Once again we were on a train to Prague in the Czech Republic, just one month shy of a year since our last visit to the city. There are however some big differences this time.
First of all, although we are once more traveling by train, this time we are heading southeast from Berlin instead of northwest from Vienna. Also, instead of booking coach we went for the First Class seating for more room. Although it was still a bitch lifting our two 50-pound bags up into the overhead storage.
On the train, and ready to roll.
The major difference of course is that this time we are not sick and trying to remain concious. Constant Reader may recall on our last trip to Prague we were both in the early stages of bacterial infections and COVID-19. You can read about that here.
This time we were able to relax and enjoy the ride, and appreciate some of the beautiful scenery of Slovakia on the way to Hungary.
Slovakian countryside
Soon we were at the Prague station calling a Bolt to take us the embarrassingly short distance to our hotel. We once again had booked ourselves into The Grand Mark Prague, determined to this time actually enjoy it.
We wasted no time, heading right over to the nearest square to enjoy the cool weather and a nice meal at an outside restaurant.
I had Moravian Sparrow and Rita, rather predictably, tried the salmon.
After being too sick on our last visit, I really enjoyed my first (and far from last) beer in Prague.
Next morning we enjoyed our included-breakfast at the Grand, which included live piano music and a family of peacocks strolling about. Then it was out to see if we could get farther than the two or three block we managed last time.
Turns out, we got quite a bit farther. All the way across the Manés Bridge, and up the hill to the Prague Palace.
At the first square and the Astronomical Clock, the extend of our explorations last year.
Someone trying to escape from Prague's oldest pub, est. 1375
First view of the Marés Bridge
As usual with our slow travel lifestyle, we did not really have a plan of action. We just picked a direction, and looked for interesting stuff. In Prague, it turns out just about everywhere you look there's interesting stuff. Our vague plan was to head towards the river. Once we saw the Manés Bridge, and what the other side looked like, naturally we had to cross it.
The other side of the river. Interesting, right?
The Manés Bridge, and below some of the statuary along the road.
Walking off the west side of the bridge
Once on the other side, we wended our way gradually uphill, towards the magnificent cathedral we could see. Once we reached what turned out to be the Prague Palace, whose walls also enclose the St. Vitus Cathedral, we picked up a two-day pass that would get us into various parts of the castle, as well as St. Vitus.
Inside the castle walls
First view of St. Vitus
Even the backside was impressive
Exploring the castle
After we had checked out everything except the Cathedral (with a break for lunch) the lines for the church were still huge. And in keeping with the way our Year of Eternal Summer has been going, Prague was experiancing higher than usual temperatures, and it was getting quite warm. So we decided to take advantage of the two-day aspect of our pass and walked back to our hotel, planning to take an Uber to the top of the hill first thing in the morning.
And that is a story for the next blog post ....
Follow the story of Jim and Rita, who sold their home to travel for the next few years here in this blog, and on the podcast "Travels With Jim and Rita", available on all major podcast platforms.
