We recently took an Easter city break for the long weekend and decided on a trip to Prague, the capital city of the Czech Republic. There's lots to do (especially if you're a fan of beer) so I thought I'd get all the top things you need to see and do into one post, as well as some tips on where to stay. Enjoy!
Visit St. Vitus Cathedral
For me St. Vitus Cathedral had the biggest wow factor for me out of everything in Prague and the outside is absolutely stunning with such a gothic feel and you can choose to climb up the tower to reach the views at the top. Now considering the cathedral already sits on a pretty tall hill climbing up gave absolutely amazing views even if I did feel like I was going to collapse when I reached the top. Sometimes I regret walking up attractions as I don’t feel the view is worthwhile but this is one which certainly was.
Walk along The Vltava River
One of my favorite moments of this trip was our morning stroll along the Vltava River. It was still quite early, and while there were some tourists already, it was far from the mass we usually encountered during our stay. There are loads of great spots to take some pictures of the Castle across the other side of the river and some incredible artists doing paintings of passers by and landscapes of the city. You can pick up a couple of these for around £10 each.
The view from Prague Castle
If you choose to venture across the river you must head up the 200+ steps and visit Prague Castle. Once you arrive there's quite a number of courtyards and buildings to explore, as well as museum about the history of the castle if that's more your thing - but we just preferred having a wander. Make sure you catch the changing of the guard every day at midday. Once you reach the far side of the castle grounds you'll find a hilltop which offers hands down the best views of the city on a bright day like we were lucky enough to have....
Walk across the St. Charles bridge
This is perhaps the most well-known monument in the city! The huge bridge connects two sides of the Vltava river and is a great opportunity to have a panoramic view of the city. We visited the bridge early in the morning and snagged some great photos while avoiding the droves of tourists that came later in the day.
The bridge was originally constructed under King Charles the IV in the 15th century as a primary connecting point between the Old Town Square and Prague Castle. Lining the sides of the bridge are baroque sculptures depicting religious saints and figures. Most of the current statues have now been replaced by replicas, but are nonetheless still very striking.
As we walked across we were constantly distracted by entertaining street musicians and bands that really made it an enjoyable trip across the river. Just make sure you watch out for pick pockets if you do decide to visit during a busier period of the day as the bridge gets absolutely packed.
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Do you have black, brown, or blond locks atop of your head but still play host to a touch of ginger in your beard? Don’t worry, orange tones often appear on the face either as a ginger tint in the beard or even as the domineering colour of the facial hair in men of a different hair colour but the question is – Why?
Your DNA and genes determine the pigments you have and the quantities of them and it is these pigments that dictate what hair colour you have. In essence your hair colour is decided by a multitude of gene combinations which can express themselves differently in different people.
The wonderfully complex nature of hair means that not only does so many peoples’ seemingly change over time (and we don’t mean turning grey that one happens to us all) but it can be a different colour in different places. This doesn’t mean you will necessarily have a black mop on top of your head, rock a ginger beard and boast blond eyebrows but you know what we are getting at.
when you think about it, it is unsurprising that your head hair can differ in colour to your beard. Beard hair is very different to our head hair. It looks different and feels different and as such it abides by different rules including what colour it takes on.
Here we can see a family tree showing two parents with three children together. Each member of the family has the two alleles for hair colour displayed. The children’s alleles are all a combination of one from each parent. As shown the first child has received ginger alleles from each parent and she will have ginger hair. The second child has received two brown alleles and so will have brown hair. The third child has one ginger and one brown allele, the singular ginger allele will not be enough to produce ginger head hair meaning his hair will be brown but this child could potentially to grow a ginger beard thanks to this lonely ginger allele.
The Science
Whilst not a lot of research has gone into hair colour it is understood that you require two recessive alleles to possess ginger head hair, one from mam and one from dad, but it only takes one of those ginger alleles to have an orange beard. Whilst you were probably never told you only need one for a ginger beard the rest is basic science that is taught in school. But despite what you may have been taught in biology class hair colour is not strictly determined by one gene from mam and one from dad. It is in fact a lot more complicated than that – as science often is but we will do our best to explain it.Your DNA and genes determine the pigments you have and the quantities of them and it is these pigments that dictate what hair colour you have. In essence your hair colour is decided by a multitude of gene combinations which can express themselves differently in different people.
The wonderfully complex nature of hair means that not only does so many peoples’ seemingly change over time (and we don’t mean turning grey that one happens to us all) but it can be a different colour in different places. This doesn’t mean you will necessarily have a black mop on top of your head, rock a ginger beard and boast blond eyebrows but you know what we are getting at.
when you think about it, it is unsurprising that your head hair can differ in colour to your beard. Beard hair is very different to our head hair. It looks different and feels different and as such it abides by different rules including what colour it takes on.
