Czeching Out Prague

---

After a bit of a sleep in, we didn't make it out of the apartment until around 11am with a plan of making it up to Prague Castle. We crossed the Charles Bridge which was a sea of people enjoying today's sunny warm weather. With the crowds, it was a bit difficult to check out all the statues on the bridge as well as some of the vendors and artists. Once on the other side of the Vltava River, we went back to that same spot from last night that had all the food stalls. We had a light lunch here enjoying some of the same snacks we had last night before making it over to the Malostranska tram stop for the ride up the hill to the Strahov Monastery. After a few stops and some confusion with trying to follow the schedule of stops, I started to think we were heading in the wrong direction. Thankfully, another American on board must have noticed our confused looks and informed us that the Strahov Monastery was in the other direction. Our main motivation for going up to the monastery was not for the monastery itself but we had heard that some of the best beer in the Czech Republic was served nearby at the brewery. At the monastery, we had a quick look inside the cloister before stopping at a overlook which gave awesome views over Prague. From this vantage point, we were able to see St Vitus Cathedral, the towers marking the end of the Charles Bridge, as well as the spires of the Tyn Church in the Old Town Square. After soaking in these views, it was time to do what we had come up here to do, enjoy some Czech beer. At the brewery, all the outside tables were occuppied so we had to wait around for about 10 minutes until somebody left. All of us except for mom, tried some of the beer with Shea, Churro, and I trying 3 different kinds. From the brewery, we made our way over to Prague Castle. Like with most other spots in Prague, the castle gates were overrun with visitors. We posed for some photos with the castle guards before making our way past the gates onto the castle grounds. Our first stop was the St. Vitus Cathedral which contains tombs and relics of some of the most important saints and kings in Prague's history. We wandered around admiring the architecture as well as the beautiful stained glass windows before continuing our stroll around the castle grounds. With not much else important to see, we made oiur way down what is called the Golden Lane, a street of old buildings now lined with tourist shops before making our way through the bottom end of the castle. Here, we enjoyed more great views of Prague before making our way down a steep staircase down to the bottom of the hill.

Once down the hill, we made our way through the Little Quarter exploring some of the same streets we had walked through the night before. By now we were all pretty hungry, so we stopped at the Svejk Restraurant Malostranska Pivnice where we had an early dinner and rejeuvenated ourselves with a few glasses of delilcious Czech beer. As we made our way back near the Charles Bridge, we rejoined the thousands of tourists checking out the city. Along Mostecka Street, mom, Josie, and Shea decided to do a little souvenir shopping. Churro and Vita decided they were going to have one of those foot massages where they put their feet in a glass tank while little fish nibble on their feet. Not interested in any of this, I decided to check out the scene along the Charles Bridge where I enjoyed people watching and enjoying the views along the river as the sun slowly set over the city. After meeting back up with everyone at the apartment, we all ventured back over into the Old Town Square to do a little more souvenir shopping at the tourist shops as well as enjoy the floodlit sights of the Old Town at night. Tonight, we all wanted to have a fun night out of dancing and a little drinking. Luckily for us, just a few steps from our apartment was Karlovy Lazne, Central Europe's largest nightclub. Inside the club, there was an ice bar similar to the one I had visited last year in Oslo. After paying our entrance fee to the club, we paid an additional fee to spend 30 minutes inside the ice bar. We were given our thick coats and gloves and walked into the sub freezing bar where everything from the seats to the glasses were made of ice. We enjoyed our complimentary drinks, took a ton of photos, and tried not to get too annoyed with the blasting techno music before deciding we had enough. After about 20 minutes, we were out of there to do a little dancing. Karlovy Lazne is a 5 story dance club with each floor playing a different style of music. We spent the night hopping from floor to floor dancing to the latest pop hits, techno sounds, 80's flashbacks, and hip-hop beats. It was a great night of music, dancing, and drinking despite the very young crowd at Karlovy Lazne.

---

Photos

Prague Castle
On the banks of the Vltava River