Last Full Day In Prague

Our last full day in Prague and it appears to be overcast and possibly even looks like rain is on the way. Could the weather forecast be wrong and we are finally going to get a break from the heat and humidity?

We planned to catch the noon sailing on the boat cruise from our tour that started yesterday so thought we would get an early start out for breakfast. We headed to our usual stop but they weren't open yet so we decided to head down to Wenceslas Square to see what they had there. It was really quiet on all the streets, few people, and even fewer vehicles moving. We got to the square and didn't really find much open and since we had timed plans we broke down and went to that evil place that I don't like to talk about, so we'll just leave it at that. As we sat down to eat on the patio, a few drops of rain started to spatter on the ground. George thought we might have to go back to the hotel to get a coat but I assured him that the rain would stop soon.

By the time we finished eating, my thoughts proved correct, the rain had stopped. We ended up walking back to the hotel anyway as we had lots of time, and we thought we would pick up a bottle of water we had in the room that we meant to bring with us. We also realized that since the boat starting point was on the other side of the Jewish Quarter, we could catch one of the tour buses we were on yesterday (the line without air conditioning) and ride it over to the other side again, this time possibly getting one with air conditioning! There was a stop on the tour a block or so away, right near the train station we arrived at and will be returning to tomorrow. Also spotted the ugliest doll I have ever seen on the walk back. I think it was once a former gymnast, now shrunken down and preserved forever.

After waiting about 25 minutes a bus came. I guess they were slowed down by all the traffic that seemed to build up since we had breakfast earlier. I was a little worried that the bus would be full and since there were 3 other people waiting there before us, I had said to George that we'll walk along the river if there isn't enough room. Well not only was there plenty of room, but the bus had the best air conditioning I've been in so far this trip. We were more than happy to go around on the green line tour again just to get us to our stop. It is only supposed to take about an hour so we had plenty of time still.

We drove around the castle again and finally reached our stop where the guide pointed out where we should go to catch the boat and what name to look for, the Classic River. Again we still had lots of time, so we wandered around the area for a bit, not going far as by now the heat of the day was starting to set in quite well. There was what looked sort of like a monument by the river, and on it were pictures of the river flooding over the banks 10 years ago. That would have been really high, as the river was down a ways from the road bank. We had to take either a roadway or walkway down just to walk near it.

People started boarding the boat around 11:30 so we hopped on as well and sat down for a drink in the shade before heading upstairs to the rooftop. We met a couple ladies from Manhattan Beach in California and had a really nice visit with them. They had been on a Baltic Cruise and then decided to spend some time in Moscow and Prague before heading back. Their trip was only 15 days and they regaled us with their rush through Heathrow in London and nearly missing their connection because one of them forgot to pull her laptop out of her carry on. She said in the states they don't need to do that and she couldn't understand the customs official when he asked her to. I thought it was the same language, but I have to remember that the British accent was probably confusing. They were heading back the same way, so I wished them better luck on the return.

We were getting pretty hot sitting under the canopy at the stern of the boat, and thought we may as well head upstairs where we might catch a bit of a breeze, plus get a good seat as more people were starting to arrive for the cruise. We chose a spot to sit down but found no breeze at all, just the hot sun beating down on us with the humidity making it sticky and moist out. In the next twenty minutes, the boat would fill up, both on top, in the rear, and in the dining area below (it also operates as a luncheon and dinner cruise later). We had a couple from Mumbai sitting with us, their children at other tables up towards the front.

We slowly got underway, making our way up river to a point just beyond the  Charles Bridge before heading back. There was no commentary along the way, which I found a little strange, but then again, when you are dealing with so many languages, and no permanent seating, I guess its hard to install any sort of headset like we had in Paris last year. Besides, the guide that was leading our new friends from Mumbai and their group would walk by on occasion and point out something, giving a small anecdote about it.

One thing I was glad we got to see was the Prague Metronome high above the hill in Letna Park. It stands 23 metres tall and represents the Czechs government swinging between the left and right (communist and democratic). It replaced the largest statue  in the worldof Stalin that once stood there. Most other things we saw on the cruise were places we had walked past in previous days, so were familiar with them, but were nice to see from a different angle on the river. We also spotted what looked like a hot air balloon, but it turned out to just be a hot air balloon tied to the ground with seating for 2 at the top. George said a resounding NO when I asked him if he wanted to go up.

