Our VW tour at the Gläserne Manufaktur was unfortunately in German, but since we came all the way just to see the only transparent factory in the world, which assembles Phaeton cars, the lady gave us a private English tour. Contrary to our preconceived notion of the futuristic-looking factory, much of the assembly is by hand, with only 3 robots in the entire 3 storeys of assembly plant. Much of the transparency and cleanliness must really be for the reputation and ‘wayang’ as all other manufacture work is done is Würzburg, and it must be such a hassle to ship necessary parts all the way to Dresden.

Charles Bridge was beautiful, but very touristed, and most ridiculously littered with stalls selling souvenirs and drawing portraits. Honestly, I expected the view from Charles Bridge and at the Old town square to be nicer, but the weather was kinda too hot, and later on rainy, packed with tourists and therefore not as mystical and romantic as I would have imagined it to be, though the architecture of the city is still beautiful.

The world is so small. We met Natalie during our trip to the Arctic, some ah lian and beng Singaporeans on the train from Luxembourg to Brussels, Singaporean tour group at the cheese factory in Amsterdam and more Singaporeans at our hostel in Prague. They were on their grad trip and intended to visit the Kostnice the next day.

Sixteen. Prague. Kostnice ossuary at Kutna Hora was slightly more than 1 hour away from Prague by train, and is better known as the bone-chilling chapel. What happened was that a plague killed many people and due to a lack of space in the cemetery grounds, a rather crazy/ creative monk came up with a plan to decorate the chapel with the bones, using every single part of the bodies, e.g. a chandelier, coat of arms and pyramids.

A visit to the Jewish quarters in Prague showed us countless names of Jewish who died in the Holocaust, with their places of origin and date of birth written all over the walls of the synagogue. The highlight of the tour was the Old Jewish Cemetery dating back to 15th century. The Jews believed that the dead should be buried to await resurrection, and so their bodies will be cleansed and buried, and not cremated. However, due to discrimination of the Jews since time immemorial, they were forced to live in the small Jewish ghettoes, and thus had very little space for burial. This meant that they had to bury bodies on top of one another, in total 12 layers, leaving a space of 55cm of soil in between tombs. This is why the cemetery is filled with tombstones of different designs (indicating different eras), shapes and sizes (depending on affluence) and different heights, with some completely or partially buried.

It was such a gloomy day; we had to run in the rain to seek the nearest shelter before heading to Charles’ Bridge for a second view of the Vlatava river, St Vitus Cathedral, Prague castle and the old town. After the rain, a thin layer of mist shrouded the bridge and the castle. The setting sun, too, casted long shadows everywhere, and that was what I imagined the view to be like (except the crowded part of it all). The beauty of this bridge lies in the vast feeling the river gives. Rarely is a river ever so wide like that. It lies in the towering castle and St Vitus cathedral on the hilltop. It lies in the old town that was left untouched by the war. It lies in the original sculptures that lined the bridge. The long shadows cast, mist that shrouded the towers and reflection of the buildings in the river.

Despite the beauty of this city, somehow I have mixed feelings about the place. I guess I don’t have to elaborate further on the touristy part, but the Czech people was part of the reason for such mixed feelings too. Perhaps if I were a Czech who lived in Prague, I might feel irritated by the tourists and be rude to them too. I mean, tourists are kind of a nuisance – loud, noisy, stupid, break rules, etc. Those I met are seriously damn rude. Worse still, train conductors at the metro refuse to accept any valid reasons for not having a ticket – even if it’s your first time on the train and do not know where the ticket machine is – and take bribes readily. Souvenirs shops are everywhere. Czech is supposed to be a cheap place, but because it’s so touristy, everything is expensive. You even have to pay a hell lot of money to visit a cemetery because it comes in a package. Souvenirs stalls sell souvenirs related to religion, e.g. earrings with the star of david. I honestly feel that places of religion shouldn’t accept hefty sums for entrance; I mean, isn’t the house of god supposed to be free for all, regardless of rich or poor?

Budapest is dusty dusty dusty! On our way to the market hall, I breathed in and probably swallowed several floating, hairy seeds from the air and plenty of dirt that needs heavy rain to get rid of. Unfortunately, due to much time spent confirming our itinerary in the hostel, we set out late for the market hall, only to witness the closing of some shops and to eat some unsatisfying Hungarian food at the stall that was about to close.

It is a land of pretty few sights compared to many other countries, which was fine, as I was satisfied with a relaxed tour. We headed to the national museum to be greeted by a weekend street market and mini-concert.

Dinner was with David and his girlfriend, who whipped up a Hungarian dish from onions, paprika, tomatoes and sausages, and tasted yummy! The night was spent on Citadel enjoying some German beer, and a wonderful view of the city, castle and Chain bridge.

We then headed to the Great Synagogue, biggest after the one in New York, and the Sz Istvan Bazilika, before meeting David at the Chain Bridge to head up to the castle at Buda together. Very unfortunately, the labyrinth was closed.