Day 9 - Prague — Wayfaring Abroad

The rain finally fell in the night. Prague was hit with a good little storm, a little thunder and a little lightning. Everything seems perfect though when we awoke to the bright sun and semi dried pavement.

Due to our increasing early mornings we decided that it was best to actually sleep in a bit. That meant we woke up at 9, however an alarm went off at 8 and I thought that meant time to get up, so I was up for an hour before anyone else. This of course was fine because while we slept the Golden State Warriors were completing a monumental comeback to win the Western Conference Finals. I sat up in my bed watching Warriors highlights of their win until everyone else woke up.

With the sun shining and a forecast for no rain until noon we had to hustle and once again see as much as possible before the rain hit. We sped down past Old Town Hall and on to Charles Bridge.

On our past trips I always chose one of the cities and got a local piece of hand drawn art. I had decided prior to leaving for our current trip that instead of getting one piece from once city, that I should get one from each city and expand my collection. Seeing as how Budapest was centered right on the waterfront and was absolutely stunning along the Danube, I believed it wouldn't be hard to find someone selling their drawings. Unfortunately, this was not the case and to add insult to injury we did not find anyone selling anything in Vienna.

Charles Bridge with Prague Castle in the background.

Yesterday when we were wandering through Prague we spotted a couple people selling drawings, nice ones, along the Charles Bridge and by the waterfront. Today when we went over the Charles Bridge I was hunting to find something I liked so that I could find something in case it rained over the duration of our time in Prague.

The people I saw selling things the day before were not there yet but there were a couple different artists. They had a couple pieces that really struck my eye so I got a couple pieces, to make up for Budapest and Vienna. Not to mention Prague is beautiful.

After making it over Charles Bridge we made our steep hike up Petrin Hill to the lookout tower. We were relying on offline maps that weren't the most detailed and did not do enough prior research to determine what the best path would be to get to the top of the hill. We wound up going in on the north side of the hill.

Petrin Tower looking like the Eiffel Tower.

The path was not paved but just dirt and due to the rain, quite a bit of mud. The path, while muddy, was quite steep and we slowly made our way up to the regular paths and on to the lookout tower. The lookout tower is a metal structure, that resembles the Eiffel Tower, at the top of the hill and has a 300 step winding staircase that is encased by the metal structure. The stairs, while encased by the metal, are exposed to the open air. There is a stop at the middle of the structure where you can go outside and walk in a 360 around the tower and see all of Prague. After further ascending the stairs you get to the top which is encased by glass windows, they had two windows opened at each straight end of the hexagon.

The tower sits at the summit of the hill, which stands at 427 feet above the river. The tower itself sits atop the summit and is 197 feet tall. That puts the top of the tower at 624 feet above the river. As can be imagined this give incredible views of the entirety of Prague. You can see down into the city and across the river to Old Town, New Town and over to Prague Castle.

From the lookout tower we moved over to Strahov Monastery, specifically so that I could see their library. Along the way up to the Monastery from Petrin Hill we came across another artist selling art. The drawings were different from the ones at the bridge and I wound up purchasing another drawing. The biggest letdown was that you could pay to see the outside of the library, for a steeper price you could go inside the library but in order to do that you had to make a reservation and come back a different day. This was not possible for us since we leave in a couple days. I should have done better research about it, but in the end it just means I have a reason to return to Prague.

It was only a quick walk from Strahov over to Prague Castle where we walked through the grounds and inside St. Vitus Cathedral. The Cathedral is a beautiful Gothic building that you cannot help to stare at. The stained glass caught the light remarkably and looking down the pews with the light shining in was a beautiful sight.

By this time it was reaching 2:30, we had yet to eat, it had been scheduled to rain for an hour. We thought it was a good time to head back to Old Town and grab some lunch. Since it was along the way we snaked our way through the park grounds nestled against the castle. From the castle we moved through Letna Park. That put at the bridge back to Old Town.

Right as we got to the bridge the rain finally started to fall. While it was not raining particularly hard the rain drops were giant. For lunch we stopped at a butcher shop and got hand made hamburgers. This is when the rain truly started falling. It was pouring and the thunder and lightning began. We had originally planned on getting the hamburgers to go and enjoying a couple minutes at the apartment before we went back out into the city.

Views of Prague peak through from Letná Park.

With it raining as hard as it did we ate in the butcher shop, they were phenomenal burgers and luckily by the time we finished the rain had simmered down just enough so that we could walk the couple blocks back to our apartment without getting completely drenched.

After a half hour relaxing we headed back out to make a tour of the underground and halls in Old Town Hall. The tour snaked through old town hall. It shows us the old assembly room and told us about the underground formerly being street level. There was a flooding problem with the Vltava River and in order to bypass it the street level was built upon and all the homes then gained an underground which was used for storage. Further, they were used during the war as protection against the Nazi incursion.

We had planned to make our way over the Klementinum and to see their library however they had closed and we could not get in. They were supposed to be open but for whatever reason they were not at that time. We decided after that to just come back first thing in the morning and instead hit Saint Nicolas and the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn. For whatever reason they were also closed so we took it as a sign and decided it was time for a beer before dinner.

Looking down the Vltava River at some of the bridges of Prague.

We went to the Prague Beer Museum where they have 30 beers on tap. We got a couple tasters and a couple half a liter beers. After about an hour we made our way across the street to Lokal, a very popular eatery, but the length of the wait was unclear so instead made a reservation for tomorrow. Instead, Devin, Tyler and I went to a local seafood place where I got a tuna burger, Devin got a salmon burger and Tyler got grilled salmon. They were excellent and now we are ready for our second day in Prague.

Distance walked: 10.2 miles