A Pretty Lazy Day in Prague
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
(Events of June 15, 2009)
Today was a nice and lazy day for us. We got a bit of a late start due to some extra sleep in the morning (it's amazing how much easier it is to sleep in without Brianna to wake you up at 7am!). We were feeling a bit stiff from all of the walking the day before and were moving a bit more slowly than usual. After a basic breakfast we showered and headed out the door.
Our first stop was the CzechInn Hostel just up the street. There we connected with Dave from South Caroline behind the front desk. We were hoping that they sold the Prague Card, a card that gets you into many attractions in Prague for free, but they did not. Instead of the Prague Card we walked away with a cheap transit pass and a new map with tons of Dave recommended items highlighted. It was a nice find and we're always excited
to save a little money on something that we were going to be buying any way. From the CzechInn we headed off for Mary's Travel to buy that silly Prague Card. We found Mary's with little effort and bought ourselves the cards. We were doing pretty good at this point, but then we messed up because we also asked the gal where we could buy the messenger style bag we desired to replace the small bag that Laney had been carrying all around. She told us the best chance at finding that style of bag was to head down to the mall at Namesti Republicky (Republic Square) in Old Town. We thanked her and headed off on a shopping trip to Old Town. To get there we took the Metro (Subway) and we descended that crazy long escalator that I mentioned a few days back. I snapped a picture, but again it fails to do justice to the immense size of this thing. I discovered that this esculator (in the Namesti Miru station) is the longest escalator in Europe and measures 87m (~280 ft) long. It takes a full 2 minutes and 15 seconds to reach the bottom from the top! Once we finally reachee the bottom we hopped onto the metro and soon we found ourselves at the Republic Square in Old Town Prague.
We hadn't yet been to Old Town and so we were blown away by not only the awesome buildings there (more on those in tomorrow's post), but also the runaway tourist trade we found in the Republic Square. There were name brand shops selling every kind of consumer product out there from
shoes to lingerie and handbags to electronics. It was actually a big bummer for us to find that kind of consumer whore tourist driven trade amidst all of the awesome historical buildings there, but then again we too were there to buy something - even if it wasn't Coach, Diesel, or Puma branded - so I guess we can't claim innocence. We found the mall that we were looking for and headed inside. It was actually a beautiful mall in the American style with tons of shops on four different levels. We were on a mission to find a bag like the one that we wanted, but we did make quite a few stops that weren't planned along the way. One such stop placed us in a pet shop. It had a pretty decent selection of the same types of fish, rodents, and reptiles that shops in the U.S. have with one glaring exception. When we were looking at the hamsters and gerbils Laney noticed some funny looking ones. Upon further examination we discovered that they were selling chipmunks for about $115! Despite the signs forbidding pictures I couldn't miss the chance to snap a picture that was sure to put a big smile on Micara's face. We left the mall mission accomplished and now we had a new bag for our stuff and were smiling from the whole chipmunk thing.
We both decided that we were too hungry to dig into the sight-seeing stuff we had planned and since we now had free transit passes we decided just to head back to the apartment for a quick and cheap meal. By the time we had finished lunch it was past 2pm. We decided since it was so "late" and since so many of the main attractions here are closed on Monday, our best option was to try to visit the observation tower in Petrin park and the Monastery/Brewery there as well. Off we went via the No. 22 tram easy as can be.
We hopped off the No. 22 near the funicular (a vertical tram up the Petrin park hill). Once we were at the top of the park we found the Petrin View Tower easy enough. The tower, which can be seen against the skyline from downtown Prague, was built in 1895 for the World Expo and at 200ft tall resembles a mini-Eiffel Tower. We could tell right away that views were going to be great from the top, but boy-oh-boy did it sound daunting to Laney to have to climb up all those stairs to reach the top! After suggesting that she just stay behind on one of the nice shady park benches she decided that she would at least give it a try. We started into the climb and it turned out that there was a nice railing so it really wasn't that bad at all. After the stairmaster workout we were rewarded with some really spectacular views of the city and some of the suburbs that we had not yet seen. We also got a great look at the huge Strahov stadium and the rows of huge "Paneláky" apartment buildings built during the socialist 1970s... man those things are soul crushingly 
ugly! They're the first example of bad architecture that we have encountered amongst all of the beautiful craftsmanship here. When we finished taking a ton of pictures and enjoying the views from high above Prague we headed back down to the park below.
Time had gotten away from us for most of the day and it proved the case again. By the time we strolled through the park over to the Strahov Monastary the attendant was closing the door for the day. We had missed our chance to tour the brewery there and to see the amazingly ornate church and the fascinating library. We didn't actually mind that much to tell the truth. We had taken it easy all day and we weren't about to get upset by this small set-back. Instead we grabbed a quick bite to eat at the cafe that serves the monk's famous brew (which is not that great in my opinion) and headed back into town.
On the way home we did some shopping and ended up spending a lot of time looking over the store's bizarre offerings again. We are still amazed by some of the things that we can find on the shelf here and I still need to take some pictures and share some details with you all some time. The language barrier makes the mystery of it all even that much more powerful and fun! In the end we bought some pretty boring items: rolls, butter, chicken breasts, cereal, and coffee and headed back to the apartment for the evening.
By the time that we had completed our meal and cleaned up it was nearly 8pm. All of the shows that we most want to start at 8pm so we were not able to go to any of them. Instead we sat at home and watched some TV and some DVDs that we brought from home and just relaxed and enjoyed each other's company (and the best microwave popcorn we have ever had!). Our lazy day was at an end and we decided to get a good night sleep and try to do more the next day.
