Anniversary Trip to Prague

As a belated anniversary trip, Daniel & I drove to Prague, Czech Republic for the weekend.  We booked a fabulous hotel thanks to booking.com.  The location was great - close to a tram stop & completely walkable to most of the major sights.  Aside from its location & overall vibe, we were very impressed with the breakfast (included with our stay).  I'm talking man in a tuxedo playing the piano nice.  Fresh ground coffee, omelet station, every kind of bread imaginable, fresh fruit and so much more.

We arrived early Friday afternoon. After checking into our hotel & relaxing for a few minutes we decided to try out one of Rick Steves' city walks, making our way toward Wenceslas Square (Václavské Náměstí in Czech).  The walk took us through the New Town  -  where we had also planned to eat dinner that evening.  Check out some of the sights along the walk . . .

The Grand Hotel Europa.

 

ALL of the streets AND sidewalks in Prague are made up of these beautiful mosaic tiles.  Different designs on different streets - all beautiful & unique.  A little rough on the feet after three days of walking, but beautiful none the less.

 

 

 

 

At end of the square we stopped in front of the National Museum (Národní Muzeum).  I found it interesting to learn that all of the light, white colored patches you see along the museum's columns are from where holes were filled from Soviet bullets that hit during the 1968 Prague Spring Uprising.  Defying their communist bosses, Rick shared that Masons showed their Czech spirit by intentionally mismatching the patch work, against the orders of their bosses' who wanted the damage to be forgotten.  

 

 

Dinner was equally as lovely.  A quite spot in the New Town just inside the Manicipal House (Obecni Dum).  I quickly realized how American I looked as they brought over ice, in a separate glass from my bottled still-water.  Asking for still-water has become a habit since moving to Germany.  None of that fizzy, bubby stuff please!   Ice was something new.  I'm learning.

 

 

 

The outside of the Manicipal House - a concert hall dating back to the early 1900's.  The restaurant we had dinner at is to the left of this picture, INSIDE this beautiful building.

 

 

 

The Manicipal House is attached to the old Powder Tower. Originally, this tower was the town gate & is today, the last remaining part of the original city wall.

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After a good night sleep & a HUGE breakfast, we were ready to tackle the day.  First thing on our agenda - Prague Castle.  Thanks to some not so great advice from a local, we ended up on the wrong tram (Last time I ignore Rick's advice! . . . next time, tram #22!)  BUT eventually we Daniel figured things out & got back on track.  Thank God for Daniel & his ability to calm me down & reassure me it will all work out.

 

 

St. Vitus Cathedral - contains the tombs & relics of the most important local saints & kings.

 

 

Inside the Cathedral.  Beautiful stained-glass windows.  Thankfully, the rain took a little break so we could enjoy the sunlight streaming through the colorful glass & bouncing off the floors.

 

The "Large Hall" inside the Old Royal Palace. Big enough for jousts - even the staircase was designed to let a mounted soldier gallop in.

 

Throne room, just off to the side of the above Large Hall.

 

Basilica & Covent of St. George

 

 

Last and final stop on the castle grounds - the Golden Lane.  The tiny houses on this picturesque street originally housed castle servants. And let me tell you, TINY does not begin to describe it.

 

 

 

 Franz Kafka (Freshman English - check) lived briefly at #22 pictured above.  The house now operates as a bookstore, appropriately selling many of Kafka's novels.

Daniel checking out the weapons, armor & painted shields in the upper corridor, alchemy exhibit.

 

From here, we left the castle grounds & begin the uphill hike to the monastery.  Thanks to the rain, we took a little detour & hung out under the first canopy we could find.  Thankfully, the shower lasted only a few minutes until the sun came back out.

 

 

 

Daniel is so patient with me, as I CONSTANTLY want to stop to snap pictures & take in the sights. He's not always a fan, but he loves me so he puts up with it :)

 

 

The Strahov Monastery Kressmann restaurant/brewery.  We were literally in a cave underground and ate our meal by candlelight. Didn't quite feel like your typical lunch stop.

 

 

I had roasted duck with dumplings.  Daniel had Czech Goulash in a brown bread bowl.  I has order envy as soon as I snuck a bite and made sure to order my own goulash at the end restaurant.

