Prague - Day 8

Our last full day - We fly home tomorrow!

Cold today!

We thought we’d stay away from the crowds and head toward a historical area just south of the “New Quarter” of Prague called Vysehrad.

On our way to the metro we ducked into a cute little park and learned it was the Senate gardens.

Complete with an albino peacock!

I love taking public transportation in a city where I don’t speak the language - And we actually get where we want to go. Makes me feel so smart!

We made it to Vysehrad and looked back at Prague

Saw some more 13th and 14th century buildings.

Saints Peter’s and Paul’s Church (yes we made the where’s Mary? Joke!)

This is Mike posing “sexy” in front of a church like we have observed many many tourists doing.

Then we hiked back into the city and passed the dancing buildings by our own Frank Gehry.

We stopped for lunch at another local brewery and had the #1 and #2 favorite Czech dishes - Or so said the menu.

We visited the Mucha museum - A Czech artist who did a lot of the Art Nouveau posters you’ve probably seen!

Then we braved the crowds again to get back to the Little Quarter - We took a behind the scenes route and happened upon a little bridge. As our friend Maryann would say - Gorgeous!

Prague - Day 7

We stayed on the Little Quarter side of the river today - close to our inn. Even though the Castle is above this area it’s not quite as busy as where we were yesterday.

Prague is BUSY - there are a lot of tourists! It’s hard to know if it’s because of the 100th anniversary celebration or if it’s always like this. But what’s good/weird is that if you step away from the main area by just half a block it will be totally quiet.

Today was a day of pleasant surprises. 

First the sun was out and it was a bit warmer- Yesterday it got cold enough that we had to buy hats - We went for ones that represented our latest travel adventures. Mike is too cool to wear his in this photo!

Anyway - Today was better weather. We walked around the lower part of our quarter called Kampa Island. It was a charming part of town with a beautiful park. 

We happened upon this strange art sculpture...

It’s by David Cerny who is a Czech contemporary artist and quite the shit-stirrer.

We also came upon the Lennon wall - The Czech peoples’ tribute to peace, love and freedom during communism. The government paints it over every couple of years but it goes up again every time - even now.

Right on the other side of the wall is the oldest tree in the Czech Republic - a 320 year old sycamore. We have a special affinity for them since we have a 100 year old one in our new backyard. 

It does look 3 times the size of ours!

We visited a couple of local churches. A small one called. The Church of Our Lady Victorious and Infant Jesus (the baby Jesus - our favorite!) Here he is

He’s the small little doll in the center of all that sparkly-ness.

And our nearby huge church - St. Nicholas

Then we hiked up to the Castle - Which had beautiful views of Prague 

We toured the palace (where the cure president still lives) and the areas around it. Palace...



And St. Virus Church - The main cathedral...

Then we hiked up up a little further into the quarter to a monastery that had even more beautiful views.

We happened upon this “miniature” museum where all the art was done on tiny things like the head of a needle or a grain of rice. You looked at everything with a magnifying glass or microscope. Often the art was placed next to an insect so you could get a sense of scale. Here’s a microscope...

This is Jesus on a grain of rice...



The monastery made their own beer.

After we hiked back past the palace - They we’re starting to gear up for the weekend festivities- Security was getting tighter.

We ventured over the bridge to a wine bar and had a light dinner. Then fought through the crowds to come back and hang out on our little balcony. Lovely!

Prague - Day 6

We got in Wednesday night and were lured into eating a big, late, dinner by the enticing thought of pork... This knuckle was the size of a child’s head!

Did I say Vienna was gorgeous? Prague is amazing! All the rebuilding and new facades we saw in Budapest and Vienna hasn’t happened here -  Prague wasn’t bombed much in WW2 - so it’s old and gorgeous.

We are staying at an inn in an area called Little Town. It’s across the river from the main area of Prague. The inn owner recently finished the room we are staying in and he’s very proud of it. Here’s our room...

And the view from our balcony
That green tower at the back is the castle we’re going to see tomorrow.

Today we walked all over the “downtown” of Prague called Old Town. Here are some more beautiful buildings.

We learned a lot about the political history of the Czech Republic. The first ruler of the region was Wenceslas (yes, good king Wenceslas!)

And 100 years ago this weekend Czechoslovakia in its current “state” was formed. They’re having a big celebration and exciting things are being constructed all over the city.

We saw this exhibit that commemorates several historical events in the last 100 years.

They call it Independence Day which confused our Americans brains at first. We kept thinking they weren’t independent since they were occupied by the Soviets for a good chunk of time and only recently got them out (Like Hungary - they were a communist country less than 30 years ago). But I think the Czechs still saw themselves as independent from all that - Just waiting it out.

We spent the afternoon in the Jewish Quarter. Czech Jews were also persecuted for their religious beliefs and forced to live in a small ghetto within the city. We visited a cemetery which was the only area where they could bury their dead. 

There are 12,000 stones - but that’s just the top layer! Because it’s the only one it is several layers deep. There are 85,000 Jews are buried here!

We visited a synagogue that is dedicated to the Czech Jews killed by the Nazis. All the names are written on the walls of the inside.

We visited the oldest synagogue in Europe...

And one of the most beautiful 

Oh! I forgot to mention that earlier we went into The church of St James

And there is this whole story about a thief who tried to steal the Madonna statue from the altar but was “frozen” in place when he put his hand on it. They had to cut off his arm to get him out of there! Now his shriveled old arm hangs as a warning in the church!

After we were done seeing synagogues we strolled around the Jewish Quarter - It’s really lovely.

Then headed back across the bridge to our area. Here’s the palace from the bridge.

We stopped in a little wine shop near our inn and tasted some Czech wines - Delish!

Oh Vienna - Day 5

I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post that we also visited the Habsburg Crypt where about 150 of them are buried in pewter coffins.

Including Marie Teresa, buried with her husband - That’s them on top...

And Sisi - buried next to her husband Franz Josef.

It was very much raining when we woke up this morning and still WINDY- I saw a poor tiny dog getting blown down the street - his little feet barely staying on the ground!

We decided to do indoor things.

Since this city seems to love the Habsburgs we thought we’d check out some of their stuff.

We first visited the Treasury and saw crowns, jewels, (Crown Jewels) and fancy outfits...

Next we visited the former home of Marie Teresa’s favorite daughter, Marie Christina, who was married to an art collector. Their palace is now an art museum with some great exhibits. Here’s a Chagall I liked...

We had lunch in a traditional Viennese cafe.


And ate a traditional lunch of frankfurters! Don’t call them wieners in Wien!

Since it was still raining and it was our last couple of hours in Vienna we decided to splurge on dessert and ordered the Milchramstrudel (strudel with cream). This photo doesn’t make it look very appealing but it was yum!

Now we’re on the train for Prague. Mike is thinking about which city he’d revisit first - Budapest or Vienna?