What a great few days we had in Prague.
Czech Airlines left on time, we had a half empty flight so plenty of room to stretch out and we arrived late afternoon. Thanks to Frank on the H&V discussion pages, we bought a 3 day transport pass and this served us well. We finally got dropped of at Lapansky but a bit tired we trudged around for ages getting directed everywhere towards our seemingly invisable Seifert hotel!
We found a local bar showing the football on Wednesday and then went for some food - it was very late and the fog had really set in so we called it a night.
Thursday was great. We saw the much more beautiful side of Prague as opposed to where we were staying - the buildings, the river - just a fantastic place and huge as well as we negotiated all the various metros and buses. We looked round quite a few shops and it was soon clear that Prague was maybe not the cheap place for shopping that it once was! We stopped at Rocky O'Reillys for a couple of hours but by 1.30ish everyone seemed to be moving on elsewhere.
We found places with cheap beer and obviously the more tacky English ones like the George & Dragon in the Old Town Square although it was worth it to see all the tourists lining up to take photo's and videos of Aston Villa fans singing. Amongst all these people's treasured memories will be the hour they watched foreign football fans singing away outside a bar. Strange.
It was all good natured and the police were in full force but kept a very low profile. There must have been about 9 or 10 vans full of them so everyone knew they were there - I have to say I was impressed with their handling of it all.
Clearly alot of our fans were unsure of how to get to the ground but we were primed in advance and got to the ground in time to have a couple more drinks in the hotel that was part of the stadium Eden. It was strange because to be honest it didn't really look like a football ground from the outside.
The atmosphere before kick off was fantastic as the Slavia Prague and Villa fans mixed easily with no problems at all. Even the hotel kept it's doors open when it would have been easy for them to close up - Everyone in Prague from beginning to end were extremely friendly (apart from one bus driver!!). We had a very quick look inside their shop and were a bit surprised at how pricey their scarves and shirts are! One shop in town earlier had a home Slavia shirt for £70!
As for the game itself, we feared the worst when we heard the team Martin O'Neill had picked but we shouldn't have worried. Salifou was probably Man Of The Match closely followed by Brad Guzan who made a fantastic first half save that I don't think Brad Friedel would have stopped. Their fans, as well as our own were really noisy and laid on some pre-arranged stuff to get behind their team.
We were excellent in that first half and had to sit tight during the second when the expected Slavia onslought arrived. They had plenty of opportunities but we were holding on as the fog began to come down around the ground, just as it had the night before.
We just held on for a great win - after the game the Slavia players sat down in front of their supporters while they chanted away and then walked around the ground to applaud the fans, something that I was amazed to see. The Villa fans generously applauded back which capped a good natured day. Apparantly this is something they do all the time so the fans can tell them they are behind them whatever the result!
The security and riot police had been very heavy-handed during the final few minutes of the game when they really didn't need to be but it certainly didn't spoil the time I had there. Not surprisingly we were kept inside for about 20 minutes after the game - I'm sure there was no need though. The atmosphere had been great all day and wasn't about to change.
The number 22 tram ride after the game was a right laugh. The Carlos Cuellar song must have been done about 30 times on the long ride back into town - sort of! Again we knew the Metro needed to get back into the Old Town square but everywhere was strangely quiet - we arrived just as the Midnight bells were ringing out which was a nice cultural moment and headed off for another drink - only to find we couldn't get in as they were shutting up. Still, it had been an excellent day.
We were flying fairly soon the next day so we were up early and on the 133 bus into Town. Quick stop to buy Daniel a souvenier t-shirt and then it was the Mustek metro to Dejvicka before getting the 119 bus back to Prague Airport. Again, Czech Airlines were all on time and another half full flight headed back to Heathrow.
All the thanks to my good buddy Hatemanu who went up in the early hours to get the tickets from Villa Park, booked all the flights & hotels and got his mate to drive us to Heathrow & back. Top stuff mate - I think I repaid him fully by buying him an extra large Twix at Prague Airport!!!!
An excellent trip, one of my favourites actually, and I think I'll adopt Slavia Prague as my favourite Czech team - even if their shirts are expensive!
The After Match Slavia Prague Ritual
This is what I was trying to explain earlier about the players going over to their fans after our game. There is even a translation on this explaining exactly what they're chanting at the players. Just after this film stops the players did a shortened version with the supporters on the side stand and then came round by us where they were probably surprised to be applauded by us too.
Fantastic support by Slavia fans. Over here if your team loses 1-0 they get booed off and dozens of "fans" ring up various radio phone-ins asking for managers to get sacked. Anyway, Czech this out...(sorry)
There is a YouTube one from their 4-1 derby win over Sparta which they seemed to enjoy!
