This was a major “sleep-in day”. We stayed up very late, watching “the finest” in international television. We might have opted for an early start, but one of the major sights we wanted to tour was to be closed all day. Yep…first we saw the Pope in Vienna, now the Jewish High Holidays are upon us (closing the various historical synagogues & the Jewish cemetery for the day). I now strongly suspect that there will be some sort of Islamic holiday or pilgrimage happening in Berlin, and a major Buddhist convention in Brussels to coincide with my visit. I guess I bring the religious out in people everywhere I go.
Most US airlines remind passengers that your closest emergency exit may be behind. After a full day and a half in Prague, I realized that connections to the metro and trams were closer if we took the opposite direction (e.g. up the hill). We walked towards this tram stop (about 2.5 blocks away), stopping for Chinese food (that was quite good) for lunch. We took a tram (#22) that Rick Steves recommends for a good tour of the Little Quarter and Castle Quarter of Prague. After girding our wallets against the notorious pickpockets, we jumped on the tram. We took it through a good amount of the New Town, before crossing the Vltava River to the Little Quarter. We jumped off the tram to visit a memorial to those who survived communism (but suffered). It was a very moving set of disfigured sculpted men. It had some of the affect of “The Scream”, but in a robotic way.
We jumped on the next #22 tram and headed to the Malostranske stop. Here, we took a few photos of the St. Nicolas church, then walked over to the Charles Bridge. There were literally waves of tourists entering and exiting the bridge. We paid $2.50 for the chance to climb the Charles Bridge tower (about 150 steps). The views of the city, river & castle were stunning. Surprisingly, we were virtually alone there. It’s as if none of the throngs of tourists had a clue about this hidden gem. Shhhh…don’t tell anyone!
We once again jumped on the tram & headed up to the castle. Once again, following Rick’s advice, we approached the castle from the back side (such that we didn’t have to climb uphill). We saw all sorts of great views as we descended. So much so, that we apparently didn’t see the left turn towards the castle complex. We blissfully continued to descend to back of the St. Nicolas church. Oops. So it was time to turn around and hike up the hill. Ultimately, we came to a long set of steps. By the time both Charlie and I negotiated the steps, I think both of us were ready for a cold shower and a nap. The castle isn’t a single “castle”, but rather a series of castles and churches. We walked the rampart garden and climbed three more flights of stairs to get to Castle Square. The hike was worth it; the castle buildings are really spectacular. Especially the St. Vitas Cathedral, a gothic/neo-gothic masterpiece! I wanted to tour the cathedral, but missed the last entrance for the day by two minutes. Such is life…
After walking around Castle Square and taking an obscene number of photographs, we headed for what we thought was the castle gardens. Actually, it was more like the moat, which has been converted to a very nice set of paths, lawns and trees. At the end of our nature walk, we ascended to the Summer Palace and the real castle garden. Both were nice, but neither was especially noteworthy.
Whew. That was a very full day of sightseeing. We both were ready for a nice dinner. We picked out (from Rick’s recommendations) a seemingly hidden place near our location. It was literally a stealth restaurant, as if we didn’t know what to look for, we’d never found it. It had a great view and very good Czech food. All in all, this was a great way to top a busy sightseeing day.
Upon our return the hotel, we opted to use the free laundry facilities (that way, I’d have clean clothes for the balance of the trip). The machine (singular) was a combination washer and dryer. What a cool idea! I gathered my clothes (and a few of Charlie’s things) and started the washer. The washer has two separate lengthy wash cycles, followed by three rinse cycles. In total, the wash process took just over 2 hours. Then, I tried to figure out how to get the machine to serve as a dryer. I’m not the best at figuring out pictures, so I ended up restarting the wash (thankfully it was a short 30 minute wash cycle). Eventually, Charlie and I figured out how to get the dryer to work. The automatic drying time was about another two hours, so I let it run overnight. So far, the combination washer/dryer was showing very little regard for my time.
That said, the day was a success. Charlie’s blister problem seemed to be solved and we had a second consecutive day of no rain. These factors let us cover a lot of ground and see a lot of very memorable sights.
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