 

 

 

The Strahov Monastery

 

 

 

The Monastery Library

 

 Wow!  . . .Reliving that I realize why we were so absolutely exhausted heading back to the hotel that night.  That was a lot for a day.  On our way back to the hotel, we opted to walk instead of talking the tram.  Doing this allowed us to walk through the Old Town & across the Charles Bridge.  BUT I'll save those pictures for the next post.

Speaking German in Barcelona

"Danke. I mean . . . Gracias"  . . . "Bitta, I mean, uh thank you . . . no, wait - Gracias!"  Apparently, when you're in a foreign country where people do not speak your  " native language "  your mind automatically pulls from the second language you're most comfortable with and apparently for us, that has shifted from the little Spanish we learned in High School to the little bit of German we've learned over the last 10 months.  No lie, any time we tried to order in Spanish or buy something, German came out.  "Two . . . uh, zwei  . . .I MEAN dos!"  Even when I would "prep" before ordering and go over what I wanted to say IN SPANISH in my mind, I would open my mouth to speak and out came German. 

Our morning started out with a nice self-guided walking tour through "The Ramblas" thanks to our good friend, Rick Steves.  BUT FIRST . . .  Dunkin Donuts.  Something I have MISSED oh so much since leaving the States.

Iced coffee . . .  num num num!

 



 

After doing some walking, we slipped into Placa Reial to enjoy some people watching by the fountain.  

 

 

 

Brandan and Andrea in front of the Columbus Monument

 

 

 

After our walk it was time to head towards Sagrada Familia

BUT FIRST, Tapas.  Tapas are small portions of food . . .  Seafood, meat-filled pastries, fried potatoes . . . Basically, small portions of deep-fried deliciousness.  Since dinner isn't typically served until late in the day, people in Barcelona enjoy munching on Tapas as a sort of appetizer to their larger meal enjoyed much later.  

 

My personal favorite, "primientos de Padron"  -  lightly fried & seasoned peppers.

 

 The view from our café table.  

 

Time to pick up our audio tour and head inside with this stud.

 

As you'll notice in most of the pictures, the construction is still a work in progress.  In fact, the estimated date of competition isn't until 2026 - just in time for the 100th anniversary of Gaudi's death.  Listening to the audio guide we learned that Gaudi understood that the competition of Sagrada Familia was something he was never going to live to see, so he very intentionally choose which pieces of the church he would oversee while he was alive, leaving detailed directions for those to come after him.  In fact, the "front entrance" isn't going to actually be the "front entrance" when the church is complete.  This is only a side entrance. The front entrance will be even more elaborate and ornate.  Can you imagine?!

 

 

 

I could have looked at these windows all day long.

 

 

 

 

Climbing to the top.

 

 

 

The winding stairs on the way up/down reminded me of a snail.

 

 

Added another art piece to my "travel" wall from a local artist posted outside Sagrada Familia. So excited to get it framed and hanging on the wall with the others.

 

On to Park Güell - Gaudi's famous park, just outside of the city.  We hopped on a bus for a short 20 minute ride, since it would have been quite a far walk from Sagrada.  ( AND we needed to make sure we were at the park by our designated time on our tickets. ) 

 

 

 

I spy with my little eyes . . .

 

The Marketplace (Hall of 100 Columns) . . . even though there are really only 86 columns.

 

 

 

Cutest ginger bread house ever.  To go with the cutest boy ever  ;)

Easily one of the most unique parks I've ever been to.

 

 

We rounded out our day with Rick Steves' Barri Gotic Walk.

 

Placa Nova 

Cathedral de Barcelona  

 

Monument to the Martyrs of Independence

Carrer del Bisbe Bridge - connects the Catalan government building with the Catalan president's ceremonial residence.

 

Laca de Sant Jaume

 

Ending our walk at Placa del Rei - the Royal Palace, the Chapel of Saint Agatha & the Viceroy"s Palace

 

After a fun day weekend it was all we could go to make it through dinner before rushing back to the hotel to pack up and crash for the night. 4:00 AM came early Monday morning with the arrival of our Taxi to drive us to the airport for our early morning flight back to Germany.