Czech… one… two… three!

Mum couldn’t have chosen a better place to celebrate my birthday than Prague. Last time I visited this romantic, gothic city it was a blistering cold Christmas around 6 years ago. This time we got the city at its peak, packed with I would have to say was too many tourists, but apart from that it was all about the outdoors and beers in the sun. The perfect setting for a Jake birthday.

Mum went all out and booked us an amazing apartment right in the heart of the old city. Within minutes we were in the midst of the madness. We decided to start the discovering with a walking tour to get our bearings and find out more about the history of Prague and the area of Bohemia now known as the Czech Republic, which was shadowed by oppression, under both the Nazis and the Communists. Immersed in the local history, we set off on the food tour of Prague and taste-tested as many of the local delicacies as we could, much like that of German and Polish food the Czech food is a real hearty, stodgy delight, washed down with an amazing Czech Pilsner what more could we want!

On my day of all days, I decided I wanted to visit the nearby town of Kutná Hora, famed for its kooky bone chapel. About 1 hour out of Prague lies this eerie town in the Bohemian countryside. The catholic church is estimated to contain the skeletons of between 40,000 and 70,000 people, many of whom have had their bones artistically arranged to form decorations and furnishings for the chapel. The story goes that in 14th century after the Hussite Wars there were many thousands buried here and the cemetery had to be enlarged and in time there became too many laid to rest, resulting in excess skeletons. What better to do with these unnamed bones than to decorate a church with them?! After what I thought would be a slightly morbid day, I was actually amazed by the church's dark beauty. I was later surprised with a magical picnic in the fields overlooking the city before our train back to Prague.

We once again got ready for a night of spoils. To celebrate we went to a new restaurant called Čestr, a meat lovers delight which focuses almost exclusively on gourmet cuts of Czech aged beef. We all decided to have 4 courses, this consisted of an entrée mine was a piglet head schnitzel, followed by BBQ Pork ribs, we all tried a different cut of meat served on small chopping boards with an array of sides and sauces, and just when the meat sweats kicked in and the feeling of exploding at the seams, I did it and stuffed down a chocolate fudge cake with homemade peanut ice cream!

We woke the next morning to wish Mum off as her three week European Holiday sadly came to an end... and then there were three! We met our friend Belinda from Australia for really one day in Český Krumlov - a small historic old town that resembles a pocket sized Prague. On arrival to our hostel we discovered we were staying in the top floor room just for us in the watchtower!! We spent our one and only day embracing the sun and floating down the river through the old city to the instantly being surrounded by forest and the occasional riverside bar to quench the thirst. The day was so magic and we didn’t want it to end.