 Once we completed the cruise, we disembarked and waited in the shade for a few moments while the other groups got themselves up the stairs and out into their buses or on their walks. I happened to notice a Hop-On, Hop-Off bus coming and George saw it had the same guide as we had yesterday. So instead of walking into the downtown area, I suggested we catch the bus if there was room, as it would take us the two stops much quicker than walking in the heat.

We filled up the bus and then made our way downtown to see if we could find anything more to buy at the New Yorker. George lucked out and got a few more things. Me, well I didn’t find anything else that appealed to me at the moment. I also didn’t really want to pack more stuff in my suitcase just to carry to Phuket and then back home. I’ll wait until we’re in Phuket and maybe have a little look there.

A little past mid afternoon, we went back to the hotel to do a little relaxing and internet surfing. It was getting a too warm to walk around anymore, and there were fewer and fewer shady or cool spots to hide in. We did stop in Marks and Spencer for a sandwich and found a nice air-conditioned café up on the 3^rd floor. But going back outside in the 32c weather (40c with humidity), was just too much. Also walked through one of the many surprise malls you encounter in what was probably once a courtyard and saw this interesting piece of hanging art.

Dinner time rolled around and we hadn’t really found a place earlier to eat at but decided roughly where we would look down another road we hadn’t been on before. Going back outside was like walking back into the fire. It was really hot and humid and not a breeze to be found. We made our way to a street just a block away called Reznickà where we found a couple restaurants, but nothing that really appealed to us. A little further up we came to a crossroad called Śkolska so turned down there. Still nothing of interest and we finally ended up on one of our usual streets for walking to Wenceslas Square. Here we saw a sign for a restaurant called Restaurace u Českÿch Pánū, a  gothic style restaurant set in the cellar areas amongst the original foundations of a building built in 1348. The food here was traditional and delicious. I had a potato and mushroom soup (with a few vegetables at the bottom) followed by another style of goulash with bread dumpling and lots of  ale based gravy to sop up in the dumplings.

After dinner it was a walk down to Wenceslas Square and a stop at Starbucks to check out some mugs for a friend and so George could catch some Wi-Fi time on his iPhone. Then it was back to the hotel for some pre-packing for tomorrow trip to Phuket, followed by a face time call to our neighbour who was at our place with Odessa. It was nice to see Odessa playing with Linda, but I don’t think she understands how it works and that she could actually see us in the phone.

So now it’s off to bed. Tomorrow will just be a lazy morning before heading out to the airport after check-in and catching our flights onward. I’ll try to blog something tomorrow, but may have to wait for any detail until after we’re settled in Phuket.

Taking A Tour

Today the plan was to check out a tour that was suggested to us yesterday by the gentleman we met from Bristol last night. He had told us that we could get a tour that included 3 land routes as well as a one-hour boat cruse for CZK 500. He said they were all hop on, hop off (except the boat) and I thought I heard him say that you had a 24-hour time period to use it once you started. So after a late breakfast, we headed down to the place he told us about on Wenceslas Square to check it out before heading out for our days walk.

We found the place he told us about easily with his directions, at the back of a money exchange place right next to the Evropa Hotel. As it turned out, the orange Hop On, Hop Off was actually good for a 48 hour period, so rather than doing our planned walk to Letna Park and then on to the castle gardens, we decided to start the tours today and finishing off tomorrow with a boat cruise.

We headed over to where one of the stops was in the downtown area, where two of the tours had stops, the green line running every 15 minutes and the red line, running every hour. We thought it best to take the red line first, as it was the least frequent, went to the furthest places out from the centre of town and also covered areas we would not likely walk to.  While we waited for the red line, two green lines passed through so we new that the frequency they said they had was pretty accurate. Finally, a red bus came and along with 6 other people, we were off.

This bus did not have the headsets for tour to describe where we were going, rather, the guide would give the tour to us in English only. Even though he had a script to follow, he said he would speak candidly as he thought it provided a much better tour throughout. George and I had also decided that since this route only ran hourly, we did not plan to hop off anywhere to wait for another bus. If there was anything we ‘must’ spend more time at, we could visit again tomorrow.

We started off and within about a block, we hit one of the Prague traffic jams that can occur in and around the major tourist centres. We drove past the building where the communist party is head quartered in the Czech Republic. Outside the entrance the pavement is splashed with red paint, representing the blood of people killed by them. Further up the street, was the former headquarters of the Gestapo, now used by the ministry of industry and trade.

