Day Five - Prowling Prague

Europe » Czech Republic » Prague
December 24th 2007

Published: April 27th 2008

Even though I consumed almost a gallon of Prague’s finest brews last night, I didn’t wake with any semblance of a hangover. We did choose to sleep in though. A late night combined with the knowledge that our first tourist stop (Prague Castle) wouldn’t open until 9:30 convinced me that I needed to rest up a bit before my proposed full day drive on Christmas Day. Once again we began our day w... Read Full Entry

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Doug Gets His Puppet

There are a number of "must-haves" for the Prague tourist and at the top of my list (after beer) was a marionnette. This little shop was floor to ceiling full of hanging puppets. You could barely move through all the dangling strings and wires. What was nice was that the prices ranged from around $20 up to $500. I settled on a $35 bartender marionnette carrying mugs of beer.

Getting on the Charles Bridge

Sure enough, yet another old European tourist site was under construction. Whatever they were repairing on this section of the bridge ramp caused a massive backup of tourists struggling to get through.

Good King Wenceslaus

Charles Bridge is decorated with thirty statues of saints and martyrs. Most are copies while the originals sit in one of the museums we skipped. This statue of Wenceslas stands at the beginning of the bridgewalk.

Certovka or Devil's Stream

As you walk across the bridge you first cross over a narrow stream that branches off from the Vltava River to form Kampa Island. Our Russian run souvenir shop was in this area. That's the Grand Priory's millwheel. It was a gathering place for the Knights of Malta at one time.

Looking over to the Old City

We were in a bit of a rush to get over the bridge to see the Old City. I was afraid things would close very early on Christmas Eve.

Debris Deflector

After wading through Ken Follett's "World Without End" I now knew way more than I need to about Medieval bridge construction. I learned that smart bridge builders placed these triangular devices in the river to keep flood debris from slamming into the bridge supports.

Way Down Upon the Vltava River

It almost looked like the sun was breaking through at this point. False alarm.

Moscow on the Vltava?

The place was absolutely crawling with Russian tourists. To them these temperatures were probably downright balmy but for us standing out on the bridge above the freezing water we were quite uncomfortable.

Lamenting of Christ

This statue stands on the opposite (Old Town) side of the bridge. It depicts Jesus in the arms of Mary and Mary Magdalene.

Glancing Back up to Castle Hill

We had hiked all the way down from up there! As we stood here looking back at the castle we couldn't help but wonder who the next victims of the Sneaker Boys might be.

Wall to Wall Tourists

We weren't the only ones freezing out there over the river. These poor guys selling souvenirs had to be very uncomfortable.

Pretty Buildings on the Old Town Side of Prague

I'm not sure what exactly we were looking at here but the buildings were pretty and it looked like another nice place to be when the weather was much warmer. It looks like there's 3 or 4 restaurants with outdoor dining options.

Old Town Bridge Tower

This tower was part of the town's fortifications. It was designed by Peter Parler, the same German that built St. Vitus Cathedral.

The Tower from the Opposite Side

As crowded as the bridge may have been, the Old Town was much worse. Hold on to your valuables in this part of Prague.

Back in Our Comfort Zone

Once we reached the Old Town we were in the middle of tourist heaven: Tacky souvenir shops everywhere and most signs in English too.

Nesting Doll World

Lousy picture I know, but this gives some evidence of the preponderance of gaudily decorated wooden nesting dolls in virtually every store. Even the Russians who invented them were scarfing them up here in Prague.

Time for a Spot of Lunch

Still having no real plan and needing to take a break to figure out what to see next, we decided lunch might be a good idea. Signs in English promising authentic Czech food convinced us to come in.

Salt and Pepper Czech Style

We headed inside primarily to take a load off and to warm-up. We merely ordered soup, fries and beer.

Pilsner Urquell

"Genuine" Budweiser is brewed in the Czech Republic and beer savants sing its praises, but I found the less exalted Pilsner Urquell more to my liking - less of a bitter aftertaste.

And Strudel of Course

One of the things we really wanted to accomplish in Prague was to find the tiny bakery Samantha Brown had gone ga-ga over in one of her videos. For just a few bucks she got a foot long strudel oozing with filling in a small shop in an out of the way alley somewhere in Prague. We simply didn't have time to look for it so this would have to make do.

Old Town Square in Prague

Staromestske Namesti is one of the two main squares in Prague. The main attractions here are the cobblestoned streets surrounded by historic buildings

29th April 2008

Anna
non-member comment

I have been in Prague for 2 weeks, I absolutely loved. I was there with my friends. During the day we went to visit what the guide told us to: ) but we had a lot of fun during the night. I found the city beautiful, like a fairytale land, the towers, the castles, the cathedrals. I also found the city safe as you can see in this article from the government pages, I never had a problem by being out till late or walking to the hotel alone. Life there is so cheap we can live very well there. The price of the beer make us get drunk easier: ) I also was nicely surprised by the place we slept in I’ll leave you here a very good site of Prague hotels http://www.prague-hotels.org.uk/, they are cheap and very pleasant. For your next time. I was also very impressed by the Jewish quarter, specially the first synagogue where the names of the victims are written all over the walls. But I think the most beautiful was the Spanish synagogue. The S. Vito Cathedral is beautifulform the out side. I didn’t managed to enter, I didn’t understand why but there was a guard at the door that only let Czechs in. Although your pictures are very illustrative. The got a nice weather there it was sunny and hot. The only problem is that there no sea air circulating but that was ok. I intend to return for sure.

1st May 2008

Zigeuner
Doug L.

Your take on Prague
I too really liked Prague and would love to go back. But after our pickpocketing incident at Prague Castle I will probably never convince my wife to go back. What I especially like about Prague is the way everything is so centrally located. That and the beer!

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Day Five - Prowling Prague

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