Prague, Czech Rep.

Today Prague has shown itself to be a contrast of interesting architecture and extravagant, sparkling shopping malls. We arrived in town by bus, and were greeted by fields of snow and grey buildings along the roadside, until we reached the town center. The landscape transformed into tall, grand architecture and copper domed spires. Each building appears to be different to the next in a European mixture of styles, colours and ornate stone facades.

By the early evening we were hungry, particularly after the steep uphill walk to the Castlesteps building, where we are staying. We headed out for food and eventually found U Sadlu, a medieval themed restaurant that I ate at a few years ago, and wanted to return to. Upon arriving we were told they were full, so we made a reservation for tomorrow night and ended up in a nearby Italian restaurant. They served a good pizza, a novel tiramisu and a medley of Madonna songs all evening. The atmosphere was relaxed and it was a nice place to eat.

We wandered into the cold, dressed in layers of fleeces and coats, back tracking to a huge Christmas tree which we had passed earlier. Their sense of decoration really captured me as it flashed like hundreds of tiny camera flashes and sparkled brightly in the square, so I decided to video the tree and its surroundings.

The tree stood in front of a huge shopping mall and worked like a siren, attracting us in, to take a look. It was quite incredible, even for someone that does a lot of shopping, it was breathtaking. There is nowhere in London that could match it in terms of size, design or the array of shops that it held. It felt like such a surprise after the ex communist Prague, to find a glittering, glass interiored shopping mall, like a retail palace of fantasy. The top floor even included a cake shop and various cocktail bars with futuristic lighting, as if it had been rendered by a computer program. We did lots of jewelery shopping and generally had a good time finding things that we could never get at home. It's been a fun day.