in the hotel and had been fitted with our skis, we headed off for our first skiing lesson with our instructor Eve. We all struggled at first and found it difficult to get the hang of things, but after a few hours we were definitely improving - that is, we spent more time standing up and moving than on our backsides.

Eve, our instructor 

After a bite to eat we then headed out for our first go on the ski slope, with Eve in toe to help us out. She helped us to work out the T-bars ("Don't sit down!") and showed us to the nice beginners slope we could practice on. Setting off down the slope for the first time was magnificent, as long as you didn't run into anyone or get in anyone else's way. We called it a day a few hours later and headed out for an early dinner at one of the local restaurants. We were all so tired we were asleep by 8:30 pm, dreading the delayed onset muscle soreness that would inevitably come in the morning.
The second day of skiing was interesting as we were all very sore from the day before and we were still very shaky on our skis. By about lunch time we had kind of got the hang of things, managing to get to the bottom of a slope which was a little bit harder. The prize of getting to the bottom of this slope was the chairlift, which was a lot more comfortable that the T-bars.

Using the Chairlift

Pizza and Becherovka for lunch then back out for an afternoon of skiing. We had dinner at the same local restaurant, which was actually really delicious, then sat out and watched some of the night skiers fly down the mountain. It is really amazing watching people who have been skiing their whole lives; they look amazingly graceful and make skiing look like a walk in the park!

Night Skiing 

So the third day dawned with us feeling even more sore but still with no serious injuries and high spirits. We decided today was the day to tackle the bigger slopes. As we found out, the Herlikovice slope has a very tricky little section right in the middle of it which we weren't expecting! There was nothing to do but go down it, as we certainly couldn't go back. It is scary how quickly you find yourself at the bottom of the slope, especially as I didn't feel like I was going very fast. We spent the whole day going up and down the different slopes until we were so exhausted that we literally couldn't stand up on our skis anymore. We could tell when we were getting tired as skiing became harder and we would spend equal amounts of time on the floor as we did actually skiing.
We hopped on the bus home in the afternoon and all fell asleep for the ride home.
It was a really wonderful trip and I am glad that we were able to experience it all with Nik. Now we can show up Dave on the next New Zealand ski trip!

Nik on the Ski Slope

Herlikovice slope