A Quick Tour of Prague

Well, this is it. My last batch of photos in Prague, and my last post on the epic Europe Adventure of 2011!

We took the "free" (by donation) walking tour of the Old Town, which was really informative and covered a lot of ground. This building was a Jewish Synagogue, if I remember correctly. It was located in the Jewish Ghetto of Prague, which historically has been very strictly contained within the city. Now it's just touristy. 

The astrological clock tower is a central landmark for any Prague tourist. It is located at the heart of the Old Town, and it can be heard every hour. 

To get to Prague Castle and Petrin Hill (both very worthwhile), you must defeat this intimidating staircase...

A view of the city from the top of the stairs...isn't it wonderful,and also a little crazy??

I adore all the old-fashioned bits and pieces around the city. It gives Prague so much character!

Winding streets, and beautiful buildings.

A rose in the massive rose garden on Petrin Hill, 

and the switchback stairs to get back down to the city.

We had some rain, of course, but the city was still beautiful.

And of course...the Castle by night. We never got tired of admiring it, or taking photos apparently. 

And so that concludes my Europe 2011 entries on this blog. From Prague we headed to the Netherlands, but I already wrote about that, out of chronological order...rebel that I am.

Eventually I'll get my act together and finish documenting NYC 2013, and Oahu 2014. I'll also keep better track of my cooking adventures in the backwoods of PG this summer, now that I have a new phone with a decent camera on it.

Until next time...

The Castle

I felt Prague Castle deserved a post all to itself. It was definitely one of the most stunning castles I have ever seen.

It took a couple days for us to finally get around to making the trek to see it on the other side of the river.

Then we came to this gate.

And we had to get past this guy. 

And this guy. 

 But it was worth it. 

The detail of the architecture was incredible. 

 We literally just wandered around in awe, snapping photos. 

 We didn't actually go inside because...well, you know the drill by now. We are cheap.

But Regis got his photo taken, and that's what really matters in the end anyway, right?? 

Of the billions of photos we took of the castle on the hill, I think this one is my favorite. 

It makes my heart happy. 

Prague Photo Ops

I return for a brief hello to the blogging world...I finished up two major school assignments last week, so I'm allowing myself some blog time as a reprieve from the seemingly endless readings and writings that come with the end of the semester.

Travel buddies with a view of Prague castle from Charles Bridge.

I love looking back on these photos of Prague from 2011. Brit has since married and moved away, so when I miss her I can look back on these good times and get a mini Brit-fix. I should probably just call her instead. Ha. This is something I will work on. 

Excited for the classical music we are about to enjoy!

After enjoying a wonderful concert in Lucca so much (which I now realize I never wrote about...how did that happen??), we decided to indulge in some more classy times by purchasing tickets to hear the Prague Baroque Consort. It included performances by solo violinist Igor Lecian, and organist Frantisek Stastny...the organ was the REAL DEAL. Amazing.

"Concert in Cathedral" 

Prague was a spectacularly scenic city to explore. The architecture is almost a bit of a time warp...you won't find many modern buildings around. For this I am grateful.

Beautiful Brittany on the bridge. 

The downside was that it was extremely touristy, and I didn't find it an especially friendly place. But these things can be forgiven because you can see the castle from almost anywhere, and it is so beautiful.

My hair was so long! Don't cry, Mom. Pixie cuts aren't forever.

 There were many interesting pieces of art and culture around the city. This random brick wall and theatre seating in the middle of the street, for instance...

Brit contemplates the deeper meanings...

Fear not! Its not a real bug. This was a permanent fixture on one street,
 in memory of Kafka and his most famous work, The Metamorphosis. (Hello Gregor)

I don't remember who this fellow was, but he was a pleasant person to share a bench with.

Brit makes a friend at the Lego Museum (yes, we went to the Lego Museum. Be jealous.)

Despite our slightly sketchy hostel, the bad head colds we developed post-Salzburg, and the disappointment of not being able to meet up with my Czech friends, Prague delivered a unique European experience with plenty of memorable photo ops...I miss wandering those streets with you, Brit! 

Feasting in Prague

Prague did not end up being my favorite place in Europe, but there is something special about it that I did not expect. The food.

Beef & Dumplings garnished with lemon, cranberry and whipped cream! What?!

Brit and I had been pinching our pennies through the rest of Europe, but Prague ended up being very economical because the currency has not changed to the Euro like the rest of the continent. The Czech crowns were extremely confusing to use, but we got more value for our Canadian dollar, which meant we were able to eat out more!

A Czech Restaurant

As you may have discovered by now, good food makes me very happy. I could eat my way across Europe without ever seeing another museum, and be completely satisfied.

Seriously, look at that smile. I am a happy camper.

For our first dinner, we joined up with a hostel-mate (Caroline, an anthropology major from Quebec!), and dined at the underground restaurant, Apetit! This is where I had the beef with whipped cream! It was actually very tasty!

