We had a slow start this morning because everyone were feeling a bit jet-legged. We woke up around 6:30, worked on the blog, had some coffee and ate some toast. Although our apartment is not the nicest apartment, it is in a great location, comfortable and very functional. Would definitely stay here again.
We set off around 9:30 and headed toward Petrinsle sady park where Petrin tower is located. We walked along Narodni street and enjoyed watching people going about their day. We also made many stops to enjoy and admire the architecture and fountains. While it seems all of the building are beautiful, there are a few that stand out. The National Theatre is quite large with both iron statues and plaster details.
We stopped at the Vltava river which was starkly deserted as compared to the previous evening. We admired Prague castle; taking a group photo with it. Prague is known as the city of 1000 spires (a spire being the pointy top on most of the churches). The main black church in a lot of our pictures is Katedrala Svateho Vita which is located at the Prague Castle (more on that tomorrow).
Our first real stop was the communist victims memorial. These statues were a bit creepy but an interesting representation of the lives lost fighting communism. It was hard to fully enjoy because the tourists were already amassing.
We arrived to Petrinsle sady park and started the climb. The assent to the top is a couple hundred feet and there are two options, by path or by taking the Funicular. We didn't plan to walk up the hill, but the other option was to stand in line with hundreds of tourists (a growing theme).
We discovered an annoying part of Prague; you have to pay to use the toilet. Not only that, it cost about 70 cents and they are sometimes hard to find. It's about the same price as a beer so you literaly pay for it going in, pay for it going out.
The walk up was challenging, the hill has multiple switch backs, but we were greeted at the top with stunning views of the city and beautiful rose gardens. We rested a bit before heading to the Petrin Tower.
Located at the top of a large hill, the Petrin tower appears to be a large broadcast and lookout tower, quite reminiscent of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Towering about 60 metres, the climb to the top was challenging after the climb up the hill. The panoramic views made the effort well worth it. Stunning!
After walking around the gardens, and churches, we started the decent. We stat at a viewpoint, enjoyed a cold beverage and took a group photo looking toward another of the cities beautiful skylines.
Our hill adventure worked up quite an appetite and it was our goal to find a restaurant off the beaten path that is frequented by locals. We found a cute one where we were able to sit on the patio where we scammed to understand the lunch special that were only written in Czech. While Tim was adventurous and just pick one off the Czech only lunch menu, may parents and I played it safe. All the food was incredible and with beer cost less than $40. Incredible considering Dad's duck breast was of the best any of us had every had. Delicious, and filling!
After a nap, we headed out to Old Town Square, the Jewish district and some posh shopping district (Tim wouldn't buy me diamonds at Tiffany's). Dad took pictures with a nice beatle.....I don't know anything more about it than that.
After walking all day, we called it night around 7, bought some decadent snacks and enjoyed a bottle of champagne to kick off the first full day of our holidays.
