Prague

Our last major European city destination. It was a holiday in Germany last Thursday and the kids were out of school on Friday too. We drove this time leaving early on Thursday morning. The Autobahn was not too busy and we made good time until the border. The Czech Republic is yet another country bordering Germany that requires people to buy a vignette to stick on the windshield to use the highway system. This is done in Austria and Switzerland and Italy and France have tolls in places. Germany was the only country to have no speed limit and no vignette or tolls. They are in the process of passing a vignette system in Germany now and the bordering European countries that already do this are throwing a fit about it. That sounds about right.
The other times we have stopped for this it has been quick and easy. This time the border area was overrun with cars and people. The lines were out the door at the gas station and small vignette places. The additional factor here was the currency exchange in addition to the vignette. The Czech Koruna is the currency, not the Euro. We did walk a ways to get to a shorter line and minimized the delay pretty well. We had a little local cash and a sticker, back on the road. After a stop at Burger King, which was really cheap, we made it into the city. Our apartment was in the city center and we were headed to a parking garage close to the apartment. Once we hit the outskirts of the city center we hit traffic. It took another 30 minutes plus to get into the garage. In total it took us a little over four hours to get there.

It was an easy walk to the apartment across the street from the Four Seasons pictured above. The picture is supposed to show that we could see a part of the Prague Castle Hill complex between the buildings. The cathedral is out of view, but it was not bad. Below is the view down the street from our windows. We were in the Old Town on the first street east of the river. It was a great location to see the old town and the castle hill and lesser town areas, right in between it all. 

I knew these places did not have air conditioning but I did not factor in the west facing wall of windows and the weather being in the mid 80's and 90's each day. This top floor was exposed to the west sun from noon until 8 pm. The street below was very busy and included the metal on metal grinding of a street car every ten minutes. We stayed up late each night letting the apartment air out, but even at 1 in the morning it was still warm. I could not take the noise any more so I would finally close the windows. The sun was up and shining through our eastern windows starting around 4:30 am. This was definitely a bright apartment. 

So after arriving on Thursday we had plenty of time to get out and do some walking around and shopping. We headed towards the old town square and took a few pictures.

We walked through the high end retail store street and eventually found some other regular shopping areas. Below is the Old New Synagogue, the oldest synagogue still in use in Europe.

After freshening up a bit we headed to a much anticipated dinner. This is George Prime Steak. The only restaurant in Prague that offers dry aged USDA beef. I have not had a good steak in almost two years now. My cowboy bone in ribeye was not as good as others that I have had, but it was the real thing and good. Cindy out ordered me with the house signature blue cheese crusted center cut tenderloin filet. David is quite the beef eater himself and polished off a filet mignon on his own. It was a great dinner.

The next morning we had a private tour set up to take us around old and new town Prague. First we found a little cafe to grab some breakfast. Most German breakfast is cold meat options, cheese, and bread. Here they had scrambled eggs with bacon and toasted bread. Katherine opted for the croissant with Nutella. Our tour guide was Alena who met us at our apartment. We started at the river looking towards the Charles Bridge and across to the castle hill. Then we turned around to walk through the old town area.

When planning this trip I thought we were ahead of the busiest tourists season, but that was not the case. We were told that most people come to Prague in June and July because it gets too hot in August and there is no water to cool off. It was very crowded everywhere that we went.

We got a good explanation of the Prague Astronomical Clock, from 1410 it is the oldest astronomical clock still working.

This complex of buildings below, along with the clock, are old government buildings including the Old Town Hall.

The kids were excited to take a break to play in one of the many garden courtyard areas that Alena took us through.

I don't think I understood exactly why someone created this upside down horse in this mall shopping area. I think it was a symbol that the leaders of the state don't even know how to ride a horse. Just outside of the mall is this building with the original Monument of St. Wenceslas, the patron saint of Bohemia.

The view looking in the other direction from the statue. 

It was an interesting tour and we learned a lot on the first day. Alena gave us a suggestion for lunch, a place that working local people visit with local food options. It was a self serve place where you get your food and sit. The problem was there were no tables and we ended up eating standing up. Not the best option after walking all day so far. It was cool and we got some food and drink, definitely a true local experience. After lunch we back tracked St. Wenceslas Square where the kids had spotted a mirror maze place.

Once again it was relatively inexpensive for this place. It had this above kaleidoscope theater that the kids enjoyed followed by the mirror maze that they did several times.

Then they found the imaginarium area that had all sorts of science and interactive things. We ended up spending a lot of time in there. Below was a sand box that had a projector above it with a device measuring the topography of the sand. As they moved the sand around it would adjust the topography.

We walked back to the apartment through the old town square again.

That evening we found a great Italian restaurant just around the corner from our apartment. It was another fabulous meal. Our first evening around 9:45 we heard some fireworks and only saw some flashes of light behind the Four Seasons along the river. On this night they started again and in a little different location. This time we got to see them from the apartment windows. 

The next morning we headed to our breakfast place again. This time the owner had her dog there and the kids were excited to pet her. Alena was meeting us again this morning to take us across the Charles Bridge into Lesser Town and Castle Hill areas of Prague.

Crossing the almost kilometer long bridge we took some good photos. The Prague Castle is actually a complex of many buildings on the hill with the Gothic cathedral standing above it all.

This was a monument to a priest, Saint John of Nepomuk, who refused to tell the king the confessions of the queen and was put to death and dumped into the river at this point on the bridge. It is good luck to stand on a spot, put five fingers on the five stars above the cross and tough the middle part with your other hand.

This is towards the end of the bridge as we took a side exit on to Kampa Island. Below is the John Lennon wall.

We did make our way up the hill and eventually to the cathedral.

There was a very long queue plus a cost to see inside. We just walked around and tried to avoid the crowds gathering for the changing of the guard ceremony. 

This is a castle garden courtyard we walked through on the way down the hill. They had albino peacocks walking around and up in the trees here. 

A couple of more pics of the hill and the panorama from the top.

The tour ended in the Lesser Town on the far end of the Charles Bridge. We had planned on staying another night but we had already done everything on the agenda. It was over 90 degrees on this Saturday and we were facing a long hot and noisy night in the apartment. We made the walk across the bridge, packed up and left the apartment for home. This might have been the best decision for the whole trip. There was barely any traffic leaving the city center and we never came to a complete stop the entire way home. In less than three hours, in partial thanks to the German Autobahn,  we traveled from the middle of the Czech Republic to the southern middle part of Germany. We had spent all of our Koruna and we just wanted to make it back to Germany before stopping. In the end we made it all the way home without needing to stop. Maybe rubbing that monument was good luck?.We got to spend Sunday afternoon with the Kellers at the Unterschleissheim lake swimming and enjoying the nice weather. We are really glad that we made it to Prague before moving back. It was not our favorite destination but it was worth seeing. This was one of the least expensive trips and not a bad drive as long as you don't need to stop for a vignette and cash conversion.
Cindy and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary with the Keller's Monday evening at our local Mediterranean Restaurant. They actually got married on the same day, just 17 years later. We are going to miss the Kellers and the travel, but I am excited about how close it is to moving back home. I suspect we will have one or two more posts about how the move plans are progressing and final observations to sum up our two years in Europe. For now the travel is done except for returning home.