Another sumptuous stop was the open market in the Old Town square. Lots of vendors were selling delicious-smelling goods. I got one of these cinnamon sugar baked pastries that are cooked on these hot spinning rods.

This was a great stall! It consisted of mass amounts of cheese being fried. 

Of course I had to sample it. It met my standards.

This was a goulash bread bowl and orange smoothie from a Czech fast food joint. Delish!

 A highlight was visiting the Grand Orient Cafe in the Stare Mesto area. It was designed in the "Cubist" style, so there was a very weird and wonderful off-kilter staircase and delightful decor throughout. Not to mention the phenomenal menu. We took forever to order, but I ended up with the marinated duck breast salad, with honey dressing, oranges and nuts, and it was divine. The cappuccinos were also very fancy schmancy and so good!

About to dive into the Panna Cotta

This is a restaurant I will never forget! Lehka Hlava offers vegetarian fine-dining. I am not a vegetarian (see meal choices mentioned above) but this was fantastic. I even wrote about it in my journal!

*Green salad w/baked goat cheese & cranberry dressing

*Platter of grainy breads w/sundried tomato pesto

*Homemade mint lemonade & another drink made with birch sap!

*Panna cotta w/chocolate flakes, cranberry compote & balsamic vinegar, topped w/nuts

(We shared everything and both enjoyed it!) 

Another honorable mention goes to Choco Cafe, where we stopped for dessert one night! Chocolate cheesecake...beware the decadence!

We didn't try everything we saw, but totally should have.

These photos are making me really hungry! I want to go back! 

Into Bohemia

There are still more NYC pics to come, but I am not organized and have not made the time to write about them. This post about my trip around Europe in 2011 was sitting in my drafts, so I figured I would put it to use :) 

After leaving Salzburg behind on a sunny rain-less day, we clambered aboard a new train on our journey to Prague! Getting there was a bit of an adventure. Originally we had hoped to break up the trip by going from Salzburg to České Budějovice, spend a couple nights there, and then complete the rest of the journey to the big city. When those plans changed we ended up in transit from 9:30am (leaving the hostel) until about 5pm! It was a lot of daytime travel for us!

"Old Town" Prague

Somewhere in between České Budějovice and Prague the ticket lady came by and we handed over our Eurail passes as usual. Well this lady eyed my pass beadily, unfolded it entirely, and proceeded to speak loudly (I hesitate to use the word "shout", because it sounds dramatic...but I was intimidated!) in Czech at us and gave it back with somewhat aggressive gestures! The other passengers were even raising their eyebrows. Of course I had no idea what she saying.

An evening stroll through Prague!

I took a closer look at my pass and saw that she was probably pointing at the "travel details" section, which you can fill out and send to the company after your trip...kind of like a customer survey.
I have no idea why she was so upset that we had left it blank. Brit and I shrugged and filled out the details, but by then the lady had moved on so we just hoped she hadn't said anything too important, and that this wouldn't come back to haunt us later! (Spoiler: it didn't. I still have no idea why the Czech lady hated us and our blank customer surveys.)

A glimpse of Prague's beautiful castle!

The next part of our adventure happened about midway through the day. The train came to a halt, someone began shouting directions in Czech, and everyone started getting up, grabbing their stuff, and walking out of the compartments. Brit and I shared a look of utter confusion, before one of our compartment-mates (now revealing they knew English the whole time...why didn't they tell us what the angry lady wanted??) told us that there was some kind of problem with the train and everyone had to get off, and a bus would take us to another train.

Wenceslas Square

It was one of those travel moments when you have no choice but to just go with it! That feeling of uncertainty because you don't know the language, and you have no idea what the heck is going on, and all you can do is hope everything turns out ok and you get where you want to go...it's a special feeling. I can't say I love it, but its definitely makes a distinct kind of memory!

The Estates Theatre, where Mozart premiered Don Giovanni...
apparently he dedicated it to the citizens of Prague because they loved it so much.

There were a couple of charter buses waiting just outside by the tracks, and all the train passengers crammed inside. I didn't think we would all fit...it was definitely tight! I remember there being a dog on board as well. I wish I had taken photos! No one else really seemed to be at all ruffled at anything about this strange delay, so we took that as a good sign. It was only a short ride, maybe 10 or 15 minutes, before we were all unloaded again onto a different train. This one was distinctly more run-down and sketchy-looking! We held our breath as a new ticketperson came down the aisles, hoping that there would be no more problems...there wasn't. They barely glanced at our proffered bits of paper, and we were on our way!

A view of the city from Petřín Hill.

This was in June 2011. The funny part is, I was just chatting with someone who traveled to Salzburg from Prague in the past year or so, and they had the exact same experience with the train! Apparently the track is just permanently damaged? I just think it's so funny...all those poor confused tourists being loaded onto buses and shuttled away with nervous looks on their faces, every time! That's just how the Czech Republic rolls!

Beautiful old buildings!