We turned the corner past the former Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia, the Prague National Museum (which is the cultural centre of Prague) at the upper end of Wenceslas Square, then down past where we purchased our tickets, then up again to the top of the square. Turning south we passed the Church of St. Ludmila, over 900 years old. Then we crossed the Nuselskÿ most which is the highest bridge in the Czech Republic and also has two subway lines running underneath the road deck. Our next stop, after crossing the bridge, would be Vyšehrad, home of the Congress and Slavin cemetery. It was also one of the points where our guide recommended getting out and exploring if we had the time. As I mentioned, we planned to just go for the ride today and decide later if we wanted to head back this trip or another time. Just a short distance away, just past the main police station for Prague, was the next stop on the tour, the Corinthia Towers, the first ‘skyscraper’ in the Czech Republic. It was overlooking the bridge we just crossed and must certainly have some fantastic views from the rooms (it’s a hotel) atop which overlook the hills and valleys that make up the city. The area in the valley below was once only vineyards, but now completely covered by housing as one of the 50-60 districts that make up the city of Prague.

Heading back towards the downtown area, we passed the main train station, Praha hlavni nádraži, named after Woodrow Wilson which opened in 1871 and had its first run from Prague to Vienna, not a very popular run by any means with only 7 people on the train. Past the Opera house, then continued past one of their famous squares, Námësti Winstona Churchilla, named ater Winston Churchill right near the Viktoria Zizkov stadium on to the Vitkov National Memorial, which has one of the world’s largest equestrian statues. Just a ways beyond this we passed what looked like a big park on a hill, but rather turned out to be a huge underground nuclear shelter. Just beyond that, the tour guide mentioned that the area we were in had the distinction of having 1 pub for every 100 people. Now I think I know where some of that absinthe may be drank.

Onward to the Žižjic TV Tower, the worlds third ugliest building. I had taken pictures of it from across the river, but up close I almost have to agree. Built at the order of the last Communist lead of the then Czechoslovakia, it appears to some people to represent either a finger pointing and saying, ‘be good, because I will be back’ while others say it is ‘giving them the finger’. Either way it is quite ugly. We also noticed that along the sides of the tower were the same 3 'Tower Babies' we discovered in Kampa park on the other side of the river. These were David Černÿ sculptures, that depending who you ask, you will get differing opinions of what they think of them.

We also learned that the Czech Republic has one of the least religious populations on earth despite all the churches here. Close to 80% of the population is agnostic or atheist.  A lot of that was spurred from the mainstream religions killing the high priest of the Brotherhood of the Hussites, calling him a heretic. This turned the people away from religion and most still do not believe in what the other churches have to offer, saying they are still there mainly for the tourists.

Onward we passed the Hilton hotel, one of the most expensive hotels in all of Prague. It is also where many dignitaries have stayed when the come to Prague for meetings, including the former President, George Bush. Snipers were found on every rooftop surrounding it. I’m not sure how they all missed him, but that’s another story. We then moved on past Pragues second train station.

Then it was back to the downtown stop where we would wait to catch a green line bus. The tour guide we had was fantastic throughout the entire tour. He had all the information about each of the stops and places along the way. He would also throw in a few extra bits of curious and funny facts about various places along the way. We chatted a bit after and like most places we have travelled to, they also see and have a different view of Canadians than they have of our neighbours to the south. Each time I hear the talk about the differences, it makes me proud to be a Canadian.

When the green line arrived, the guide inside didn’t even bother to check our tickets, as he somehow remembered us from earlier when he was at the stop while we waited for the red line. Did we really make that big of an impression? We hopped onto the bus where there were 6 guys from Spain and 2 others already aboard. Grabbing our seats we noticed how stifling hot the bus was, not air conditioned like the last one. The guide said that this particular bus had its air condition not working, so we decided we would see how far we could handle it. If it got too hot, we would just get off and wait for the next bus in 15 minutes.

Starting off down the same street we hit the traffic jam on proved to still have the same traffic jam, only worse. Before we got to the end, the Spanish group bailed as they couldn’t take the heat. I also think the wafts of B.O. from the driver didn’t help matters. We stayed on hoping to make it across the river at least before transferring. As the bus moved it did seem to cool a bit and as it turned out, we made it up past the castle and to the point where we walked up the old stair route the other day. We had decided to get off here and buy some more ‘ice water’ to take back with us as we walked to check out some shopping downtown before heading back to the hotel.

