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Published: June 19th 2005
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Roof Terrace
Here I am up on the roof of the U Prince hotel overlooking Old Town square Well, it is the last day in Prague. After waking up early and being pleasantly surprised to see brilliant blue sky, I headed out for the quickest picture and shopping hunt I could as I needed to be back at the hotel around 11 to pack and check out. Bethany decided we should go our separate ways this morning as we both wanted to get some shots but of different things. It was strange to walk the main streets and have them nearly empty. The shops weren’t open yet and the mass of tourist must have still been in bed. The bulk of the people at the old town square were the people filming the Coca-Cola commercial. It was nearly 9am and there were only a handful of us crazy tourists waiting around for the clock to do its thing compared to the mass of tourist that are there later. After filming the clock so you can see it in action I headed off for the tower at the east side of Charles Bridge. For 50 kc you can climb to the top and get a great panorama view. Somehow I managed to get lost. I saw signs for the old-new Synagogue and knew something was wrong. The Jewish quarter is the opposite direction from where I wanted to go. I could see the Castle in the distance down a street so started walking towards it. Finally reaching the Vltava river I was one bridge down from Charles and next to the Rudolphium theater. Walking along the river bank towards Charles bridge I did come across the Four Seasons Hotel and thought that would be a great place to stay next time around. He He He. After a couple twist, turns and dead ends I came to the tower to realize I was too early and it wasn’t open yet. Argh! My other mission for the morning was to buy some postcards from this guy on the steps going up to the castle that I had been very impressed with when I saw them on the tour. Looking to see where the stairs were to figure out a path I realized that if I had taken the tram from the street I had been on beside the Rudolphium I could have gone straight there and was much closer. Ugh! I started walking as fast as I could over the Charles Bridge, hanging a sharp right past the west tower and wandering through the streets of Mala Strana trying to remember my way backwards from the tour. I thought I could take a short cut through a garden and wandered in. I went in a big loop ending where I had started. My sneakers with my orthotics are quite squeaky. While walking through the park I passed two old ladies sitting on a bench who stared at my shoes as I walked by. In the quietness of the park the squeaks seemed to be monstrously loud. One lady said something as I passed. Then she said it again only louder after I had passed her. Wondering if she was talking to me I looked back at her at which she said the same thing even louder. She must have been chiding me but I have no idea what she was saying. Finally reaching the base of the stairs shortly before ten I started the trek up looking for the booth of pictures. It was already quite warm and with my camera backpack preventing any air circulation I was a sweaty mess. Memory told me that the booth was just a little ways up, just far enough around so that you couldn’t see the last step. Once I reached that point there wasn’t a photography booth so I kept going wondering where I had seen him. Dripping with sweat I reached the top and hadn’t passed him, he wasn’t set up yet. After all it wasn’t even ten am yet. Egads! Waiting around at the top for awhile I got to see the changing of the guard. Slowly heading back down I examined each both and each one just setting up to see if they had the precious goods. Coming to the same spot where I had thought going up was the right spot was a crate with the large pictures of what I wanted the postcard size. The guy wasn’t there, he was getting another load. After coming this far and being so close I waited even though it was going to put me way behind schedule. After procuring the precious postcards I hopped on the metro to try and save some time. With only twenty minutes before the agreed upon time to meet Bethany back at the hotel I headed for the east tower again. I missed the correct road, again but didn’t get too far off this time. Already having their workout for the day on the castle steps my legs didn’t appreciate the stairs in the tower. At the first floor, which is a ways up, you are charged a 50kc fee to go farther. After several more turns around the spiral stone staircase you come to a second floor. Thinking this was where I wanted to be I wandered in. To my great delight I found a penny pincher machine. This floor was the gift shop, a kind lady pointed me in the direction of the stairs that continued up. Finally getting to a wood door I stepped on to the narrow passage around the pyramid center of the tower. Through the flourishes there is a great view of the castle, down on to Charles Bridge, over downtown and so forth. As I went through the wood door to head back down the clock struck 11am. I was now officially late. I had to stop at the gift shop and get an embossed penny, I actually got two; then hurried back to the hotel, a twenty minute speed walk.
Once back at the hotel I had thirty minutes to pack before check-out time. I was thankful that nothing had to meet airplane requirements as I just through things in wherever and crammed it all in. A wonderful thing about European hotels is that they have dedicated baggage storage rooms just for people like Bethany and me who needed to check-out but didn’t have to leave until later. We found out way to Bohemia Bagel to check whether Gloria had emailed, we wanted to know if we were going to have to carry our bags to her house or if she was going to pick us up. Not a word, but on to the train station to meet Bethany’s friend from her home church in Cedar Rapids at the train station. She lives in the Czech as a missionary way on the North East border with Poland. She came into Prague today to meet a team from the church that is flying in today to do an English camp. Bethany was a little panicky about meeting up with her and wondered if we were in the right area. Ends up Cindy’s train was just late.
With Cindy we went back to Old town square and went to the U Prince Hotel for lunch. I had read about this place in Rick Steve’s guide and was so excited. They have made a patio up on the roof where you can eat almost at eye level with the top of the clock tower. It was so cool! You have to go through the restaurant, then up the elevator to the fourth floor and climb a series of stair cases but the view is amazing. The food choices were rather ostentatious and expensive, the waiter rude, but the view was worth it. The food was really quite good. Their desserts looked fabulous. On a hot night it would be the perfect place about sunset (10pm) to sit and have coffee and cake to wrap up the day. A group of men came up that looked like a Russian wrestling team. They only ordered beers which couldn’t have helped their demeanor. The awning by them was still loaded down with rain water from the previous days deluge. As one of the men got up he pushed the bulge of water so that it poured over the edge onto his comrade. While it didn’t make our water in any better humor, I found it rather hilarious and couldn’t help but laugh which only egged them on. Thankful they were in the process of leaving. It was time for us to leave as well.
And then.... to be continued
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Tim Catlin
non-member comment
Fond memories are coming back!!
Dear Jenn: I was in Budepest in the fall of 1964 while it was under Communist domination....Can you still see some of the revolution war damage? Stayed at the Red Star hotel, very friendly people very anti Communist even at that time. Have fun, thanks for such a wonderful commentary!! Tim