Prague - Day 2

---

Well, I'm not going out at night and going crazy here. I'm too old and too tired! 😊

This morning I was so looking forward to my trip to Kutna Hora - it is about an hour bus ride southeast of Prague and contains a huge cathedral and a "Bone Church". The multiple guides I looked at said it was a daily trip at 10am and to look for the green umbrella. I saw the closest thing that looked like a green umbrella at 9:40 and approached her - she said "Oh, we don't do that trip today. Come back tomorrow at 11." What the.... ? I was mad, but didn't know what to do because i had my day planned with that in mind. I wandered around the Old Town Square, ignoring the many many umbrellas I saw because they just angered me, then saw another tour company stall at the other end. So, I checked out all their offers - their Kutna Hora trip left at 9:30 and didn't go at all on Saturday. Bummer. But, they had a 3 hour city tour that was about to start, so i figured, what the hey.

I was the last one on the bus and we took off. The guide was pretty nice, but the bus just kind of drove around the city and he talked continually over a speaker so it was hard to absorb the information. Seeing the town was pretty nice though - I saw the main train station (determined to go to Kutna Hora even if I have to go myself) and the "Fred and Ginger" building - an architectural site of "dancing" buildings. He showed us Wenceslas Square and the National Museum, then we drove towards Prague Castle. Prague really is a gorgeous city.

Prague Castle was at the top of the hill overlooking the main city. I'm not even sure what the castle is - just the collection of buildings surround St Vitus Cathedral I guess. There was an impressive entrance to the castle grounds, one of three entrances, and we strolled right in passed the two guards. Prague seems to love their statues - angelic and gothic. They are all different and beautiful, some are stone or marble, some bronze.

We stood outside the impressive St Vitus Cathedral for a few minutes; the guide talked while I took photos. He wasn't one for standing around while we took photos so I had to take them when I had the opportunity. When we walked inside (I was last of course as I was spellbound by the gargoyles), I gasped. Like, I'm sure my jaw dropped. It was full of tourists but the inside was so vast and exquisite! Absolutely spectacular. He gathered us around to talk (while I snapped away) - I can't even remember what all he talked about - the make up of the church. I was just entranced by the high ceilings and the many stained glass windows - all were completely different.

We had a few minutes to take photos this time, after the main gangs of tourists were gone. Then we walked outside to the former front. Where we had walked in seemed like the main entrance as you are facing the alter. However, that I think may have been an add-on (sorry, wasn't listening). The previous main entrance was around to the side, which is what explains why the interior is lopsided. There is a pulpit and the organ on what was our left side and things like that. There was a large impressive fresco above the real main entrance depicting the Last Judgement (?). There are two clocks above as well, one with the quarter hours only, one with all hours. Also, he mentioned a juicy tidbit that the golden and heavily jeweled crown of St Wenceslas is under lock and key above this former entrance. There are seven different locks, with seven different keys, each of which is in the possession of an important person within the city.

We continued to wander towards the lower end of the castle, where there were nice views of the city, heading towards St Charles Bridge. I was looking forward to the famous bridge. There are thirty statues along the stretch, all made at various times. Charles IV instructed the bridge to begin building based on the recommendation of his numerologist: July 9, 1357 at 5:31am (or the pyramid of numbers: 1357-9-7,5:31 - odd numbers up and back down). So, I guess they waited 14 years to build until this date and time and he died before seeing the completion. Supposedly, that number was the strongest and guaranteed the bridges survival. Our guide said that the interesting thing is that while it has been damaged a couple of times, it has never been destroyed. (see more on that later!)

We finished at the astronomical clock where he showed us the different figures and explained the times. It was too loud, so again, I didn't hear very much. But I liked the rooster thing - it is located at the top of the clock and signifies a new day. Then he let us go. I was not upset with the tour, but it wasn't cheap and it was supposed to be 3.5 hours - it was barely 2. Oh well.

I wandered back down to the recommended restaurant street and tried the first one the hotel lady told me: Mletice. Cute waiters. 😉 I got a beef roast in plum sauce (plum sauce will be the death of me) with a beer: Gambrinus. That was good too. Then I wandered back to the square and up and down the alleys. Finally, I returned to my hotel for a nap, after searching for an adapter (I didn't find one, but found a universal world adapter for Mac - yep, that works!).

That evening, I headed out for dinner, finding a restaurant on a side street on my own this time. I found a cute little restaurant tucked away in a back alley. I sat outside because, while it was not warm, it felt refreshing. I ordered a beef roast with mushroom sauce and Bohemian dumplings and a Blueberry beer. The beer was pretty good! The beef was tender and I love mushrooms. The dumplings were like soft baguettes - I don't get it.

Then I headed back to a tour company to book the Underground at Night tour. While waiting I read my book and a tall, young guy comes up to me. I asked him if I was the only one on the tour. Yes. Did he still want to do it? He said it was my choice. I figured, what the hey. So, again the tour was not as what listed in the guide - he acknowledged it and said he has been trying to tell his managers to either remove the tour or find out more information to give on it. Most of the places he shows during the day time tour are not accessible at night (they are on the property of places that close around 6). But he took me to one underground room beneath a wine bar, that used to belong to a rich family. Apparently, Prague used to be up to 4m below its current level. It was raised to decrease the flooding (1890, 2002, and 2013 were years where nothing could help though). These rooms belonged to one house and was where the livestock was kept and the kitchen below. Two floors for the home were above. You could see the marks on the wall of the 2002 flood - crazy!

On the way to the next location, he pointed out two more marks in the street which document previous floods - one was 1890. This one he said destroyed Charles Bridge. But wait! My guide said this morning the bridge has never been destroyed! Yeah, that is a lie - he showed me photos of the extent of devastation to the bridge. While the entire thing was not knocked down, three main arches were obliterated and had to be replaced; he said you can see it on the bridge - they are lighter in color. Yep, I'll be checking that out! Additionally, the photo showed that St Vitus Cathedral was still in construction. Hmmm....

The second and final location was another underground section (they are pretty far away from each other, fyi) beneath homes and show the streets or alleys that went between the individual rooms - each room belonged to one house and one house only, while the first huge room was as big as three of these - shows the distribution of wealth, but the same construction. Oh, and this was the part of the tour that was "led by lanterns" as indicated in the pamphlet. He gave me a tiny battery operated lantern that you would use while camping if you need to pee in the middle of the night.

Since it was just me, he also took me to the site of the former hospital and showed me how it was built well below the existing ground - very cool. He and i spent most of the walk discussing life - he is in engineering school, so I had advice for his future. This was his hobby, part-time job. Man, the kid was very very good, but the tour was not even close to as advertised. So that is two tours today and two complete flops. My advice for future Prague visitors: NO TOURS!!!

---

Photos

One of the 30 statues
With Prague Castle in the background

St Vitus Cathedral
Gargoyles!

Maria Theresia School for girls
It was in operation until 1990

St Ludmila's chapel
She was the grandmother of Wenceslas and was strangled

Narrowest street in Prague
see the green man light?

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Prague
Looks like you are off doing some more great traveling and exploring. This is a city I'd love to visit. Really enjoyed your blog.Thanks.