I must say that on the green line where we started listening to the tour on the headphones, it was not nearly as interesting as listening to our previous guide. With all the traffic, the timing of each played piece of information never seemed to coincide where we really were. Fortunately for us, since we had walked past most everything earlier, we knew what they were talking about. But the descriptions throughout were again, not nearly as entertaining.

Once we made our way across the river to the downtown area (and having nearly finished the entire 1.5 litre bottle of water myself (George had his own)), we found our way into a store called the New Yorker. I think this is Pragues version of Primark in the UK. The New Yorker is actually a German store and the deals here were great. I ended up buying a couple shirts and a hat for CZK 600 (around $30.00), while George got a couple shirts, jeans and a scarf for CZK 800. We will likely be back here again tomorrow when our hands are not so full of maps, cameras and dripping ice water bottles. It also didn’t help that we were still quite warm from our last bus ride. On the way back to the hotel, we made a quick stop top join the lineup at our new favourite bakery and deli for dessert.

For dinner tonight we had not plans so decided to wander around and see what we found. We checked out a few menus at some restaurants, but they didn’t really appeal to us. We had walked around a bit and George suggested heading down this one street a block and turning towards the main area if we didn’t find anything. It looked like a pretty quiet street, as no umbrellas and tables anywhere along the way. We passed a doorway into a what looked like a book and magazine shop but we cold also see a restaurant further back in the building. Sure enough, there was a menu posted by the entrance and it looked reasonable even though they had a fair wide range of foods in their offering.

We walked inside of what appeared to be a bit of a Bohemian folk style restaurant. A few tables downstairs, some up the stairs, and another section out on the courtyard patio. We took a seat and when our menus were brought over we noticed that the server had a much better command of English that other places we have been to.

We each ordered a Greek Salad, George a fettuccine and me spaghetti and meatballs. The salad came first and it was a huge plateful each. It was delicious. Normally I avoid eating olives, but like one of my favourite Greek restaurants in London, the olives here could not go uneaten. When we were done, the waiter brought out our big bowls of pasta. Fresh and delicious and one hundred times tastier than the previous nights dining experience.

We were noticing that the other patrons coming into the restaurant/bar all spoke English. I wasn’t sure if they were Canadian or American though. The gentleman that appeared to be the proprietor also spoke English. I finally asked our server where the owner was from and he said he was American. In fact, most partrons that ended up coming to the restaurant were American or Canadian. They even had an entertainer playing for a couple hours who set up his system in the corner and he started out with some folk-like music. If anyone comes over here, I highly recommend this restaurant. It is called ‘The Globe Bookstore and Cafe’ and is located at Pštrosova 6.

Thus ended our evening. A short walk home with a stop at the grocer store for some bananas and more water then it was time to call it a night. Tomorrow is the boat cruise and I think we’ll try out the yellow line on the Hop On, Hop Off tour. Until then, hope you had a great day as well.   

A Walk In The Park

It was a really long day today for me. I had woken up in the middle of the night close to 02h30 and couldn’t get back to sleep no matter how hard I tried. Finally around 04h00 I decided not to fight it anymore an just got up to do some writing and photo editing. Turned out that it was a great time to get things done, but not sure how I’ll feel by the end of the day. The plan for today is to head up to Petrin Park in Lesser Town and make our way to the planetarium as well as the Petrin Tower. We are also hoping for some good city pictures from up there.

We started off walking down to most Legii to cross the river Vltava and we knew it was going to be a hot day. The forecast was for the upper 20’s with humidex in the upper 30’s and continuing to go higher for the rest of our stay here. I should also mention that walking around here I find a lot harder on the feet that I do back home as the sidewalks are mostly made out of various types of cobblestone. I look forward to finding the smaller patterned one, not just for the beauty of their look, but for the ease of walking on them as opposed to the larger stone walkways. Even the bridge sidewalk had cobblestone walkways, as did the entire Charles Bridge (it is an old bridge after all). I also found that the city is filled with graffiti, not to the major everything colored degree that we have back home, but just scrawling everywhere. We encountered a worker trying to clean some off the bridge as we crossed it to get to Petrin Park.

