Re-'Czech'ing out Prague

For the long Easter weekend (because we live in Bavaria, so of course we had 2 extra days off work for public holidays) we decided to return to Prague.  Or like Noah likes to call it, the Disney World of European cities for tourists.  We can see why Prague often makes it on the top of ‘best European cities for travelers’ lists – it is full of charm, small enough to walk around, and easy to feel comfortable in.  Menus come in an average of 4 languages, and most employees in the shops and restaurants match that.  So while I tend to doubt how authentic of a ‘Czech’ experience you get there – that takes a backseat to being able to have an ‘easy’ vacation.

To get to Prague from Munich, DBahn has a non-stop coach bus for a pretty good price – only 29EUR one way/person.  Arriving a bit later than the scheduled ~4 hour trip (guess we weren’t the only ones from Munich who decided to spend Easter in Prague), we head back to Hotel Friday.  I think we should get some kind of discount at that place, because both my parents and my brother/wife have stayed there based on our recommendation.  And we still would suggest it – great location, though the breakfast has gone downhill some. 

 After unpacking, we decide that our first plan of attack is to find food.  I checked online for some tips, and located a ‘budget-friendly’ Himalayan Indian restaurant.  We arrive to a tiny place with 4 tables offering roughly 7 dishes from a plastic menu.  Perfect.  I don’t even know what I got except judged for adding nan bread to my meal (YES I know it comes with rice… I just really love bread), but it was delicious.  And really cheap. 

After dealing with priority 1, our stomachs, we were ready to wander the town.  The nice thing about going to a city we have been before is that we don’t feel any pressure to hit the main sights – because we already have!  Instead we can just do what we feel like with no rushing around. 

So on to priority 2 – Julie’s stomach.  Specifically – her almost 2 year craving for a trdelnik.  More specifically - from a bakery on a street that we don’t know the name of (the bakery or the street).  No worries – I was confident that my memory could get us back, and we knew the general direction.  And after a bit of wandering and a short scare that the bakery was replaced by a McDonalds (just one street off) – we found it!!  And this time I documented the name – Creperie U Kajetana.  With the trdelnik in hand, we headed up the street to some steps to sit and people watch – our favorite thing to do last time we were in Prague. 

View from our steps

Now that I was stuffed to the brim, I needed to do some more walking to feel better about myself.  Noah and I headed up the path to Prague Castle – not to go in, but to take in the views from up there. 

A random photo of Noah just to prove he was happy to be there too. 

The next day we started off by heading to the other side of the Vlatva River to climb the hills to the Petrin Lookout Tower (which looks like a small Eiffel Tower).  We don’t know how the views are if you go up the tower since the line was ridiculously long, but the views at the base are not very good.  The tower sits in a bit of a valley at the top of the hill, restricting you from seeing very far.  But – if you take the path down towards Prague Castle, you are rewarded with some very nice views of the city. 

We wandered back to Old Town Square for a nice ham lunch and to peruse the Easter markets that filled the place.  It reminded us of the German Christmas Markets in that while you have a lot of booths around the city, the variety is pretty slim – food, desserts, painted eggs (not that Germany has that), and various trinkets.  But it was nice to see, and we left with a few of the painted eggs. 

Our next stop was the John Lennon wall.  Based on photos we saw from the internet, it looked like a really neat wall full of graffiti art.  When we got there, we could tell that the graffiti had taken a different turn.  Instead of cool paintings of Beatles lyrics and art, it was full of people’s names and things like ‘Spring Break 2014’.  A bit disappointing, but what can you do.  Luckily we could still found John Lennon’s face, albeit with a moustache painted on. 

It was now about trdelnik’o’clock, so naturally we made our way back to our shop and steps.  Naturally. 

We decided to head up the Charles Bridge Tower to catch sunset, and hopefully some nice photos.  While the sunset itself wasn’t too magnificent (thanks clouds!), we still had some fun playing with long exposures.  That is, until the spotlights turned on to light up the tower we were in. 

Now it was about time for dinner, and we were contemplating what to eat.  After feeling each other out to see if the other would judge us, we settled on TGIFridays.  Yes, you read that right.  Good old TGIFridays – the all American chain.  And we had no qualms about it either.  Granted, if we were only in Europe for a week, I would feel pretty lame about eating at a place like that.  But with the exception of 2 weeks in the US, we have been stuck with European food for the last 28 months.  With that – we dug into our burgers and fries with relish. 

Don't judge us

Sunday we were ready to see the Jewish Quarter – something we didn’t do on our last trip due to Jewish holidays.  Since Saturdays they are always shut down to the public, and the Monday began another holiday, the crowds were MASSIVE.  Of course we were contributing to it too by being there.  Luckily we read something online that you could buy tickets at their information center, and we were able to by-pass lines that were easily 30+ minutes for a line with 2 people in it.  But we still had to wait in lines to get into the various buildings.  We saw the Spanish Synagogue (so beautiful), a building that had its walls covered in the victims of the Holocaust from the region (hard to capture the overwhelming-ness in photos… and it especially hit home when I found a victim with my own name….), and then made our way through the cemetery.  Even with all the crowds, it was worth it to finally see the Jewish Quarter. 

Hard to tell - but this is full of names.  There were so many walls just like this

The Weiss section, including a Julie

After our fill of crowds, we headed to the Letna Park.  We originally headed up to sit and enjoy the views from that perspective, but I realized I forgot to pack the sunscreen in the backpack.  Instead we found a skateboard park up there and a spot (in the shade) to watch guys try to master their tricks. 

The guy on the right did not land his jump

Before heading down, I decided to risk a bit of sunshine to get our photo with the bridges in the background. 

As you can probably guess, it was yet again time for a trdelnik. 

Us and our favorite steps (and me and my favorite food)

We figured we couldn’t go to Prague without at least walking around Prague Castle, and as the buildings themselves were closed, we thought dusk would be a good time to visit.  It was very nice to walk around the grounds with barely anyone there (the first time we got away from the main crowds).  

We missed both these spots last time - when the place is crowded, you often get funneled through the hotspots only

We ended the night walking around taking night photos, which means playing with long exposures and forcing Noah to pose for a gazillion pictures. 

Monday morning meant it was time to head back to Munich.  And since the rain had rolled in, it was perfect weather to cuddle up on the bus and watch movies as we made our way home.  After our second trip there, Prague still ranks as one of our favorite European cities and it wins the prize for being the most tourist-friendly and most accessible place to visit.  But most importantly, Praha is home of the Trdelniks!