View of Prague Castle from Petrin Hill

  www.hrad.cz/en/   Check out castle's website.

Walking up

Rooftops

Mini Eiffel Tower

 

Bakery where I left Grace

Weird street performer doing Indian Powwow dance

Day 3.  Sun at last!  And good thing too as we spent much of the day wandering up stone paths through the autumn woods trying to get to the top of Petrin Hill.  Petrin Hill has a replica Eiffel Tower and a gigantic park with churches, a monastery and some miles-long-ancient-turret-topped wall twisting and turning all over the place.  We kept wandering through arches to see gardens and views and then ended up stuck on the wrong side of this endless wall and had to back track to get where we needed to be.  This was all uphill again, with lots of stairs.  I have built up some serious calf muscles.  When we went back down we wandered along the riverside, more shops, restaurants, lovely old buildings.  We stopped in a bakery for cheesecake cause it comes from this area and we HAD to try it.  Most places take credit cards and as this cafe was across the road from an American university/study program, I assumed that using my debit card would not be an issue.  Well it was.  So I had to leave Grace as hostage and find an ATM to get some cash.  I thought about taking a little walk to scare Grace but then decided against it.  She holds a grudge.  After that we went to Wenceslas Square which separates old Prague from new Prague.  One end of the square (which is actually a long rectangle) spreads out into multiple little cobble stoned alleys that lead into the old center.  At the other end stands the National History Museum which is massive and dark and scary.  It would have been the perfect place to spend Halloween evening but was, alas, closed for renovations.  On the square is an open air market with stands selling roasted sausages, pretzels, grilled smoked sheep cheese (really good) and beer and oh so much more!  We tried it all, then waddled back to the Astronomical clock for one last look before saying goodbye to Prague.  We got back yesterday and I am now on a diet.  xxoo me

At the start of the Charles Bridge

Newer part of the Prague Castle

On Golden Lane

Puppet shop

Another view of Castle

Looking down on some of the gardens

Day 2.  We headed out into another cold, damp day but warmed up quickly as decided to cross the river via the famous Charles Bridge to the part of the old city around and up to Prague Castle.  Prague Castle is the largest ancient castle in the world.  It once contained a town and still has squares and streets and a huge cathedral and acres of gardens within it's walls.  The streets up to the castle are VERY steep and in fact many are not passable by car but are actually stairs.  We stopped and took a lot of photos as an excuse to rest while all these old Czech ladies passed us with their shopping bags.  All this cardio exercise is probably what keeps them from dropping dead from their "all fat-all the time" diet.  There is an area in the castle that's called Golden Lane.  It's a small street of tiny houses that once housed some of the people who worked in there like seamstresses and jewelers.  It was actually still inhabited up through the 1950's when the city bought all the houses up to make the entire castle complex a state treasure.  Now the little places are set up as a museum showing how the occupants lived or as shops with some of their local crafts.  It looks like something from the Hobbit.  Franz Kafka lived in one of the house for a few years.  Maybe that's where his idea about the cockroach came from as only way to live comfortably in one of these places is to be the size of a bug.  After hours of trudging up and down to the castle we went back to explore the Charles Bridge which is lined with giant statues of saints. It is pedestrian only and filled with stands of people selling art and jewelry and goodies.  There are also street performers (some very good), and beggars (all surprisingly well fed), and tourists, tourists and more tourists.  After all that walking we had to go back to the hotel for a nap.

For those of you who never thought of going to Prague, think again!  It is a gorgeous city with tons to see but 3 days worked just fine for us.  It's pretty small for a capital city with a little over a million people.  The older architecture is beautiful.  The buildings look like they're frosted and decorated like cakes.  We walked and ate so much I feel rather spider-like; round in the middle with skinny limbs sticking out.  Here's my rundown.

Old Jewish Cemetery

Old Town Square w/ Gothic church

Cold Grace

Astronomical Clock

Did I mention the wax museum?

Side street

Church of Our Lady Before Tyn

 

 

The square at night

Day one we left Italy at 7 am which meant getting up and leaving home by 5:30.  In this city of one million there are fewer people on the streets at 5:30 am than at that time in Boothbay Harbor.  We made it to the airport in record time.  When we flew into Prague (only 1.5 hr flight) it was gray and cold.  We checked into the hotel, bundled up and headed out.  Our hotel was right out of the 70's boom era with mirrored walls and huge western themed chandeliers, but clean and convenient and only 3 stops from the old center.  Getting off the tram and walking into the center is like entering Disneyland.  The city is extremely clean as they have huge fines for littering.  The cake-like buildings are pink and blue and yellow and there were still flowers everywhere even though they had already had their first snowfall.  The Czech Republic is part of Bohemia which is famous for all sorts of well known hand-crafted products.  They make crystal (Swarovski), and enameled nesting dolls and eggs, wonderful puppets and other wooden toys, amber and other semi precious stones, plus glass Christmas ornaments and all sorts of shiny pretty things filling every shop window.  The old center has churches dating back to 900, and it's street are mostly pedestrian because they are too narrow for cars.  There is an astronomical clock tower in the main square that announces every hour with moving characters who ring bells and wave their hands.  Then from the top of the tower a trumpeter plays a tune from each of the four sides.  Five minutes have past before the hour has been tolled.  There were tons of tourists even though the "high season" is over.  All of the shops and bars and restaurants were open and bustling.  There are even more restaurants per block than Italy, and everywhere you walk it smells like roasting meat and spiced wine and toasted sweet bread (sold on every corner, all tasted and enjoyed).  We toured the old Jewish cemetery and surrounding Jewish quarter with many historic synagogs and museums.  For dinner we went to a traditional pub for cabbage and potato pancakes topped with a garlic sour cream, goulash with dumplings, and beer (me only - good).  Yes it was as heavy as it sounds.  Then we stumbled back to the hotel.  On the tram a lovely young gal was doing her make-up.  She had red toothbrushes stuck through her earring holes.  Day 1 complete.