When we finally reached the park and the place we saw statues and stairs yesterday, we discovered that it was in fact not stairs, but rather a memorial. The plaque beside it said, ‘The memorial to the victims of communism is dedicated to all the victims, not only those who were jailed or executed, but also those whose lives were ruined by totalitarian despotism.’ It consisted of 20 stairs, the first 6 having red candles placed in various spots on them, and then followed by one step covered in various colored fresh wreaths. The last 13 steps held 7 statues of a man slowly changing from a whole man to varying stages of what appears to be decay or eaten away body.

Since these were not the stairs we thought we could climb up into the park, we decided to head to the funicular to get up the quick way and then would walk down after. By this time I was already feeling the humidity and the day was still young. The funicular is part of their transit system, so we bought a 30-minute transfer (CZK 24) to get up there. There was a large line of people to go up and we had to break out of the line to get our tickets inside, then break back in to get on the funicular. There was a stop part way up the hill, so that the car running down could drop people off, then as we got towards the halfway point the track divided into two lanes and we each took our side as we passed on our way to the middle stop and then finally reaching the top.

When we finally reached the top we discovered that there were some rose gardens up there, still in various stages of blooming. We stopped to get a few pictures and that was when I realized how hot it was up there, walking in the sun.

A few feet away sat the planetarium with a statue outside. I was unable to get a description of what the statue represented as it was entirely in Czech but the wall in the background was actually a clock that worked exactly like a sundial. It not only depicted the time accurately right to the minute, but also the astrological sign we were in at the time (cancer the crab).

We decided to head towards the Petrin Tower, which was just a ways beyond the funicular, in the other direction, since it was an area with a few more trees and we could get some shade from the direct sun during the peak hours of its strength. We got to the tower and learned it would cost CZK 505 to ‘climb’ the tower and since we were already hot and sweaty, we decided against it. Rather, we chose to walk towards the edge of the hill in hopes of finding some clear areas (we saw them coming up), where we could take some pictures. Thus began our descent from atop Petrin Park, spending just shy of an hour roaming around up top.

Our descent brought us to many winding trails and stairways. Since we knew what side of the funicular we were on, we figured that walking towards it and switching direction back and forth as necessary would be the best plan of attack to get down and find some photo ops.

Finally reaching the bottom we thought we would seek out lunch somewhere preferably of a nice sandwich and possibly pastry. We also knew that we had to head back to the hotel for a bit as Georges camera battery needed charging even though it appeared to show a lot of juice in it earlier today.

We found a bakery/deli called Paneria on Pekarská, street where I was able to get a Panini brusel (a large pocket shaped ham, tomato, and cheese Panini), as well as a huge apricot strudel for only CZK 50. A virtual steal for all the food it consisted of. It was also here that we noticed that the tax was already built into the total price, like the VAT appears to be everywhere else we’ve been in Europe. That way, we knew the price posted was the price we paid, not like back home where we have to figure out the price and what it will finally cost once we add the tax on top of it. I think Canada should reconsider how they price things. Let the business sell it for the price and then the bill will show how much of that consisted of taxes (in this case 14%).

On our way back to the hotel I stopped to take a picture of a little corner shop selling magazines, liquor, cigarettes, and some chocolate and candies.

I’ve also noticed that there are shops selling liquor everywhere. Even in the stone pillars at the ends of bridges are little shops advertising their wears, and usually with the main sale item as absinthe, liquor that when I checked one bottle out, was 170% proof. Not sure how anyone could drink this but according to the museum of absinthe they have many ways to do just that. The first photo is just across the street from our hotel, but there are also 2 or 3 more within a few feet of the front door.

We ended up wandering over towards the Jewish quarter and old cemetery, but on the way finally caught the show at the Astronomical Clock on the Old Town Square. We arrived about 15h45 and there were only a few people meandering around the square or hiding in the 2 or 3 small shaded spots, hiding from the heat of the sun. We had been told by a friend to be there by 10 minutes to the hour and he wasn’t wrong. Within a few minutes of arrival, all the tour groups started filling the square. We quickly knew that the spot we had found in the shade would turn out to be crowded in and we quickly moved towards the front of the crowd so that we could get the view and record the sounds of the clock.

We had also been told that the show was really nothing to see, but more to hear and watch the crowd. So with that in mind, George decided to record the clocks and the sound, while I went against the building and faced the crowds, recording the crowds looking up towards the clocks. It was also a small area of shade I sought out. When the hour arrived, the two little windows above the clock opened and sort of like a cuckoo clock, some figures of heads circled around the inside of the windows, while the figures beside the clock moved a little as well. Then at the end, from high atop the tower, you could see the end of an old, long trumpet sticking over the edge of the tower and being played. Once done, the crowd cheered and waved and then dispersed as quickly as they arrived. Our friend was right. Big anti-climax.