Click the image below to open the entire album for this day:
Today was a nice and lazy day for us. We got a bit of a late start due to some extra sleep in the morning (it's amazing how much easier it is to sleep in without Brianna to wake you up at 7am!). We were feeling a bit stiff from all of the walking the day before and were moving a bit more slowly than usual. After a basic breakfast we showered and headed out the door.
Our first stop was the CzechInn Hostel just up the street. There we connected with Dave from South Caroline behind the front desk. We were hoping that they sold the Prague Card, a card that gets you into many attractions in Prague for free, but they did not. Instead of the Prague Card we walked away with a cheap transit pass and a new map with tons of Dave recommended items highlighted. It was a nice find and we're always excited
to save a little money on something that we were going to be buying any way. From the CzechInn we headed off for Mary's Travel to buy that silly Prague Card. We found Mary's with little effort and bought ourselves the cards. We were doing pretty good at this point, but then we messed up because we also asked the gal where we could buy the messenger style bag we desired to replace the small bag that Laney had been carrying all around. She told us the best chance at finding that style of bag was to head down to the mall at Namesti Republicky (Republic Square) in Old Town. We thanked her and headed off on a shopping trip to Old Town. To get there we took the Metro (Subway) and we descended that crazy long escalator that I mentioned a few days back. I snapped a picture, but again it fails to do justice to the immense size of this thing. I discovered that this esculator (in the Namesti Miru station) is the longest escalator in Europe and measures 87m (~280 ft) long. It takes a full 2 minutes and 15 seconds to reach the bottom from the top! Once we finally reachee the bottom we hopped onto the metro and soon we found ourselves at the Republic Square in Old Town Prague.We hadn't yet been to Old Town and so we were blown away by not only the awesome buildings there (more on those in tomorrow's post), but also the runaway tourist trade we found in the Republic Square. There were name brand shops selling every kind of consumer product out there from
shoes to lingerie and handbags to electronics. It was actually a big bummer for us to find that kind of consumer whore tourist driven trade amidst all of the awesome historical buildings there, but then again we too were there to buy something - even if it wasn't Coach, Diesel, or Puma branded - so I guess we can't claim innocence. We found the mall that we were looking for and headed inside. It was actually a beautiful mall in the American style with tons of shops on four different levels. We were on a mission to find a bag like the one that we wanted, but we did make quite a few stops that weren't planned along the way. One such stop placed us in a pet shop. It had a pretty decent selection of the same types of fish, rodents, and reptiles that shops in the U.S. have with one glaring exception. When we were looking at the hamsters and gerbils Laney noticed some funny looking ones. Upon further examination we discovered that they were selling chipmunks for about $115! Despite the signs forbidding pictures I couldn't miss the chance to snap a picture that was sure to put a big smile on Micara's face. We left the mall mission accomplished and now we had a new bag for our stuff and were smiling from the whole chipmunk thing.We both decided that we were too hungry to dig into the sight-seeing stuff we had planned and since we now had free transit passes we decided just to head back to the apartment for a quick and cheap meal. By the time we had finished lunch it was past 2pm. We decided since it was so "late" and since so many of the main attractions here are closed on Monday, our best option was to try to visit the observation tower in Petrin park and the Monastery/Brewery there as well. Off we went via the No. 22 tram easy as can be.
We hopped off the No. 22 near the funicular (a vertical tram up the Petrin park hill). Once we were at the top of the park we found the Petrin View Tower easy enough. The tower, which can be seen against the skyline from downtown Prague, was built in 1895 for the World Expo and at 200ft tall resembles a mini-Eiffel Tower. We could tell right away that views were going to be great from the top, but boy-oh-boy did it sound daunting to Laney to have to climb up all those stairs to reach the top! After suggesting that she just stay behind on one of the nice shady park benches she decided that she would at least give it a try. We started into the climb and it turned out that there was a nice railing so it really wasn't that bad at all. After the stairmaster workout we were rewarded with some really spectacular views of the city and some of the suburbs that we had not yet seen. We also got a great look at the huge Strahov stadium and the rows of huge "Paneláky" apartment buildings built during the socialist 1970s... man those things are soul crushingly 
ugly! They're the first example of bad architecture that we have encountered amongst all of the beautiful craftsmanship here. When we finished taking a ton of pictures and enjoying the views from high above Prague we headed back down to the park below.Time had gotten away from us for most of the day and it proved the case again. By the time we strolled through the park over to the Strahov Monastary the attendant was closing the door for the day. We had missed our chance to tour the brewery there and to see the amazingly ornate church and the fascinating library. We didn't actually mind that much to tell the truth. We had taken it easy all day and we weren't about to get upset by this small set-back. Instead we grabbed a quick bite to eat at the cafe that serves the monk's famous brew (which is not that great in my opinion) and headed back into town.
On the way home we did some shopping and ended up spending a lot of time looking over the store's bizarre offerings again. We are still amazed by some of the things that we can find on the shelf here and I still need to take some pictures and share some details with you all some time. The language barrier makes the mystery of it all even that much more powerful and fun! In the end we bought some pretty boring items: rolls, butter, chicken breasts, cereal, and coffee and headed back to the apartment for the evening.
By the time that we had completed our meal and cleaned up it was nearly 8pm. All of the shows that we most want to start at 8pm so we were not able to go to any of them. Instead we sat at home and watched some TV and some DVDs that we brought from home and just relaxed and enjoyed each other's company (and the best microwave popcorn we have ever had!). Our lazy day was at an end and we decided to get a good night sleep and try to do more the next day.Click the image below to open the entire album for this day:
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| Europe Day 03 - Prague |
Your trip looks fantastic, does Laney do anytihng but sleep? Have lots of fun! Jodi
Happy Fathers Day David! Love Nikki, Jason and Stephen