Prague: Day Four

Time to leave! I didn't take any pictures but we did tons. As is true of any vacation, the last day was the sunniest just before we left. We were going to take our time and hit the town of Plzeň on our way back, but not before a fancy fancy breakfast at the lovely Cafe Louvre in Old Town. Talk about yum - a super tasty cappuccino with delicious ham, cheese, a boiled egg, bread, and apple cake. The rest of the table got similar items.

The girls trekked back up all the stairs one last time to the apartment for our bags while the boys went to get the car. Soon we were on our way to Plzeň (or Pilsen) which is an hour away but on the way home.

After parking, we decided to climb the tower in the St. Bartholomew Cathedral in square in the middle of the town. There were 301 steps to get to the very top but we were rewarded with awesome views. On the way up we even got to see the huge bell, and there was plenty of descriptions of the history of the Cathedral as we went along.

We then proceeded to the Patton Memorial Museum. Hubby was most interested in going here, and I have to say it was a pretty impressive little museum. Patton's 3rd army liberated the town, hence the museum. I always like having museums free of crowds so this was a treat - we had the place all to ourselves. There was a huge variety of WWII items including clothing, chains from tanks, personal toiletry items, informational booklets for soldiers (Essential Russian Phrases, for example), and they even had some veterans sign their names in recent years near their photos on the wall. Very cool place.

On the way to the Pilsen Brewery Museum, we stopped to get some meat pies, which in Australia and New Zealand is a huge deal. Our Kiwi travel partner said they were pretty good. I had one which closely resembled a chili pie - it really hit the spot and I was full until we were almost home.

After this we went to the Pilsen Brewery Museum (we had wanted to tour the actual brewery, but unfortunately we underestimated how far away it was from the museum). No worries - another museum where we were free to roam around without crowds! At the end of the tour we had cards for a free beer, their famous Pilsner. I still don't like it, so I only had about half. We soon hopped back into the car and headed home.

And so, we ended our first Euro road trip. Things I'll remember: several flights of stairs, the influence of Ikea, how smart Czechs are, the goulash, how cold it was, peacocks, Easter eggs, and Pozor (the Czech word for danger).

With that, I'll leave you with a teaser picture from our new apartment - we just got the keys on Wednesday :-) This is one of three (three!) balconies:

Prague: Day Three

After all that walking on Sunday, we decided to go back around and try to hit a few things we saw, and some we didn't see. We elected to go back to Bohemia Bagel, the same place we had lunch the day before, but this time for breakfast. Yummy. On our way to the KGB Museum (that we subsequently found closed), we came upon the Wallenstein Palace Gardens that would have been even lovelier in the spring.

Lots of cool statues around...

The crazy melting wall....where if you look closely you can see faces....

 And... PEACOCKS! So. so. cool! They were just hanging out, being peacocks.

We also found their hangout spot:

Hubby insisted that I take a picture of this statue, highlighting the dragon, of course:

After this we were disappointed that the KGB museum was closed, and now cold, so we sought refuge in a cafe for some hot chocolate, cappuccinos and cake. The cappuccinos were so-so, but it had a nice homey feel since their were couches to sit on instead of at a table. It started to snow these great big fluffy flakes:

Eventually we headed out and the snow disappeared. We climbed higher and higher to get a few photos, some with sunshine that had started to peek through:

But then it snowed some more.

Before getting sunny once again.

Then it got back to being cold, so we grabbed some cheap beers before heading back into the main town. We decided to have an early dinner at this really great Indian restaurant and it was such a good call - the food was amazing - enough so that we'll definitely be back!

We walked around the Easter market some more, drank mulled wine, bought some Easter eggs, and headed back to the apartment for awhile before a quick stop at McDonald's, which in Europe are SO much better:

Aaand then we went to the Beer Factory. The gimmick here is that they have taps at each of the tables so you can fill them yourself. The kicker is that there is an electronic board on the wall that keeps track of each table to support some un-healthy drinking competition.

It was clubby and mostly filled with college kids who put on a crazy dance party once the DJ showed up. We felt old, but still entertained :-)

Prague: Day Two

As if the subzero temperatures weren't enough, we woke up Sunday morning with an hour less of sleep thanks to Daylight Savings. We powered through though, and found a great cafe for breakfast. The girls ordered cappuccinos and here is how they came:

That frothy orange drink on the side? Incredibly fresh, incredibly orange-y orange juice. They always seemed to serve their hot drinks on cool trays like this, often with a shot glass of water. I like that - I might have to get some trays myself!

For breakfast, I had the English breakfast which came with a fried egg (in the shape of a star!), bacon, sausage, and toast. Hubby got an awesome looking ham and cheese sandwich.

After this, we walked a short distance to the Old Town Square to join our walking tour. While we waited, we got some photos of the Easter Market!

Our travel buddies:

Here's the hubby:

And me!

Here is that tasty pastry that the hubby got the night before. The entire square had several of these stands, so the air smelled of sugar.

Clearly they like Easter:

Everywhere we went there were Easter eggs:

We went with New Europe tours, one that J had done before and enjoyed. The tour itself is free, and the tour guides work on tips, so it's up to you to determine what the tour was worth. Our tour guide was Filip, who J had before.

Filip sounded like he was from Great Britain, his English was so perfect. But he's Czech. He told J last year that he never had any English lessons - he learned everything by watching English television. (The TV just broadcasts things as is without dubbing them into Czech). Many people were like that in Prague, speaking perfect English, German, and either French or Spanish or something else. This is why I felt like an idiot because I can barely speak one language, and these guys were putting us to shame.

Anyway, we started our tour and the day of chilly walking. They built in a lunch break and took us to Bohemia Bagel, with, according to J, our friend from NY and bagel authority, said they were actually pretty good. (Hubby and I got goulash, my favorite Prague thing).

We went everywhere, all in the freezing cold. Our excursion took us all over and also across the bridge to the castle area that had some great views, despite the overcast conditions:

Here's us!

We even found the U.S. Embassy in the distance!

This was one impressive church. I'm such a sucker for ornate buildings, and this guy took many centuries to build and they're still working on it:

 Inside:

Here's me at the John Lennon wall. When Lennon died, there was an outpouring of love for him, since at the time this music was banned in the country, and even though the government at first painted over this several times, they eventually gave up and people still come to add their art.

Hubby got to snap some pictures of the locks on a small bridge. As in most European cities, couples come and put a lock on a bridge to signify their love for each other and toss the key in the river. (We're not quite sure what it means when they bring a combo lock though.... that's a little suspect!). As you can see, it's really packed with locks so they are removed every few weeks.

We even came upon a staircase leading to the famed Charles Bridge, and it's one I'd seen before. My wedding photographer, Marcella Treybig, shot a wedding here and I remembered seeing this staircase! Her picture was much better, though. (I partly blame the weather. And my amateur photographer status.)

The Charles Bridge crossing back to the main part of Prague:

For dinner we went to a place that our guide recommended. He didn't tell us that they didn't have English menus, though, so THAT was fun! But actually, we just asked the server for his recommendations and he was happy to suggest some dishes. They were great.

After dinner, hubby went to go see an Organ concert at a church and J, S, and I hung out in a bar for drinks while we waited for him to join us as the snow started to fall.

A busy and cold but really great Easter!