Prague

During the summer of 2010, I took my first trip out of the country since I was a kid and we traveled with the Army (my Dad is now a retired Army Captain). 

I had grown up hearing my parents talk about the Passion Play in Oberammergau, Germany, and had wanted to see it ever since I can remember. So my friend Tori and I booked a tour that included Prague, Vienna, Munich, and then Oberammergau.

Stopping for lunch on the way to JFK for our flight to Prague.

We spent three days in Prague at the very end of July, 2010. I got off the plane and promptly fell in love with the city! It was stunning!



The Vltava River runs right through the middle of the city, and our hotel was just a few blocks from the river. We arrived around 8 am, took a taxi to the hotel and arranged to leave our bags there until we could check in later that day. We hit the road and began walking around, loving the bright colors on the houses and buildings everywhere. 

You can see St. Vitus Cathedral up on the hill in the background. 

We loved the Charles Bridge. There were tons of shops around it and street artists and performers on the bridge. 

Rubbing this statue is supposed to bring good luck.

Tori and I. BFFs. 

Our second day there, we took a tour of the Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral. What a gorgeous church!

St. Wenceslas is the patron Saint of the Czech republic, and at St. Vitus Cathedral, the St. Wenceslas Chapel hold his relics and a gothic statue of him. A small door in the corner of the chapel leads to the Crown Chamber where the Czech Crown Jewels are held. 

Tori in the Prague Castle/St. Vitus Cathedral area. 

Me in front of the gates to the Prague Castle. 

You get a beautiful view of the city below because St. Vitus Cathedral and the Prague Castle are built on a hill.

I loved the architecture of this building. Very interesting and unique. 

Next, we walked through the Jewish Quarter to Old Town Square. 

This clock was installed in 1410, and is the oldest astronomical clock still in operation. On the hour is the "walk of the Apostles," a show featuring moving parts, sculptures of the Apostles, and other figures. It's a gorgeous time piece. 

Enjoying a refreshing drink and some chicken curry after a long day of sight seeing.

The next day was our last in Prague. We decided to take a train ride to see the Karlstejn Castle (about 45 minutes outside of Prague). On the ride, we struck up a conversation with a man and his daughter. He was an American guy from San Francisco. He looked to be in his mid forties, and had moved to Prague a few years earlier. When we asked him what brought him to Prague, he got kind of weird and vaguely mentioned things going badly with his business back in San Francisco. I don't remember the details, but it struck both Tori and I as an odd situation. 

About this time, I noticed that he had his arm around the girl traveling with him in a distinctly NON-fatherly way. Ew! She was his girlfriend, not his daughter (thank goodness I hadn't said anything about it before that). She couldn't have been more than 20 or so! Shortly after that, we got to the Karlstejn stop and exited the train. We saw them walking ahead of us, arms around each other and began chuckling under our breaths and referring to him as *cough* "mid-life crisis" guy. To this day, we still laugh about that situation and joke to each other about moving to Prague and finding 20-year-old boyfriends!

We got off the train at a platform literally in the middle of nowhere. Rolling hills and fields were all around us, and I was overwhelmed with the beauty of the Czech countryside as we began the 20 minute walk up to Karlstejn. It looked just like a post card! 

We stopped in the little town at the base of the Castle. When I had researched our trip, I found that Karlstejn had a small museum of Nativity Sets. I love love love Nativities and collect them, so I was super excited to see this museum. 

It wasn't exactly what I had expected--more of an old house that had been converted to a "museum." But we still had fun poking around and seeing the different Nativities on display.

A gingerbread cookie Nativity.

It was crazy to see, for the first time in my adult life, a building that was older than my country!

After visiting the Nativity Museum, we contemplated taking one of the horse-drawn carriages to the Castle. In the end, though, we decided to tough it out and walk up the steep hill. 

The castle was spectacular! Unfortunately, no photography was allowed inside. But the tour we took was really interesting and informative. We learned a lot about the Hapsburg Family, and how Prague was the Hungarian seat of the Austro-Hungarian empire, with Karlstejn Castle being one of the homes of the Hapsburgs. I was fascinated to have real context for events in history that I only vaguely remembered learning about in my high school world history class. 

After our long walk, we totally needed to recharge with something cold and sweet, so this ice cream really hit the spot. 

Then, we headed back to our picturesque train platform to catch our ride back to Prague. 

Back in Prague, we enjoyed a nice traditional Czech dinner while we ate out on a balcony with a view of the Charles Bridge. 

As we walked back to the hotel, there were fireworks going off over the Charles Bridge. The sun was setting and I got this gorgeous picture to remember my favorite city by.

I was only in Prague for 3 days, but it captured my heart completely during that time. I even managed to swipe a piece of the Charles Bridge as a souvenir (they were doing construction on a small area and I grabbed a cobblestone). I hope to go back someday soon. In the mean time, I treasure the pictures and memories I have from that trip.

Until my next adventure...