Jason had been gone all week on a business trip to Prague, Czech Republic so the kids and I decided to join him to check out the city. I have always heard people tell me that Prague “is beautiful”. I really expected it to be like any other European city but nope, they were right. Prague IS beautiful. If you are a fan of architecture, this is the city for you. The only exception being the communist era tenement housing on the outskirts of the city. Very ugly, very depressing.
I have to say that overall there were two random things I loved about Prague.
This guy and his friends who kept the streets clean. Typically, most European cities are dirty, full of trash and smell a bit like pee. But I was super impressed by how clean Prague keeps its city.
The second thing I love are the small cobbled wide sidewalks. Plenty of room to walk with the kids without fear of getting side swiped by a car and quite pretty.
Ok, and I was a big fan of these potato snacks.
Our day started off with a short plane flight (1 hr 30 min) into Prague. We hit the town and had a nice dinner. Both the kids seemed to be in good spirits so I thought it was going to be a lovely travel weekend.
or so I thought.
The hotel we stayed at (The Intercontinental) had “free” breakfasts and it was really impressive. TONS of food and lots of variety, we seemed to be off to a good start on Saturday morning and ready to hit the town.
But no. They didn’t want to. Whine. Whine. Whine. said these two little piggies. They didn’t care about the sights or the city, they just wanted to go back to the hotel, order room service and swim in the pool. They are 4, I don’t blame them.
So, since Jason travels to Prague quite often, he took the kids back to the hotel room and I hit the town. I love him.
This astronomical clock puts on a show at each hour…
and the crowds love it.
Beautiful Prague.
The backstreets.
Prague at night is lovely. Here, in front of town hall, you can see 27 crosses indicating where 27 rebel leaders were beheaded following the Battle of White Mountain in 1620.
This old Jewish cemetery holds coffins up to 7 deep. Jews were only given this small plot to be buried and it is estimated up to 100,000 are buried here.
The Old New Synagogue which is Europe’s oldest active synagogue. When the Nazi’s took over Prague during WWII it was not destroyed because Hitler wanted to make it into a shrine, a museum of sorts to boast of the history of the Jews decimation.
Paris street.
I listened in on this tour group and got caught. He was simply explaining the Velvet Revolution that took place in this square.
The Charles Statue in front of the Charles Bridge
The Old Town bridge tower is often considered to be one of the most astonishing civil gothic-style buildings in the world. It is quite stunning as you round the corner and see it head on for the first time. I found a door in the side and learned I could climb it to the top. I did and was the only one (?) Felt sort of empowering to be the only one up there looking down at all the people.
View from the top overlooking the Charles Bridge.
Prague has a new reputation as THE new bachelor party place to be. I saw many stag parties…large groups of guys wearing matching T-Shirts, walking around, acting like jerks, grabbing women, flirting with the Thai massage ladies and leaving their trash everywhere. I hope a crack down on behavior happens soon, probably only when the money from their nights’ out slow down though.
Duuuuuude! Czech us out…huh huh huh huh….
Wenceslas square. Yes that one, the good king. And it is actually a rectangle and not a square….
Coolest statue I saw.
Because he was stuck with the kids at the hotel all day, when I got back, we tag-teamed and Jason went out on the town while I stayed back and played with the kids at the hotel. We went swimming, ate things we probably shouldn’t have and had a grand ol’ time.
One of the statues on the Charles Bridge at night.
St. Vitus Cathedral
My favorite picture I took while there. Because this is exactly how our weekend in Prague felt.
I hope when the kids are in a better mood we can return to Prague. It is easy to get to, easy to navigate and some place I think we could spend a few more days in. We only got to see a fraction of the city but it what I did see, I loved.
Thank you, as always, for the tour. Because of your blog, I feel like I have seen so much of the world!
Of course you found a side door and climbed to the top. Thanks for the tour … great, as usual. The round robin with the kids worked well, it appears. To the viewers it did.