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Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Europe Trip Day 14: Prague


June 7th was our last real day in Prague since the next day was spent on a plane home. We had several things on our list to do but not too many so that we could really enjoy our last day and the nice weather (yay again!).

Our first stop that morning was the Havelske Market, formed in 1232. It had produce and crafts and such but wasn't as big or as good as the market in Munich or Vienna.




We bought a marionette doll for our niece Abby. I wanted to find one with brown hair like hers but they didn't have one but she still really liked it.


Next we walked over to St. Wenceslas square. This area has a lot of businesses and a lot of people were out and about. And had stately statues.





We wanted to head over to the other side of town and had a little adventure on the underground metro. Not sure why (maybe due to the flooding) it kept skipping the stop we needed. We thought we missed it the first time so we got back on the other way and it went by it again... frustrating... and we had to go back again and just get off at a stop past the one we needed and consult a map.


But we made it. Yes the Lennon Wall, as in John Lennon, has been filled with Lennon inspired graffiti since the 1980's. It continually undergoes change as people paint over it with new sayings and art. There was even someone painting something while we were there. When first created it had a huge painting of Lennon's face.



There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be...



It is a really fun and colorful sight!


Since it wasn't too far we decided to stop by the other side of the Charles Bridge from where we had seen it before. Sadly it was still closed.




But we can pretend there are no barricades and we were able to take a nice stroll on the bridge right?


All that pretend bridge strolling had us hungry for lunch. Bohemia Bagel, a recommendation in the Rick Steves book happened to be right nearby. It was really delicious and had a pretty big menu.



From there we decided to walk back over to the other side of town instead of take the metro. It was quite a nice day out. We even saw someone in a hot air balloon.


Taking a break by the river.


We headed over to the astronomical clock area since we wanted to do the town hall tour that afternoon. We hung out for a bit by the clock and saw several bride and grooms having photos taken. Imagine getting married in Prague!


It was time for the Old Town hall tour which is a part of the clock and the former city hall. The tour was advertised as getting to see the inner workings of the clock but you don't really see much of that. Our tour guide was quite possibly the worst guide ever. Every other word out of his mouth was "umm" so you had to tune him out or else you would go batty. It was cringe-worthy listening to him so I will say I didn't learn as much as I could have.


These are the intricate stoves we saw all through Europe in old buildings, castles, etc. used for heating rooms.


In the tour they take you underground the clock and town hall which is pretty cool. It had a network of catacombs and chambers hundreds of years old.




The tour was about 45 minutes long. I would say doing this tour is a toss up. If you have time it's neat to see the underground parts and just hope you don't end up with our tour guide.
Naturally after the tour we needed some gelato! Since we liked Angelato so much we went back again :)


We hung out at the apartment for a bit and did some packing up and decided to go to dinner at an Italian restaurant right around the corner from the apartment, Alforno. The food was good - lasagna, risotto, and manicotti but the service was really slow even though it wasn't that busy. The pictures aren't great since Eric's phone doesn't take as good photos as my stolen iphone.




I wanted to go for a walk by the river on our last night so even though Eric was tired he agreed to go with me. It was unreal how high the water was in certain places. Dinner underwater anyone?


Castle on the hill looked so lovely at sunset.



See the power of controlling the focal point on your camera below with the castle through the railing.




Oh Prague, you are so pretty and had such wonderful weather for us! Thank you!

The next morning we headed to the airport for our flights back to the US. Eric and I flew from Prague with a stop in Munich on our way back to Charlotte. We watched a bunch on movies and ate pretty good food and drinks on Lufthansa - really impressed with that airline. The German flight attendant that brought us our afternoon "snack" thought it was amusing that calzone was pronounced basically the same way in English. I never considered a calzone a snack but that was one yummy snack. I will say flying back on a Saturday was great since we had Sunday to get better adjusted to the time zone and do errands and things after being away for two weeks prior to having to jump right back into work... a lesson learned from our Italy trip when we flew back on a Sunday.

This brings me to the end of our 2013 Europe Adventure. It is bittersweet as the end of most vacations is. You'd love to stay on vacation for a longer time exploring cities and fun sights (and not have to go to work) but on the other hand your own bed and free bathrooms and water sound pretty sweet!

Thanks for reading along and reliving our travel adventures! If you have any questions about our trip, feel free to ask.

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