We continued our trek towards the Jewish quarter and old cemetery, stopping briefly at the Hard Rock Café on the way. Decided not to buy anything here as the prices were tourist trap ridiculous but it was a nice place to cool down for a bit. We arrived at the cemetery only to discover it was entirely walled in and there was a CZK 3000 cost to get in. Sorry, but I wasn’t prepared to pay that much to see the gravestones and then be led into a Disney style store where they bombard you with literature telling of the history we have all learned about over the years. Don’t get me wrong, it was tragic what happened throughout Europe during the war, but we also have to remember that there were others who suffered during that time period as well. We should never forget what happened but it’s almost like an obsession when I have visited other memorials to the atrocities of what happened then (including Anne Frank house in Amsterdam) that to was only the Jewish population who should be remembered and never a mention of anyone else. We need to remember everyone!

We decided we would head back towards our area and visit an Italian restaurant we had found the other day and try them out for dinner and also discovered another view of the castle across the river. 

Walking around the cemetery block to the next street up we discovered what would be known as Rodeo Drive of Prague. All the name brand shops are located here on Parizska running from the Intercontinental Hotel by the river all the way to the Old Town Square. Louis Vuitton, Rolex, Burberry, Hermes, Ferragamo, and on and on they lined the street on both sides. Definitely not the places I was looking to shop at.

The restaurant we went to was a short distance from our hotel, called Pastacaffe Tonino Lamborghini. We took a seat by the open window, next to a couple from Bristol in the UK. We ordered a cold coffee drink and then some pasta for dinner while I got an avocado, fruit and lettuce sandwich to begin. I won’t personally recommend this place, as I found that the avocado probably had a few more days left to ripen and be soft enough to eat. The pasta was also very sticky and the lack of sauce, other than what the pasta soaked up, made it a rather not preferred choice. The cold banana frappe drink was delicious though!

We chatted for a while with the couple next to us and like most British families (at least the ones we’ve met), have children living in Canada. Theirs is in Toronto, and they have visited him as well as Vancouver before. They gave us a little info on Phuket telling us how wonderful the people were and said we may want to get some clothes made there. If time permits and the price is right, we may look into that. They also suggested a tour here in Prague that we’re going to look into for either Friday or Saturday. If the buses are air conditioned, I’m in as the temperature is going into the 30’s with humidex up to the 40’s for the rest of our visit.

It was finally back to the hotel from some rest and Internet browsing. We did make a visit to one of the local convenience stores for some more water and a treat, but pretty much sat and did photo editing for the rest of the evening before calling it a night.

So on that note, hope you also had a great day and will update again tomorrow.

On To The Castle

Last night didn’t end by going to sleep when we were planning. We actually ended up going out again for an evening snack. Not sure where to go, we headed towards Wenceslas Square and on the way there found a little mall where they had small sandwiches and salads on display in the window as well as delicious looking pastries and ice cream inside. We decided to eat something good, so ordered we each ordered a salad, mine mozzarella and George’s a Caesar. We also got desserts, a tiramisu and an apple flan cake with a café latte to top it off. Now considering the fact that the girl knew only a few words of English and we knew less Czech, we managed to get this done and settled very easily. So far the people I have found here in just the first day were wonderful, friendly people.

Now it is Wednesday morning and after having coffee in the room, we’re off to the little restaurant we found on our walk back last night. It had a sign for Wi-Fi and George needed that so he could get onto his iPhone. A lot of places have it, but you have to be a customer to get the pass code at most. Even here at the hotel, I have a pass code during the stay, but since George has his laptop he has to get a new pass code every 24 hours. But back to breakfast, we went to the Bistro Deli and Bakery on Štēpánská 20, Praha 1. They had omelets with toast for CZK 99-109, which included bread. They were huge omelets considering they were only made with 2 eggs and whatever filling choices we had. It appeared that the owner was the one working, and he was very accommodating in providing us with the pass code and with his English. It may become the breakfast place of choice as it’s easy to get to and the food was great. It also looks like they have a nice dinner menu that isn’t too expensive.

