I can’t believe that the last time I was in Europe I was 17! How time flies!!! I can’t tell you how great it was to be back. I’d almost forgotten how great it is there. So much culture, an amazing vibe, and sooooo much to see! For such a
small continent, they sure do pack in a ridiculous amount of places and things to visit.
When I decided to head to Europe for a river cruise I thought that it was the
perfect opportunity to revisit some places that I had visited as a kid that made a
huge impact on me. Those two places were
Prague and Munich. The river cruise was
down the Danube starting in Budapest, Hungary and ending in Nuremburg, Germany
so adding Prague and Munich to the mix was pretty easy.
Gotta love how small Europe is!
Every country just seems like a hop skip and a jump from one another.
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| Old Town Square & the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn |
So…Prague was the first destination on this 2 week European trip. I checked the weather reports prior to
departing and they were forecasting around 7- 10 degrees or so. Big fat liars those weather people were! It was freaking cold! I personally don’t take many vacations that require a winter coat (or at least go to those destinations in the summer months) so this was new for me. I really wasn't sure how it was all going to go down. Even though the weather was bitter, I ended up being quite thankful that I was able to experience this time of
year because…Europeans sure know how to do Christmas!
I can also pretty much have fun
in a box so I didn’t let the weather get to me.
I was in Prague for friggin’s sake!
What a beautiful city.
This place was made for photographs!
Especially photos at night. All
of the beautiful buildings and amazing architecture are all lit up at night so
it does make for some pretty amazing photo ops.
We got in late afternoon.
After some crazy flight stories…we were supposed to fly into Prague in
the morning but our connecting flight from Dusseldorf to Prague had some
problems landing. We actually
flew to Prague circled around for about 15 mins, because it was too foggy to
land, then proceeded to fly right back to Dusseldorf where we started. So it turned into a full day of flying and
killing time at the airport. On the
bright side…I did have an amazing lunch at an Italian restaurant in the
Dusseldorf airport. Curry pumpkin gnocchi! Wow it’s was to die for. It was like a stew, nice and hearty! I’m kicking myself for not getting a picture.
Once we arrived at our hotel, Hotel Liberty, we dumped our stuff had a quick shower and went off to explore. The hotel was in a fantastic location! It was on a pedestrian street just off of
Wenceslas Square so right in the heart of Old Town. It was perfect. It was an old style hotel which was exactly what
we were looking for. We were not
interested in staying in any of the regular chain hotels because we really
wanted to feel like we were in a hotel in Europe not in a hotel that you could
find back home in Canada. The room was
very spacious with old style furnishings and fixtures. The beds were definitely broken in but they
could have been a lot worse. The
bathroom was huge with two sinks and a bathtub shower. FYI…it’s a European style shower head so
really it’s a bathtub with a handheld shower.
Oh ya and no shower curtain so it was a challenge to keep the water in
the tub as opposed to spraying it everywhere.
Oh to be a fly on the wall!
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| Mmm...Seafood Risotto! |
The interesting thing was finding a place to eat that
night. As we were walking up Wencesles
Square, we were searching for restaurant options. We should have asked our hotel for
recommendations but we were on the “let’s see if we can find a hidden gem on
our own” mentality. What we are used to,
is being able to walk up a busy street, window shop the restaurants and then
settle on one that suited us both. The
thing we didn’t realize here is that a lot of the restaurants are in buildings,
down corridors or up on higher levels than street level. We
kept searching but not many restaurants were really popping out at us. We also didn’t want some fancy, high end
restaurant. We just wanted a comfortable
place to eat (maybe even pub fare) for a nice easy meal. Since we were new and still getting used to
exploring out of our comfort zone, we only found a place once a hostess
actually approached us and said, first in Czech, then after seeing the confused
looks on our faces, in English “are you looking for a place to have
dinner?” We looked at each other and
hesitantly said yes and then she proceeded to show us a menu. At that point the menu items looked pretty
good but I was a little confused as to where the restaurant was. We gave her the nod and she took us to an
elevator and pushed the button and motioned for us to entre. I was praying to god that we weren’t going to
be entering some kind of strip club. The elevator doors opens and with a pleasant surprise we walked into some kind of resto/lounge with a pretty funky atmosphere. Who knew!?!
The restaurant was called Duplex and our dinner was probably one of the
best we had in Europe.. Gotta love it...we completely unknowingly found this great restaurant. I believe this place turns into a club at
night as well which I’m sure would be fun times.
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| Charles bridge in the background |
After a decent night sleep we were up and ready to take on a
full day of Prague. We figured that we must have walked for at least 10 hours that day.
Holy cow! We pretty much saw all
of the “must sees” of Prague so if you need a good list of what to see when you
are there here it is:
1. Old Town Square & Astrological clock
2. Old New Synagogue
3. Jewish cemetery
4. Charles Bridge
5. Prague Castle
6. St. Nicholas Church
4. National Marionette Theatre - Don Giovanni
5. Wencesles Square
It doesn't seem like a whole lot but it does take you around the city and if you just weave through the beautiful streets it takes you on a great adventure with beautiful architecture
to look at. We just kept walking and walking until we couldn’t
walk any longer.
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| Powder Gate |
Prague Tips:
- Bring Koruna (Czech Crown) as Euros are not widely accept here
- The old town is small enough that exploring on foot is the
thing to do. Make sure to bring some
good walking shoes! Look up and look in
as there are so many places hidden off the main streets.
- If you get a hotel anywhere around Wencesles Square, you’re
never that far from the train station.
It’s a good spot to be if you are using the train to hop from one
country to the next.
If My Passport Could Talk...
"After 18 years, it's great to be back in Prague!"
Once we arrived at our hotel, Hotel Liberty, we dumped our stuff had a quick shower and went off to explore. The hotel was in a fantastic location! It was on a pedestrian street just off of
Wenceslas Square so right in the heart of Old Town. It was perfect. It was an old style hotel which was exactly what
we were looking for. We were not interested in staying in any of the regular chain hotels because we really
wanted to feel like we were in a hotel in Europe not in a hotel that you could
find back home in Canada. The room was
very spacious with old style furnishings and fixtures. The beds were definitely broken in but they
could have been a lot worse. The
bathroom was huge with two sinks and a bathtub shower. FYI…it’s a European style shower head so
really it’s a bathtub with a handheld shower.
Oh ya and no shower curtain so it was a challenge to keep the water in
the tub as opposed to spraying it everywhere.
Oh to be a fly on the wall!
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