Central Europe: Day 10 (Prague)

Our last day in Prague was a great one; we saw national monuments but somehow managed to avoid the throngs of crowds that we saw on our first day. We also learned about communist rule in the Czech Republic. Read on!

Here's a photo of our metro stop; I loved the strangely Dr. Who subway decor in Prague.

After breakfast at our hotel as usual, we mailed some postcards - we made it a point to do that at every city to our parents and my grandma - and we made our final visit to a nearby location of Bakeshop Praha. We had already had breakfast, so we bought pastries for the next day's breakfast, since we were catching an early train.

First stop was Wenceslas Square, which wasn't really photogenic in and of itself, but there were some neat hotels on the side. Apparently the square figures heavily in medieval Prague history, WWII, and the overthrow of the communist regime.

Off of the square was a little courtyard with, according to my book, the world's only cubist lamp post. The idea of visiting a cubist lamp post pretty much overwhelmed us, so we stopped by for a quick photo op.

Afterward, we headed to Vyšehrad to visit the castle complex, church, and cemetery. It was so wonderfully free of tourists that we wanted to linger longer. It felt almost like a park, with ancient walls, buildings, and other wonderful things to look at.

For example, the cute little rotunda at left is the Rotunda of St. Martin, one of the oldest standing buildings in Prague. it was built in the 11th century!

The complex gave great views of the surrounding city, and it was nice to have a leisurely walk around a green area without a ton of tourists. (I know, I know, I was a tourist, too, but still. This is why people like getting off of the beaten path.)

Walnut, my friends' dog, loved seeing the castle complex, too. He pranced around the streets like he owned them, and he got to sit atop a city wall like some majestic lion statue, gazing over his realm.

The castle had a wonderful cemetery that reminded me of Père Lachaise in Paris, both in terms of the number of famous Czechs buried there and in the raised vault-style graves.

After having our fill of the castle complex, we bid adieu to our ex-pat friends, who had to catch a flight back to Switzerland. We walked down the hill and up the river, where we took a walk around Slav Island. Our book recommended taking a paddleboat tour around the river here, but it was a bit chilly for that.

I did enjoy a fantastically placed octopus statue in the river, though! Just look at those buildings. Painted Ladies, eat your heart out.

After we took mandatory photos of the Dancing House, we kept walking up the river to a commercial area of Prague where I thought there was a yarn store (it's not, it's just fabric) and we checked out another David Cerny sculpture (he also did the Proudy peeing guys in my previous post). We enjoyed a delicious lunch at Room, where we split some ham & béchamel croquettes.

We split a beer flight after lunch at the recommended Pivovarský dům, loosely translated as "brewery house!" Most of the beers were good, some were...not. I liked almost everything, including the green nettle beer, but the Banana Weizen tasted like rotten bananas and Pepto Bismol. 

Keep on leveling up that Czech badge!!

Next stop was back to the Wenceslas Square area to visit the Museum of Communism, a historical trek through the Soviet occupation of then-Czechoslovakia. It was so interesting!

The museum gave some background on the roots of communism in Russia, then the exhibits began at the end of WWII, when Soviet rule began. There were artifacts, posters, videos, and more to describe the types of projects that the Czech citizens had to assist with. The most inspiring parts of the museum were the ones at the end that detailed the fall of communism in the Czech Republic after protests and calls for action.

By the end of the museum, you definitely got the impression that the Czechs do not dig communism. 

At the end of the day, we visited the Jewish Quarter's location of Kolkovna for dinner. Dave got the biggest damn pork knuckle in the world - a Czech specialty he'd been lusting after for days - and I got goulash again. Mmm.

After dinner, we tried to find the other location of the Prague Beer Museum, but we settled for a delicious Czech wine tasting room called Bokovka. The pourer recommended J. Novak 2015, which we were very happy with!

That's all the Prague that's fit to print - follow more tomorrow for the start of Berlin, the last leg of the journey!