2019 Prague
Monday 3 June (Travel to Prague)
We have wanted to do a Baltic cruise for a long time. And we both have ancestors in Sweden and Denmark. Our good friends Nan & Keith also wanted to do a Baltic cruise and talked to Discovery Expeditions and Adventures to arrange a tour utilizing the Windstar cruise line. Our other friends Michael and Nancy (read their blog!) assisted by researching the sites to see.
Our friends also asked for an optional Prague Czech tour.
We were sold! We signed up for the whole package.
We didn't want to leave our car at the Las Vegas airport for 6 weeks, so we arranged for a shuttle to LAS, and for Mom and Dad to take us to the shuttle.
Sunday night was a sleepless night. You worry about things before a big trip.
Mom called at 6:30am saying she woke up and was sure they had missed the time to take us. Fortunately not so. They came at 9, which I believed was an hour and a half too early. We sat around talking, waiting until 10:15 when we could leave arriving 20 minutes early for our 10:40 shuttle.
At 9:37 we got a call from the driver asking if we were going to be with them on the 9:40 shuttle!
Ouch. I had the wrong time.
We raced the shuttle down to Terrible Hebst at Sun River. It was a 15 minute ride of anxiousness. But we made it and joined a completely full van of 15 going to the Las Vegas airport.
What a start!
We arrived at LAS without incident except the two others in our row were Big People, so it was very cramped.
There was almost no one at Alaska Airlines, so checkin was really easy and personalized.
We got TSA Precheck, thanks to Lynn. We walked the terminal and decided on a restaurant called Chop. We shared a Cobb-style salad for lunch. $20, and the dressing was a little too sweet for Mark's taste.
Lynn took a little nap and Mark recharged his rechargeable batteries.LAS to Seattle was a simple 2 hours flight.
In Seattle, we had to take the tram to the main terminal area, then the train to the south terminal, then another tram to the S-area. But it went quick and uneventful.
This next 9.5 hour leg was with the German Condor airline. We expected to have a nice selection of movies to tide us over the pond (or in this case, the Polar icecap). Instead, they had a selection of one! And the $9 option for premium movies.
Not so nice. But they did feed us dinner and breakfast.
Dinner was fair; a pasta with spinach that was OK. Breakfast was completely unremarkable. We’re not likely to fly Condor again.
Tuesday 4 June (Travel to Prague)
Frankfurt is a gigantic airport. And we did not have boarding passes. We finally figured we needed to pass thru passport control before we could get to where we needed to be. Once we did that, we found a Lufthansa agent who let us know where we needed to go. It was a three-hour layover, so we took our time. We were starting to get very tired and that affected our ‘nerves’ so we needed to practice patience with each other.
The last leg was Frankfurt to Prague on Lufthansa. We took a bus to the airplane and they had loading stairs to get onboard; we loaded via the back. The flight was a mere 45 minutes. They had trouble getting the cups collected before we started landing, it was so quick.
Prague airport is similar to Cincinnati: two wings joined by a walking hall. We fetched our baggage and exited the claim area. There waiting for us was Gino, our shuttle guy. We hired him via WelcomePickup.com and it was so nice to see him standing just outside the baggage claim area with a sign with our name! Just like we were someone important.
On the drive to the hotel, he told us about the area, the culture, the politics, and his family.
We were really glad to get to the hotel Paris Prague. Traveling for a day and a half with no incidents is a real blessing, but it is taxing.Many others from our group had already arrived, but they were not in the hotel. We took our things to our room and decided not to have a nap but to go out, so we could be really tired at the right time. As if we weren’t really tired enough. Our toilets (we have both a bidet and a regular toilet) appear to be made of marble.
We walked over to the shopping mall and found a T-Mobile store. What we wanted was to enable my Samsung smartphone to do internet here in Europe. We purchased a $15 SIM card, but alas, my phone is ‘locked’. I purchased it on eBay, and am pretty sure it was described as unlocked, but apparently not. So it was an inexpensive but frustrating education.
We eventually decided on dinner at a restaurant called James Dean. We had big ribs and chicken strips appetizer. CZK 585 + 100 tip. The walls were decorated with James Dean and Marilyn Monroe. The men's urinals were architecturally designed Marilyn Monroe lips. Apparently Prague has a thing about fancy-designed toilets.Back to the Hotel to get some much needed sleep.
Wednesday 5 June (Prague)
We finally met some of our group in person. We went down to breakfast right at 6:30am. They had a lovely assortment of breakfast items. About 7am the Harwards showed up, along with Jim Gee. He shared some of the adventures of his water wells in Kenya. This year there was a bad drought and the river that runs near was completely dry. That meant a lot of people were coming to his wells, and that made the local people upset, talking about gating the well. Jim had to talk to them about how the wells were a gift to them and anyone that needed water. The well didn’t cost the locals anything, so they needed to share.
After the itinerary for the trip had been originally set, the Gees decided, with assistance from many who had visited Prague, they needed to include a tour of Český Krumlov Castle.Situated on a rocky projection by the river Vltava stands the second-largest castle and chateau complex in the Czech Republic; the State Castle and Chateau Český Krumlov. Since 1992, this architectural complex has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The original Gothic castle consists of 40 building structures with five courtyards. There is also a beautiful Baroque-style garden which is definitely worth visiting.
