DAY 179-180: PRAGUE DAY 1 AND ON TO WARSAW

CRAZYJOURNEY SAYS GOODBYE TO CHUCK AND MARTY

The lads at Charles Bridge wth new recruit Franner before saying goodbye to Marty and Chuck

After another chilled out day and night in this lovely city, we had to collect Dave and Finto’s mate Franner, who will be with us from now the whole way home to Dublin. Dave and Fintan went to collect him and ended up lost for about an hour in Czech countryside with no one speaking a word of English and had some classic sign language moments.

At the airport, it was funny waiting at arrivals for the Irish flight. You could tell as soon as it landed from all the Irish heads walking out the gate. Dave made a prediction that we would see at least one GAA jersey, one Celtic jersey and a Man U jersey. Sure enough a group of 4 Dub lads on a mad one in Prague for the weekend walked out wearing exactly that. We’re really starting to feel close to home now!!!

It was great to see Franner after so long who had just come from the tail end of his thesis at college back home and was rearing to go. Today was also a bit emotional as we would have to say goodbye to Marty and Chuck. Unfortunately, Chuck is heading on to London by plane to meet his brother, so there was a bit of a substitution with Francis. When we arrive in London we’ll be picking him up for the final leg to Dublin.  It was also time to say goodbye to Marty who has added nothing but intensity and value, always lifting the group’s spirits through his stint with us from Istanbul to here.

The beast reaches the Polish border

Hitting the road again, the drive to Poland was a bit slower on single lane secondary roads. Once in Poland it was a massive drive to Warsaw, Poland’s capital. Arriving really late, it was nearly impossible to find accommodation. With everybody tired and tempers flaring, we eventually managed to find something at 3 in the morning and got straight to sleep.

DAY 180 ROUTEMAP - LONG 611km drive from Prague to Warsaw

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DAY 178 - VIENNA TO PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC

CRAZYJOURNEY REACHES PRAGUE!

Finto at the Astrological clock in Prague

In terrible stormy weather, we got moving out of Vienna towards the Czech capital Prague. Coming close to the Czech border, there was flooding all over the country roads. No problem to the beast of course, but Paul’s little Scarlett was having some trouble.

Marty meets Lucy again for the first time in 2 years!

Entering the compact medieval old town of Prague, the Hummer struggled through the city’s maze of narrow cobbled streets. We parked as close as we could to Charles Bridge and the Astrological clock to get a feed and sort accommodation. Armies of tourists descend on Prague every summer to visit it’s main attractions such as St.Charle’s Bridge and The Astrological clock. Every hour, tourist hoards gather around the clock to watch mechanical figures and a bell ringing skeleton. We found the whole procession laughingly disappointing and most people are left asking ‘Is that it?’.

The photo that separated Marty and Fintan from the lads. Not sure if it was worth it

Dave and Marty arranged to meet their old Sydney housemate Lucy who is from Prague and hadn’t seen the lads in over 2 years. Lucy brought the lads out for a traditional Czech dinner and we all got together again that evening to go out to a few bars. Marty and Fintan ended up on their own mad night after they lost everyone in the square trying to take a photo. Since it was a Monday night, Prague was quite enough but Lucy found us a bar to get involved in so we made the most of it.

DAY 177 ROUTEMAP - 406KM from Vienna to Prague

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DAY 177 - BRATISLAVA TO VIENNA, AUSTRIA

The lads in one of Bratislava's many picturesque squares

This morning we explored the narrow streets of this compact medieval city, visited it’s main castle and had lunch in the main square next to the picturesque Roland fountain. We were intending on driving to Brno, the second largest city in the Czech Republic, but at the last minute, we took the short 30 minute hop to Vienna for the night instead.

Entering along the Danube, the grandeur of the city’s architecture was striking. Surrounded by world-class museums, luxurious palaces and towering monuments, the city has a certain high-brow feel. We arrived days before the start of The Euro 2008 Tournament so the whole place was decked out with banners and buzzing in anticipation. Wandering around Vienna’s Innere Stadt, we had drinks in an amazing rooftop bar with perfect views of the Gothic masterpiece of St.Stephen’s Cathedral, the city’s most recognizable structure. Dave, Paul and Marty had an interesting night with 3 very odd but interesting Austrian fashion designers who spotted Dave’s ultra fashionable but disgusting rats tail, thought he was gay and bought all the lads drinks all night.

Paul, Rhys and Chuck under St.Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna

We could obviously get home from Austria in a few days but are in no rush and have planned a bit of scenic route home via the Baltics and Scandinavia before coming home through Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Paris, London, Liverpool then Dublin by July 4th for our homecoming bash!

DAY 177 ROUTEMAP: 87km

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DAY 176 - BUDAPEST TO BRATISLAVA

The lads get Turkish with a statue at the citadel

This morning, a few of us took a trip to the hilltop Citadel overlooking the city to watch the Red Bull Street Luge where madmen make their own ridiculously themed homemade carts and hurtle down the hillside track. We had a great laugh watching guys destroy themselves on the 90 degree final turn but the whole event turned sour when a massive lightning storm descended on us. Luckily we were on the way to the car and later found out that 3 people were actually struck by lightning near the citadel during the same storm.

Red Bull Street Luge!

That afternoon, it was time to say goodbye to Gary and Stuie, the last of the Irish mob for the meantime and another great addition to CRAZYJOURNEY.

Marty, Gary, Stuie and Dave overlooking Budapest

We hit the road again for a relatively small 4 hour drive in cavalcade for the first time with the Hummer’s new little red girlfriend Scarlett, Paul’s Mercedes, on a perfect motorways to the Slovakian capital of Bratislava. Passing through hundreds of miles of harvested fields in Spring, so Rhys, Dave and Paul who all suffer badly from hayfever were dying when we arrived late into the city. It was a Monday night in Bratislava so there wasn’t much going on. We booked into a cheap hostel for a quiet night in which has been a rarity of late.

DAY 176 ROUTEMAP

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