After breakfast our plans were to head out to the Prague Castle by foot and along the way see what we could discover. Our journey started by heading west on Žitna until we passed Karlovo nàm (park) before turning taking a couple of side streets to the Jiraskūv  most (bridge). From there we got our first views of one of the locks on the river Vltava which winds through the centre of the city.

Once we crossed to the west side we were at the north end of the area known as Smichov. We had to turn north to pass through Malá Strana or more commonly known as Lesser Town on our way to Prague Castle, so we decided the best walk would be along the river bank. You’ll see a few of the things we saw on the way towards Charles Bridge, one of the main entrances to Prague castle.

We finally reached Charles Bridge.

As I mentioned before, our goal was the castle, but not through the route most seem to follow as their main entrance. We were looking for the other entrance, which were at the ‘old castle stairs’ and also planned to visit Charles Bridge later. So we had to head a little further west and north. It must have been a combination of names and lack of street signs, but we ended p walking too far, and ended up at the entrance to Letná park. So we had to backtrack and almost missed the entrance again, had it not been for George’s sharp eyes, or perhaps the crowd of people was the real reason.

So it was up the stairs we went. We each bought a bottle of ice water (3/4 frozen ice) and the rest water for our journey up. I was glad we did, as I don’t think we would have made it through the day if we hadn’t. It was a long climb up the stairs in the hot sun and there were many tour groups and families coming down the stairs and wanting the whole wide pathway to themselves. Anyone who knows me knows that we should share the space and keep to the right (unless you’re in a country that drives on the left). Needless to say we made it to the top and had incredible views of the city along the way including the Žižkov Television Tower.

When we got to one of the entrances to the castle, we managed to catch a bit of the changing of the guard.

Then it was onward to view the sights inside, including St. Vitus Cathedral.

Another guard stationed on the other side of the castle.

We cut our visit short, as my camera battery was going and we wanted to take a break before continuing after the peak sun time had passed. I did take a few pictures before leaving the top of the castle hill (there was more hill in the back which we hope to visit later), as well as some picture son the way down towards the Charles Bridge.

Rather than go over the Charles Bridge, we took a detour through Lesser Town mostly to stay away from the crowds. We also kind of like to walk in areas that are not necessarily so touristy as you don’t feel the pressure from the sales people and you get the opportunity to see more of what life is like in the city. As we were turning to head to the most Legli to cross the river Vltava, we saw a set of stairs with statues on it leading into Petrin Park. We decided that we would head that way tomorrow and see if we can take in the Planetarium, the Petrin Tower, and something that looks like it may be some type of funicular (from the map).

Crossing the bridge we got to see one of the locks opening to let a few boats onto a lower part of the river. We also got to see Slovanský ostrov (Slavic Island) where you can rent peddle boats for about CZK 200 per hour.

The walk back into New Town and our hotel brought us past a colourfully painted wall where a parking lot was crammed with vehicles.

After a rest, a camera charge, and an internet fix at the hotel, we went out for another leisurely walk towards the Charles Bridge and then over to the Astronomical Clock on the Old Town Square. The bridge was built in 1357 and is used as a walking bridge now and has various religious statues along its length. Vendors of all sorts also have a role along the bridge. As we left the bridge to head toward the clock I got a couple shots of one of the buildings beside the bridge as well as the watchtower and arch as you leave.

We were quite early to hear the bells at the Astronomical clock so we just sat on the sidewalk with a number of other people taking in the sights and sounds of the square.

We didn’t stay for the bells today but will be back to listen to them later. It was getting hungry so decided to head towards Wenceslas Square to find some place to eat. On the way, George and I stopped to chat with a gentleman on a bench, but we discovered he really didn’t have much to say.

We found an indoor/outdoor café that looked like it had a good menu and got a seat on the patio. I decided it was time to have some Czech beer and since George was no longer drinking, he only had a ginger ale. My choices for dinner consisted of a gazpacho (sorry no picture) and a goulash, both of which were delicious.

We opted for desert at the little bakery we found last night and picked up something to take back to the hotel with us. On the walk back I had to take a couple more pictures along the street. One of a streetcar passing by and the other, well, let’s just say that I was asked to take this one for someone else.

 

So that was Wednesday in Prague. The weather is supposed to get really hot the next few days, into the 30’s with humidex up to 40 so not sure how that’s going to go over, but we certainly will take it over what we left back home. See you tomorrow with new updates.