The Simple Science
Unfortunately, we cannot give a better answer than that, that is all that the research into hair colour can tell us. Having a ginger beard is not associated with an illness so it is not a priority when it comes to research. But we know a thing or two about the science of rocking an awesome beard so here is some of our research around ginger beards. Ginger beards are best flaunted, if you have orange facial hair don’t be a baby face express yourself with an awesome red beard. As with all beards, ginger beards love to be groomed, they also love beard oils and beard balms and above all they demand respect. Having a kickass ginger beard is a privilege and is sure to make some others envious of your awesome face fuzz but remember with great power comes great responsibility so it is your duty to treat your beard right.
My last Let's Play was one of the most popular posts I've ever done so I thought why not do another one and tell you about the games I've been playing so far this year. There haven't been any big new releases yet in 2018 so I actually picked these games up before Christmas during the Black Friday sales and got a couple of really good bargains. Enjoy!
Assassin's Creed Origins
First up is a game I've been obsessed with over the past few weeks and certainly one of my games of the year for 2017 - Assassin's Creed Origins. I've been a fan of the series for a long time but fell out of love with it over the past few iterations, but buy has this got me right back into the franchise! Set in ancient Egypt, your character is on the hunt for revenge and discovers the secrets of the Pyramids and the desert along the way. Amazing game, great combat and visuals with amazing RPG elements this time around. In terms of reinventing a stale formula, Origins knocks the franchise's previous entries out of the part. A beautiful, huge open world populated by realistic characters and interesting events around every corner. A must buy for any gamer.
You can pick it up on Amazon here.
Destiny 2
Now this next game has caused a huge amount of outcry from fans of the original who say it's just a copy and paste of the first game with a somewhat boring story mode this time around. Destiny 2 has truly split the gaming community. There are those who loved the addictive multiplayer and futuristic weaponry from the original game and are happy for more of the same, but then the other side of the argument is that is this really worth £50 for what feels like DLC more than a fully fledged game?
I sit firmly in the first camp and believe this is a stand out game that feels far more polished and better executed than Destiny 1. Players will notice immediately that the storyline has been given much more focus which is nice to see since this was one of the biggest complaints about the first game. So far the stability has been good for me, in around 30 hours of play time I've only been kicked off 3 times. The gameplay is just as good as ever and there are a whole host of minor improvements which will really please veterans of the original Destiny.
The campaign is brilliant but a little short, that is not a criticism though as it's such a tiny part of the game, the real bulk of the game is working your way up to the current level cap of 300 and getting good enough to complete the raid, past level 265 progress is slow but there is still so much to do. I have to admit I'm slightly addicted and can see myself racking up many, many hours on Destiny 2!
You can pick it up on Amazon here.
Call of Duty WW2
Fans have been waiting for this game for what feels like 5 years. Boots on the ground COD in a world war 2 setting has been what fans of the franchise have been asking for for a long time now and we've finally got it. The new Call of Duty is a vastly different game from previous iterations that have been set in a futuristic world with jet packs and crazy weapons (think Destiny 2) but now the franchise has gone back to it's roots with this gritty WW11 thriller of a game. The campaign is short but very respectively presented whilst putting the player right into the boots of soldiers on both sides of the war.
Some of the better moments of the campaign I felt were around the stealth aspects including a tense level of spying in the German headquarters in Paris. Trying to return a child blended both the gameplay and cut scenes brilliantly to make you feel like part of an action scene that had some emotional weight. Even supplying ammo to frontline soldiers in the Ardennes forest was welcomed as a change of pace from the run-and-gun moments that you see plenty of (albeit in a hand-held way).
Multiplayer has followed suit with Destiny by having a community ‘lobby’ where you can equip your soldier, test weapons, prestige your class, take up daily and weekly orders – there’s bloody loads of stuff! At first it can seem daunting as there are lots of things you need to do and the game itself doesn’t do a great job at helping you to get started. There are so many things going on at once – daily orders, weekly orders, weapon upgrade tasks, player upgrades, perks, ribbons, appearance unlocks it can be a headache to navigate especially as there are so many menus to go across and the UI isn’t the best. It took me ages to find some features and in the end I had to just google ‘How do I…” and I found the answers. I’m not in a hurry to get the most badass class going so I am taking my time with a lot of the things and I feel I enjoy it more, the game can feel a little pressuring on some of the options as there are time restrictions to achieve objectives from a week down to 30 minutes for some. A lot of the rewards are either coins or loot crates.
You can pick it up from Amazon here.
What games have you picked up recently? I'd love to get your recommendations on what to play next.
Assassin's Creed Origins
First up is a game I've been obsessed with over the past few weeks and certainly one of my games of the year for 2017 - Assassin's Creed Origins. I've been a fan of the series for a long time but fell out of love with it over the past few iterations, but buy has this got me right back into the franchise! Set in ancient Egypt, your character is on the hunt for revenge and discovers the secrets of the Pyramids and the desert along the way. Amazing game, great combat and visuals with amazing RPG elements this time around. In terms of reinventing a stale formula, Origins knocks the franchise's previous entries out of the part. A beautiful, huge open world populated by realistic characters and interesting events around every corner. A must buy for any gamer.
