Finally, we made it through the holiday weekend and the worst of our colds. Monday was a fresh start for Prague. It really is a beautiful city, once there aren't 10 million tourists blocking the view. I would say it is the most beautiful city of our trip so far.
We had a boat tour for the afternoon so we just headed into town for a wander in the morning, after a late sleep in. We also went back to our breakfast place to try some more of their amazing menu options. This time mom got the eggs bene with smoked salmon and I got this bread thing that the waitress said is a local dish. It was tiny sweet buns around a bowl of salty/sweet vanilla pudding with fresh fruit. Not the healthiest breakfast but oh, it was good!
Over the bridge into Old Town. Some random photos:
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| Chestnut season, even in the middle of the bridge |
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| You can't stop the love locks. |
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| This building, we later learned, is called the dancing building The original building was destroyed in WW2 This one was designed based on Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers I don't see it but it is an interesting contrast to the historical centre. |
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| I've probably already shown this building. It's a nice one. |
Our boat tour of the River Vltava was two hours starting at 3 pm. The river is lousy with these boat tours. And, despite the hoards of people on land, they seem quite empty. We've seen some go by with as few as 6 people on them. And they are big.
We got there a bit early so we got to see this guy under the dock. This is a Nutria, a South American semi-aquatic invasive species.
Our trip had about 25-30 people on it. We got a nice table right at the edge so lots of photo opportunities.
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| But first, some champagne and a cheese plate. |
I would tell you what some of these buildings are but I already packed the information in my bag (we are heading to the train station onward to Brno soon). You probably don't really care anyway.
The river has a few places where low hydroelectric generating barriers cross. So we had to go through a lock. I've never been though a lock before so I was pretty excited. Mom, who has been through dozens of them was not. I see why not, it is a lot of waiting for water to rise/lower, and then 10 seconds of a gate opening. Not as dramatic as I was anticipating. But it was cool none the less.
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| So many bridges. |
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| Me and the iconic, ever present Charles Bridge. Oldest bridge in Prague, built by, you guessed it, King Charles IV |
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| Here's a picture of our boat, the Bohemia Rhapsody Queen music not included. |
Time to get ready to go. I'll try to finish this on the train.
We're on the train. Bag storage chaos is ongoing. Lucky we got here early!
Back to Prague day 3
After the boat tour, we went back into Old Town for dinner before our next event, the ballet!
We found an Italian place that looked nice. We shared a vegetarian pizza. We are both feeling the need for some vegetables. It was not that great. Salt, pepper and chili oil improved things somewhat but not enough.
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| Wow, that is a particularly bad picture Miscreants can't be choosy, I guess |
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| Slightly better |
Mom had never seen a ballet. I don't think she loves the art form but it was an experience. I liked it.
Then we walked home again. And that was the end of that day.
Day four was when I broke mom. We took the bus a couple of times instead of walking everywhere.
(I am trying to get my free latte out of RegioJet, I give up! I have to download their app and now it wants a password. Well, I want a latte but neither of us is getting what we want!)
It was only yesterday and I am struggling to remember how the day started. To the photos! Ah yes. Google seemed to indicate that the funicular was back up and running so we headed to Petrin Park. Google lied, or Prague lied to google. No matter, the end is the same, no funicular. We were more motivated to walk up hill this day so up hill we walked.
Petrin is a lovely park. Lots of windy paths with zero signage. We walked past some statues, through an apple orchard, I saw a red squirrel and found a little grove full of birds. And the view just kept getting better and better.
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| A CAT!! My first cat sighting/photo Eastern/Central Europe is not a cat locale apparently |
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| Fall had definitely arrived Apples and chestnuts in a fountain |
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| Old Wall? We were getting close to the castle so maybe... |
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| This as yet unidentified bird |
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| We never did make it to the tower and the 'best' lookout Way too many stairs for our broken knees. That's the tower from the castle side of the park. |
Eventually we made it to the Castle district but not the castle. It was time to get back to Old Town. We took a tram. Stopping at the Charles Bridge area. There are lots of little shops and restaurants. I had seen some earrings in a kiosk on the bridge and a ceramic pot in a shop tucked under the stairs. Because, if I'm not carrying around a heavy ceramic object in my luggage, then I haven't really traveled! I don't think I took a picture. But I did take a picture of the jewelry guy as the pigeons harrassed him into giving them some peanuts.
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| Lunch by the river. I had Hunter's Goulash (venison) and mom had some sort of vegetable layered situation |
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| back to across the bridge |
To our next event! An underground tour of old dungeons and secret underground houses. The city, growing very fast and so close to the river, used to flood almost every year. So, who ever was in charge of big decisions decided to build walls along the river and dredge it. They used the dirt to fill the city up to the first floor of all of the buildings. I can't remember when but hundreds of years ago. 16th century? Anyway, some households retained their underground rooms.
Here's our guide in front of a pub in a building that was owned by nobility and royalty for centuries.
They kept their underground rooms a secret for hundreds of years. I can't remember why. Probably security. But that -1 level of the building was discovered in WW2 when a survey of every building was done by the Nazis in order to find bunkers for shelter. It flooded again in 2002 but they have spent millions to restore them, just for dumb tourists to wander through (and a bit of storage for the pub). There are three rooms with their original pillar structure but the windows have been adjusted and the fireplaces long removed.
Next up was a room that had been living quarters with a back yard that had been covered so that it would not get filled. They had some historical household items around.
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| inside the house |
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| covered backyard |
Then we went down into an old brewery. Where we got to see a hidden room where alchemy was preformed. It was big thing in the middle ages around here.
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| Brewery |
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| Secret Alchemy lab. |
And no underground tour can be complete without a proper dungeon. Full of skeletons (fake) and items of torture. We all got to spin a wheel to see how we would die. Mine was one of the worst. I was put in a metal bull and then a fire was lit under me. The steam from the victim BBQ would shoot out holes in the bull's nostrils and the screams would reverberate like the bellowing of the bull. Apparently, quite the crowd pleaser. Mom, on the other hand, spun a noble's death. A quick beheading with a sword.
And that was the end of the tour and the end of Mom. Who would have guessed that the underground tour would have been all stairs, and not nice even stairs, old stone stairs.
We were getting quite good at the bus system so we took a tram home and that was end of us for that day.
Which brings us up to today. We had been passing this amazing smelling bakery every morning so we decided to buy some snacks for the train there before we left our apartment.
The Prague train station is incredible. And huge. We managed to find our platform without any trouble.
So, that was Prague. I'm sorry we got off to such a rocky, overcrowded start. It really is an amazing place and I will have to come back on a non-holiday when I'm not sick. It deserves better.
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| Mom on the train. |
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