Travels in Europe: Prague, Part II

After our long tour and exciting first full day in Prague, we took it a bit slower this day, eating a small breakfast at the rental apartment before heading to Wenceslas Square (Václavské nám. in Czech) which is a wide pedestrian street with many stores and restaurants, near the Old Town Square. The Dianas and Jessica did some clothes shopping, and Utkarsh met us soon after. We split with the Dianas and we went to the Spanish Synagogue, built in the early 20th century and stunning inside and out. It is actually kind of tough to get a clear view of the entrance, so hard to get a photo of the front (so had to borrow one from londinoupolis.blogspot.com).

The inside was even more beautiful.

There was a lot of information about the Jews who had lived in Prague in large numbers prior to World War 2. There were other beautiful Synagogues around Prague but this was the only one we were able to see (but not the only Synagogue we saw in the Czech Republic, stay tuned for a future day-trip post where we saw another).

After we wandered a bit, did some souvenir shopping, before hunger called us. We saw a burger place and a group eating some big burgers, so the three of us sat and waited for the Dianas to join us. After eating some tasty burgers, we wandered some more, enjoying the beautiful architecture of the buildings and the happy touristy vibe of our fellow travelers.

On our walk we walked past the Municipal Library of Prague, which, due to more recent social media, has become quite popular, as we could tell from the half-block-long line of people leading up to the main door of the library. They are waiting to take pictures with the book tower, which is, a round tower of books. After waiting in line about 15 minutes with little movement, I decided to go in one of the other entrances, and saw the tower was right there. I went back out to tell the crew, and Diana said she wanted to see the inside of the library, so we did, passing the book tower, and snapped a picture.

We walked some more, until our feet started to hurt, so Jesse and I walked the Dianas back to the apartment and then Utkarsh back to his place, making plans to see each other sometime in the future (hopefully on a trip to visit him in India!). Jesse and I returned to the apartment walking alongside the Vltava River, with the Castle off in the background.

We were able to find an open bench and enjoyed the view for as long as we could, then we headed back. Once there, I realized I didn’t have my sunglasses case, so after retracing our steps from the burger place, we finally found them more than an hour later, still on the bench. With that, we called it a night.

The next day was our rainy day (heavy drizzle all day, luckily no downpours), but we definitely needed our raincoats. We started at the Café Savoy, an early 20th century French-style cafe. Jesse ordered butter snails, elder Diana had a French Omelette, and Diana and I had super good ham and cheese croissants. The ladies also picked out some take-away sweet treats to enjoy later.

From there we were off to Petrin Tower (who our tour guide the day before, Jolana, had told us they say its taller than the Eifel Tower in Paris…if one adds in the rather large hill it sits atop…hmmm). We decided to take the funicular up at Újezd station, and a short ride later, we were at Petrin park, the tower nearing us while still in the distance.

We decided to pass on going up in the tower (same as Jesse and I did at the Eifel Tower, interestingly enough), and chose the nearby Mirror Maze instead. Lest you think this was chosen because of Diana the Younger, you would be right, but it was a lot of fun. And it isn’t new, either, having been built for the 1891 Prague Exposition. We took lots of fun pictures and had a lot more laughs than we would have at the tower.

From there it was off to a park cafe, the oddly named I LOVE YOU BISTRO, where we shared the treats from Cafe Savoy.

We tried to visit the nearby Strahov Monastery, located at the opposite end from where we started, at the bottom of Petrin Hill, but it was closed. So we walked on, wound up back at the Castle, and after walking for too long, the Dianas headed off back to the apartment and Jesse and I to Vojanovy sady park. It is a small park, but there are a couple peacocks and we were able to see the full show of feathers. After we stopped in a wonderful gingerbread shop, and bought many a freshly baked gingerbread treat (nearby Cerny’s Urinating Sculptures).

Close by is the shore of the Vltava River, and we headed down, but stopped by the abundance of rodents of an unusual size (beavers most likely but with rat tails) and we saw a couple feeding and petting them (double gross).

The view of the Charles Bridge was pretty cool.

We returned to the apartment to rest our weary feet a bit before heading out for some dusk walking along the Vltava River. The cobblestone pathway is lined with boats, some stationary as bars/restaurants, even a hotel, and others offer tours.

We called it an early night, excited about our day trip to the Czech town (and home of Pilsner beer) Pilsen, the next day. Stay tuned!