Prague: Day 1

I was exhausted when awoken at about 9:30. I'm cranky when I don't get enough sleep but I had to shake myself out of it quickly so as not to spoil the day ahead. Breakfast was included at this accommodation and although very basic, it would suffice.

The weather was overcast which was disappointing but at least it wasn't raining.

So the four of us headed out to do our first piece of sightseeing. The road we were situated in was right next to the castle, therefore this seemed the perfect place to start. The castle area is huge but is not like a castle as we know it; it looks more like a palace. Guards dressed in pale blue march around the area at regular intervals and two of them also stand in their boxes outside the main gates.




Totally enclosed in the grounds is St Vitus's Cathedral which was beautiful. Gargoyles looked down on the crowds below - this is one feature I always love taking photos of. The queue going into the cathedral was ridiculously long so we decided to come back another time, maybe slightly earlier in the day. On our way back down, we took in the views over the city.



Prague is devided into five areas: Prague Castle and Hradcany, Little Quarter, Old Town, New Town and the Jewish Quarter. Today we were just set on the first two. After the castle, we headed back down Nerudova Street which has loads of shops and cafes. Puppets are popular here, as are Russian dolls, glassware and Art Nouveau. We saw some very nice sephia and black and white prints of watercolours of various sites in Prague, and decided we'd probably make a purchase on the last day.

In the Little Quarter, Suzie stumbled upon a a sign which said 'Tower open' so without discussion, purchased tickets to climb it. It was well worth it with some great views over the city. Shame about the cloud though.


View over Charles Bridge

Our tummies then said it was time for lunch and so we proceeded to find somewhere. Our walk took us towards Charles bridge which we didn't want to cross today; this would be the next area to cover tomorrow. We found a nice cosy place where the menu was extensive and catered for every taste. Afterwards, we meandered around the shops and surrounding streets. Suzie loves old doors and handles and she was forever photographing those. Me, well I was happy as Larry as there was something to take a picture of around every corner. It is such a beautiful city and it doesn't take long for you to fall in love with it.



We went back to the apartment for a hour or so for a rest and to freshen up before dinner. We didn't venture far for our evening meal - literally a few yards down the road was a nice Italian restaurant. The owner came out to hand us the menu and obviously to try and coax us in. I then became 'The Boss' as I had to make sure there was something veggie or a fish dish on the menu that I would eat. They did sole which is one of my favourite fish so it was fine. We nicknamed the owner/waiter/general dogsbody 'Mario' - he seemed to be the only one working there apart from one other Czech waitress. Another table was giving the waitress grief as the service wasn't as fast as they'd hoped but after she came to our table, she quickly loosened up and started smiling. She was very sweet but didn't speak too fluent English; there were some funny moments when she would just stand there nodding after we'd said something and there was a lot of confusion over the desserts we ordered (we ended up with 3 not 2). The meal was superb though, we couldn't fault it. As not much sleep was had the night previous, we didn't stay out late. Bed was the place to be.

(Posted 3 Jun 2007)