You can pick it up on Amazon here.
Destiny 2
Now this next game has caused a huge amount of outcry from fans of the original who say it's just a copy and paste of the first game with a somewhat boring story mode this time around. Destiny 2 has truly split the gaming community. There are those who loved the addictive multiplayer and futuristic weaponry from the original game and are happy for more of the same, but then the other side of the argument is that is this really worth £50 for what feels like DLC more than a fully fledged game?
I sit firmly in the first camp and believe this is a stand out game that feels far more polished and better executed than Destiny 1. Players will notice immediately that the storyline has been given much more focus which is nice to see since this was one of the biggest complaints about the first game. So far the stability has been good for me, in around 30 hours of play time I've only been kicked off 3 times. The gameplay is just as good as ever and there are a whole host of minor improvements which will really please veterans of the original Destiny.
The campaign is brilliant but a little short, that is not a criticism though as it's such a tiny part of the game, the real bulk of the game is working your way up to the current level cap of 300 and getting good enough to complete the raid, past level 265 progress is slow but there is still so much to do. I have to admit I'm slightly addicted and can see myself racking up many, many hours on Destiny 2!
You can pick it up on Amazon here.
Call of Duty WW2
Fans have been waiting for this game for what feels like 5 years. Boots on the ground COD in a world war 2 setting has been what fans of the franchise have been asking for for a long time now and we've finally got it. The new Call of Duty is a vastly different game from previous iterations that have been set in a futuristic world with jet packs and crazy weapons (think Destiny 2) but now the franchise has gone back to it's roots with this gritty WW11 thriller of a game. The campaign is short but very respectively presented whilst putting the player right into the boots of soldiers on both sides of the war.
Some of the better moments of the campaign I felt were around the stealth aspects including a tense level of spying in the German headquarters in Paris. Trying to return a child blended both the gameplay and cut scenes brilliantly to make you feel like part of an action scene that had some emotional weight. Even supplying ammo to frontline soldiers in the Ardennes forest was welcomed as a change of pace from the run-and-gun moments that you see plenty of (albeit in a hand-held way).
Multiplayer has followed suit with Destiny by having a community ‘lobby’ where you can equip your soldier, test weapons, prestige your class, take up daily and weekly orders – there’s bloody loads of stuff! At first it can seem daunting as there are lots of things you need to do and the game itself doesn’t do a great job at helping you to get started. There are so many things going on at once – daily orders, weekly orders, weapon upgrade tasks, player upgrades, perks, ribbons, appearance unlocks it can be a headache to navigate especially as there are so many menus to go across and the UI isn’t the best. It took me ages to find some features and in the end I had to just google ‘How do I…” and I found the answers. I’m not in a hurry to get the most badass class going so I am taking my time with a lot of the things and I feel I enjoy it more, the game can feel a little pressuring on some of the options as there are time restrictions to achieve objectives from a week down to 30 minutes for some. A lot of the rewards are either coins or loot crates.
You can pick it up from Amazon here.
What games have you picked up recently? I'd love to get your recommendations on what to play next.
Baby Driver
This is one of the best films I've seen over the past few months so I thought why not pick up the vinyl of the soundtrack, which was incredible. As a "soundtrack" it's great. Many songs and instrumentals you hear, you can easily have the scene running through your head. That's the sign of a great and memeroble soundtrack & film. But as an "album", playing in your living room or car, the tracklisting is all over the place and doesn't flow well at all. Going from the Damned's "Neat, Neat, Neat" to a slow, soul ballad doesn't sound good at all. What would've been better would be to collect all the tracks used in the film and rearranged their sequence, just to flow better instead of putting them in order of the movie. You can buy it here.
Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin'
Dylan's second album from 1963 has hardly dated at all, and contains some of his most famous and most remarkable songs. Any album that contains the originals of "Blowin' in the Wind", "Girl From the North Country", "Masters of War", "A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall" and "Don't Think Twice" has to be essential listening. Each of these songs remains as relevant today as when written. The album also features one of his most beautiful love songs (Girl From the North Country) as well as the first of many brilliant and caustic put-downs (Don't Think Twice). This album really is a classic and your collection shouldn't be without it. You can pick it up here.
Gavin James - Bitter Pill
Gavin James is an incredible British artist with some amazing (if very depressing) songs. His debut 2016 album Bitter Pill is a great example of this. Previously known for supporting Ed Sheehan at various performance, here Gavin gets the chance to shine on his own and he really does! m so glad that he is getting the recognition he deserves, proof that talent and hard graft can win out. I've never seen him live but would love to oneday. For now, I'll satisfy myself with listening to his haunting melancholic voice and beautifully structured songs.
What are some of your favourite new releases? Any recommendations for what i should pick up next?
Check out my other Vinyl Arrivals posts below:
Vinyl Arrivals #1
Vinyl Arrivals #2
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