Sunday, June 6 – Happy Wanderers

It’s much easier to sleep in a real bed than a seat that sort of but not really turns into a bed.  Needless to say we woke up feeling much more refreshed.  This was a good thing, because today ended up involving lots and lots and lots of walking – but that’s also good!  With guidebooks and camera in hand, we set out for our first full day in Prague.  Due to time constraints, we didn’t plan to spend much time in anything we planned to see today.  Fortunately H and M were cool with that.

The first stop on the tour was the Prague Castle.  It was a bit of a hike, but we knew that going into it.  What we didn’t expect was that it was a STEEP walk.  We kept going up…and up…and up.  Not so easy with a baby stroller.

Finally at the top, the views were spectacular.

In addition to the walk being long and steep, we were also haulin’ so that we could make the 10:00 changing of the guard.  M was somewhat unimpressed, but I thought it was cool.  Very simple, yet official at the same time.  Apparently the “big show” is  actually at noon.  M’s guidebook lied about it being at 10:00.

The 10:00 changing also signifies opening time, so in we went.  We declined to pay the fee to enter any of the places, as we thought the outside of everything was beautiful enough!

This flagpole was wooden.  Some British fellow joked that it was laminate!

The interesting thing about Prague Castle is it’s not really a castle, like Neuschwanstein in Germany or something you’d see in a Disney movie.  There is a perimeter of buildings (some of which are the parliament building, others are offices), and several religious buildings amongst a few other buildings, restaurants, and museums.

Here is St. Vitus Cathedral.  Reminds me of the Kölner Dom.

Across the square was St. George’s Basilica

And St. George’s Convent

Note the scary gargoyles.  Cool!

The eastern side of the Castle complex featured vineyards, a winery, and breathtaking views of the city.

We then departed the castle grounds and made our way to Petrin hill, which is home to a lookout tower that is a mini replica of the Eiffel tower, and is known as a place where people go fore “extreme” PDA.   Here are a few of the things we saw along the way…

I so should have bought this shirt:

I did not know that tequila grows on trees.  I guess I need to check my tequila facts.

We passed a cool playground that features some play areas that you would never see in the USA, thanks to our sue-happy culture. 

Here’s the lookout tower.  We paid the $5 per person fee and climbed the stairs to the top.

Great view of the castle.  See – it’s not a real castle.  Cinderella would be unimpressed!  But we were.  Our standards are lower.

Apparently this is one of the largest football stadiums in Europe, and dwarfs many NFL stadiums in the USA.

The Old and New Town portions of Prague

Back down at the bottom of the tower, we paused for ice cream and a brief baby flight before heading to the old Jewish Cemetery.

Much like the ascent, the decent was quite steep, and made for a very entertained daddy and a very nervous mommy.

Here’s the US Embassy, perched on the side of the hill:

Even though it was a little out of the way, we took the Legion Bridge back to the old town and had more spectacular views of the Castle and Petrin Hill.

The Jewish Museum is a whole district of town, and features many different sights, including four synagogues, a ceremonial hall, and the Jewish Cemetery.  We were only allowed to photograph the cemetery, and a permit was required there! The cemetery was fascinating.  The ground is approximately 10-12 feet above street level.  As you can see, the headstones are extremely close together.  The cemetery contains an unknown number of bodies, and is believed to contain several burial layers, hence the height difference from street level.

Rabbis tombstones look like this

After the Jewish Museum we walked around for a little bit longer, before deciding that we were all in need of a short siesta.

Look at the tree in the stonework of this building.

Like last year, we have been photographing doors.  This was one of the coolest doors we have seen so far on this trip.

Here’s Prague’s #2 train station, Masarykovo Nadrazi, photographed from the Executive Lounge at the Hilton:

At the recommendation of my friend Logan, we selected Klub Architektu for dinner.  On the way there, we passed Wenceslas Square.  It was about 7:30, and the light on the buildings was really cool.

Here’s our dinner spot.  I had beef sirloin, and Susan had veggie curry.  Both were very good, as was our Moravian red wine

The was the light at our table.  When we arrived, it was about 8 inches above the table top.  I thought the effect was cool, but it did get in the way when the food came.  It wasn’t until we got up to leave that we realized that it was adjustable.  It did make for some cool photos though!

After dinner, we weren’t quite ready to call it a night, so we stopped in Sphinx for another round of beer and wine.  Sphinx features not only the best food by Tom Maltom, but also the cool gourd light fixtures that we have come to know and love through our time spent in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico.  It’s kinda funny that we came across these because we saw a man wearing a Playa Del Carmen t-shirt on top of the Petrin Tower.

We ended up closing out the Sphinx around 11:00 or so.  It seems as if most places like it packed things up around that time too.  Susan and I decided that we weren’t going to let that end our night.  On the way back to the hotel, we promptly found the nearest 24-hour shop and picked up a few brews.  One funny thing about Prague, and I assume the rest of the Czech Republic, is that places of business that are open 24 hours are called “nonstops.”  It was a great way to end a wonderful day when we weren’t really sure how far we walked.  However, we did know that it was a long way, as our legs were already beginning to get sore.