It dates back to 1240 when the first castle was built by the Witigonen family, the main branch of the powerful Rosenberg family. (Source: theCultureTrip.com)
We got on a bus that took us to Cesky Krumlov. On the way to guide talked about how Hops were used for beer which made Prague be known as the Golden City. She also described the two-tailed lion as the symbol. She mentioned that Good King Wenceslaus is based on the life of the historical Saint Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia in Czech (907–935).We walked around the grounds. At one point there was a view of the old town. We went into the courtyards of the castle.We toured the interior of the castle. The tour begins in the castle chapel of St. George
Built in the 14th century. The chapel is originally Gothic but was later modified in the Renaissance. Its current appearance comes from a reconstruction in the Rococo period, 1750–1753. The chapel holds a glass box with the remains of St. Calixtus, a martyr from northern Africa. (Source: visitceskykrumlov.cz)
The next room is the renaissance living room. There were samples of period clothing. Then we went into more rooms (bedrooms and eating rooms). The anteroom leads to the Eggenberg Hall that houses the legendary Golden Carriage.
After the castle tour, we walked across the bridge over the moat. There is a moat surrounding the castle. Moats in Czech don’t always have water. This one was dry and patrolled by a brown bear. Bears were added to the moat because of some attempt by the owner of the castle to associate themselves with some other powerful family that had a bear in its crest. We continued to walk around the center of town. We joined Nan and Keith for lunch at a crepes restaurant. Mark had a Ginger lemonade which was very spicy. We took our lunch and ate it on the river bank and watched kayaks, swimmers, and boats float by. We walked more in the center of town. Lynn joined the Clark's visiting a cathedral.We bought some ice cream and took a group photo on the bridge. Leaving town, we walked up the hill to the Castle Garden. Unfortunately we were running out of time. Some of our group had dinner reservations back in Prague, so we didn't spend much time in the gardens.
It was a long walk back to the bus, because there was a new method of processing the many tour buses, and our guide had not yet figured it out. We walked too far (especially since our feet were very tired). We had to backtrack to find the bus. It was a 2.5hr ride home. Apparently we drove through some forest area, but from the road it just looked like trees. And it was terrifying going so fast on the forest roads.
We went to dinner at the Argentina Restaurant, but the meat was expensive and would take 45 minutes for preparation. So we left and went to a Chinese restaurant. Definitively more affordable.
Thursday 6 June (Prague)
After breakfast, we walked around the city. Right away, we saw the Farmers Market by the AIX Praha Palladium (now a shopping mall, which was formerly an army barracks). Just behind the Farmers market is the Museum of Communism. Around the corner is the Municipal House and the Powder Tower. The architecture of the various buildings was beautiful.
We walked down Celetna street to the Old Town Square. Along the way we saw Dům U Černé Matky Boží (House of the Black Madonna). Josef Gočár built the house as the first example of cubist architecture in Prague.
Once in the Square, we saw the incredible Prague Astronomical Clock, which keeps track of everything and is amazing given that it was installed in 1410. The clock mechanism itself has three main components: the astronomical dial, representing the position of the Sun and Moon in the sky and displaying various astronomical details; statues of various Catholic saints stand on either side of the clock; "The Walk of the Apostles", a clockwork hourly show of figures of the Apostles and other moving sculptures—notably a figure of Death (represented by a skeleton) striking the time; and a calendar dial with medallions representing the months. According to local legend, the city will suffer if the clock is neglected and its good operation is placed in jeopardy; a ghost, mounted on the clock, was supposed to nod its head in confirmation. According to the legend, the only hope was represented by a boy born on New Year's night. (Source: Trademark Vacations)
We were there (along with hundreds of others) to watch it strike 11. The statues of the Apostles ‘walk’ by and turn to look out the window as they pass by.
We got on our bus and did a driving tour of the city, passing thru the embassy area of town, ending up at the Strahov Monastery. The monastery contains a great library of more than 200,000 books. There is a great view of the city at the Strahov Garden Viewpoint. There was a local artist there, selling paintings of the sights.
Back on the bus to the Prague Castle.
Our first attempt to get to the castle didn’t work because it was so crowded, so our guide took us around to the Castle Gardens, where the line was non-existent.
We did have to pass thru a security checkpoint. Once inside, we saw (and listened to) the Singing fountain. If you press your ear against the bottom of the fountain basin, you hear ringing of the water as it sprays.
The fountain was built on the order of Emperor Ferdinand I of the Hapsburg in 1562. The design was created by the Italian sculptor Francesco Terzo. Water drops falling on the rim of the lower bowl evoke lovely tones when you listen to them. The middle of the fountain depicts a shepherd and a Greek god Pan - protector of forests and streams. The top is furnished with a figure of a little piper (Source: Prague.eu)
At that entrance to the garden is Queen Anne's Summer Palace which is a great example of Italian Renaissance architecture. Just down the path is the Ball Game Hall in the Royal Garden. Then up to the castle.
They had two guards that did a Changing each hour. We saw an Asian couple in their wedding clothes having pictures taken. Apparently Prague is a honeymoon destination for Asians.The castle is gigantic.
Back on the bus for a short ride to the Charles Bridge. We walked across to the Old Town Bridge Tower a “14th-century tower with a wide, arched gateway, Gothic ornamentation & sweeping views.”
The vendors on the bridge have to go thru a vetting competition. Some 300 typically vie for a 3-year license that allows them to busk on the bridge. They need to have some local Czech talent (art, craft, music), not an import.
We got back on the bus to return to the hotel. We went back to our room. We fell asleep and awoke to a thunderstorm.
We wandered out to ‘tourist’ the city. We saw a street performer that was creating bubbles. And we saw lots of souvenir shops.
We were on a quest to find a traditional Prague dessert: Trdelnik. It’s made by rolling out the dough, wrapping it around the stick, called a trdlo, sprinkling it with a sugar and spice mixture and setting it over the flames to cook. We found one and tried it. They come in various styles. We did the Chocolate with vanilla ice cream. The ice cream was poor, but the Trdelnik was good.We also found some Christmas ornaments that, while slightly touristy, were mostly Christmasy.
We turned in about 9:30.
Next: Baltic Cruise
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