Walking Prague

Last night I struggled to get to sleep for some reason and this morning I was awake way too early.  At around 6.00 am I got up to go to the loo, and figured I may as well go out and take some photos of the Charles Bridge this morning.  Saves me getting up another morning when I'm actually sleeping.  So I threw on some clothes, grabbed the camera and off I went.  The area we are staying in appears to me near where a lot of the night life is.  I passed so many people that could not walk straight, or that were getting into cabs to go home, that I found the whole thing very amusing.  I walked through the Old Town Square and took some photos there whilst there was so few people there, then walked the long way (unintentionally) to the Charles Bridge.  I knew there would be other photographers there, but I had no idea there would be so many!  So I still struggled to get a photo of the bridge with no-one on it.  However, the exercise, whilst not completely fruitless, was frustrating, because whilst there was little  light, I really needed a tripod.  I considered bringing it with me, but dismissed the whole idea.  It's only now that I would have really used it.

On the way back to the Apartment I only saw one cafe open (which I actually think hadn't closed from the night before), where I stopped and had an espresso.  So far we have success with coffee in Prague.

When I got back to the Apartment, Sabrina had already showered and dressed, so I jumped in the shower, got ready, and we headed out for the day.  It was about 8.00 am at this stage.  Our first stop was breakfast at a little bakery near the Old Town Square.  I had a slice of apple strudel and a cappuccino, Sabrina had a chocolate croissant and an espresso.  Sabrina said her croissant was the better than what she gets in Italy.  In fact, probably the best she's ever eaten.  My breakfast was excellent too.

From there we crossed the Charles Bridge (more photos) and made our way to the Castle, we explored all the surrounds of the Castle too.  When we left there, Sabrina bought a traditional Prague 'sweet', which must be the equivalent of a doughnut that we shared.  I enjoyed it, but Sabrina didn't like one of the flavours she could taste in it.  We then saw Loreta church and after that we stopped for a coffee.  From there we, quite by accident, came across a point where there were panoramic views of Prague.  We took many a photo.  This particular spot was in front of a restaurant and there were rows of grape vines.  There were lots of tourists at this spot, and as Sabrina and I were standing there taking photos, some woman just knelt down and went seeking a bunch of grapes that she shamelessly yanked off the vine.  Me and Sabrina just looked at each other and cracked up.  The gall of this woman!  The grapes weren't even ripe!

We then saw these walking trails and we looked at the map and saw that the hunger wall, a mirror maze and a tower were in the area.  So we 'hiked' for a bit in some beautiful parklands, came across a rose garden and an observatory, and then ambled back down.  At the bottom we happened upon the John Lennon wall, and a bridge of 'locks'.  I don't know the name of this small bridge, but Sabrina explained that in Rome there is a bridge where lovers go and leave a 'lock' (padlock style) on the bridge, and throw away the key into the water.  She said the one in Rome is on a really big bridge, that is generally not accessible to tourists.  Google it!  Ponte Milvio is the name of the bridge in Rome.   She reckons it has now become a business as people sell padlocks nearby.

From there we happened upon some David Cerny work (babies).

And by this stage we were utterly knackered and we found a restaurant to eat and rest our weary legs.  I ordered two starters, one being a Kransky, and the other I thought was the gnocchi that Sabrina had eaten last night.  But I must have ordered the wrong plate.  I got the sausage, but instead of the gnocchi, got some type of fritter that had melted blue vein cheese and bacon on them.  The sausage was good, and the fritters ok.  Sabrina ordered a grilled pork dish with beans that she said was good.  When we got to this restaurant though, Sabrina noticed that one of her toes were bleeding, in fact her sock was soaked through.  One of her toe nails was cutting into one of her other toes.

After eating and resting for a bit, we felt better and made our way to the Memorial for the victims of Communism.  Across the road from there was a supermarket so I stopped to grab some water, but once we were in there, we were both keen to look around.  I purchased some chopped pineapple for us and a bag of chips that I was keen to try, and Sabrina a couple of Chocolates that we wanted to try.

From there we made our way across a different bridged, that traversed Marksmen's Island, to make our way to the Dancing Building.  However it started to rain so after we crossed the bridge, we stopped under the shelter of the National Museum, sat on a step and tasted our purchases.  (We had already eaten the pineapple.)  I opened the chips, but they had no flavour, so binned them.  Then we opened a chocolate bar that had Mozart on the pack.  It was crap, so binned that.  Third try lucky, opened a pack of wafer chocolates.  They were good and we ate two each of those.  Then the rain stopped and we continued on. 

Playing with camera waiting for the rain to stop.  Reflection:

We watched some dude catch a big fish (he was standing on the Island we had just crossed over).  Then we got to the Dancing building.  Lovely.  From there we walked through some of the back streets, and Sabrina saw a crystal shop that she wanted to go into.  At this stage we were well out of the touristy area and she purchased a dozen liqueur glasses for dirt cheap, that were just gorgeous!  I could have spent a small fortune in this shop myself.

Sabrina and I were well and truly knackered by this stage, so we made our way back to the Apartment.  The closer we got, the more I thought I just couldn't take another step.