Impressions of Prague

The architecture is in some ways similar to Paris with rows of 4-5 story ornate buildings but it is punctuated with gothic towers like none I've seen before. There are also baroque churches everywhere with the green onion top type towers. Streets in the Old Town are all cobblestone. The first day I was excited to get out and explore and we quickly found our way to Old Town Square with its clock tower, monument, churches and outdoor cafes. The place was usually full of tourists milling around snapping photos of everything. There was usually some type of street musicians playing jazz music, although we also saw a guy banging on buckets for drums, and a guy juggling fiery batons. It was fun to wander around the varied streets. Prague has a lot of smells, from the aroma of cinnamon and sugar produced by the trtelnek to the pervasive pungent beer to the roasting sausage from hot-dog stands.

We found our way to Wencelsaus square, a long square with a big museum and statue of the good prince on his steed at the end. This area is "New Town" and it has a mixed old and new feel with contemporary architecture interspersed with art nueveau style buildings. There was lots of shopping of all kind in this area. Old Town had mostly touristy stores selling crystal, garnets, food and drink. Wenceslaus square was surprisingly close to Old Town Square, just a block or two away.

It started raining and we were nervous about meeting up with Cathy and Chris so we headed back to the flat. The flat has 2 big bedrooms and a sitting room with very little seating. There is a futon and one other chair plus a bean bag chair. The kitchen is small but functional. It has 3 toilets and 2 showers so that's a plus. The ceilings are high and there are cool designs in the plaster up there. The beds are not what we are used to with just comforters and no sheets. We had to climb 3 flights of steps to get there and locking the door isn't easy. That led to a drunk guy wandering in on us in the morning because we didn't lock up properly. There are lots of late-night partiers making noise at all hours here.

Seating at our flat in Prague

We were lucky that Cathy and Chris found us. Their phone doesn't work outside of Poland so we had no way of contacting them. We tried a few Facebook messages and hoped they would figure something out and they did. We went for traditional Czech fare the first night. Cathy had ghoulash, a kind of dumpling with vegetables mixed in and topped with a rich meat sauce. I got schnitzel, which is basically chicken fried steak. I liked Brita's pork shoulder with the sweet sauerkraut the best. At the end they brought us out some complementary alcohol. Too bad we don't drink.

Czech goulash

The next day we had to find Jackie and her daughter first, so we thought we would walk to their hotel. We tried following the dot on Rachelle's phone but we got lost anyway. It took about an hour to find the place, but it was worth it since we mooched a good meal from the hotel buffet. I gorged on pastries, juice and meats. We thought we had a private tour but it turns out we missed the bus that was supposed to take us around all the sights of Prague. We took the metro back to Old Town Square to kill a few hours before we could catch the next tour.

We bought a ticket for the clock tower and went up to see the town from above. The clock is quite complex, showing time in hebrew, christian and arabic and it also shows what time the sun rises and sets and the phases of moon and zodiac. From the top we enjoyed panoramic views in all directions.

Jackie and Stacey wanted to eat pasta for lunch. I wasn't hungry and had a shake instead but we all enjoyed eating at one of the open air cafes and people watching in the fresh air.

The tour was nice because I learned a little about the city and sites while sitting on a bus. It was good to not walk or stand for a while. The girls all went to sleep. We did plenty of walking on the castle hill. It is a massive complex of palaces and churches on top of the hill. St. Vitus' Cathedral was spectacular with high ceilings and gothic splendor, complete with stained glass windows. Maria Theresa was the empress that built most of the buildings there. We heard her name a lot. Our guide spoke Italian and English, alternating because we had some Italians on the tour. I was amazed at how I could understand most of the Italian. He spoke nice and slowly and it was remarkably similar to Spanish. I couldn't understand the native Italians on the tour nearly as well.

At the end of the tour we went on a boat ride under the famous bridges there. It was a little slow but we had a coke and enjoyed some time off our feet. The girls again couldn't keep their eyes open. After getting off the boat we walked through the Jewish Quarter and back to Old Town Square where we parted with Jackie and Stacey for the night. We went up to Charles Bridge and stopped for some Tyrdelnek, a tubular pastry with chocolate on the inside. I stood inside the sweltering hot little room and watched as they made it.

Charles Bridge is probably the most famous place in Prague and it was mobbed with tourists. It was a pleasant evening and we tried to appreciate the many statues along the way. At the end of the bridge we took a little walk along the river bank to find a better view and we found it. We sat on a wall on the bank and watched some swans and boats and enjoyed the sights for a while. We also found a charming statue of some guys peeing. Their hips swiveled and their aim went up and down so their stream was always shifting.

We didn't feel like a big meal and everyone was tired after 12 hours of touring so we grabbed a gyro sandwich on the way back and called it a day. We also picked up some stuff at a store for breakfast and were amused to find "hash pops", cannabis tea, and cannabis chocolate. There was other drug paraphernalia including marijuana pipes for sale at a regular drugstore.

We had an incident at 4 AM with someone banging on a door for a good 15 minutes somewhere near us. They were persistent and seemed frustrated. It was annoying but I wasn't about to venture outside and tell some drunk guys to knock it off. It turns out they were banging on our door and we saw about 6 guys sleeping on the stairs just outside our door. There must have been some misunderstanding but it cost us a couple hours of sleep.

We got all dressed up and walked about half an hour to church, which was just over the bridge out of Old Town and up the hill. It's in a building that used to be some embassy. The translation headsets didn't work but it was OK because the concluding speaker was an American that we met coming in who used to live in Belgium and is good friends with Doug and Isabel. He gave his talk in English with a translator.

On the way home we found the Jewish Cemetery but there was a big line to get in and we would rather skip that. We went back to change, then after a rest we got lunch at a Czech cafeteria. I had borscht that was more tomato than beet and goulash that was OK but not great. I think Czech food is best enjoyed in Prague because I wouldn't choose it if it wasn't for the cultural experience. We did some shopping and picked up some Bohemian crystal items, a marionette for Meg, a fridge magnet and a picture.

After another rest we ended the day with a walk across another bridge to Shooter's Island where we did races on a little ropes course and watched the sunset on the river bank. Then we ate some street food on the square. The potato salad was good with sauerkraut and ham mixed in.

Monday morning I walked the 5 minutes to pick up our rental van. It's a good thing I had to back up to get out of the parking spot because I had no idea how to put it in reverse and had to ask. Then the Tom-Tom GPS unit led us astray a few times. It was stressful getting out of town but the Czech countryside was calming with rolling hills and lots of green farmland and forest.