Czech it out!

We had a wonderful time in Prague over the Thanksgiving weekend!

We arrived in Prague Thanksgiving day at 10:30am. That day we rode the subway, got our bearings, checked into the hotel, ate at TGIFridays, yes it was awesome! Then we rode the tram and walked around the city, drank some hot chocolate (that was literally like a melted candy bar), saw the Astronomical clock and walked over the Charles Bridge at night. We watched some guys cut hard candies, and went through a couple of shops. We ate dinner at a great restaurant in town, and then meandered back to the hotel.

We got up Friday, had breakfast at the hotel (as we did each morning) and went to Prague Castle, which in itself is a day. There we went through the tour of the castle (with the help of an audio guide) saw The Old Royal Palace, the Story of the Prague Castle, Basilica of St. George, Golden Lane (tiny houses around the perimeter of the castle), the Prague Castle Picture Gallery, the Monastary of St. George National Gallery, and St. Vitus's Cathedral. We arrived about 9:30 and left after 2pm. McDonald’s for late lunch, and then walked around, through Old Town Square, through Wenceslas Square, tracked down a David Cerny sculpture, wandered a little more and then had pizza for dinner at Einsteins Pizza very near the hotel.

Day three was full of Museums. We started at the Mucha Museum, which I LOVED and Stephen also enjoyed, then a tour of the Communism Museum, which was really interesting, on to a Salvador Dali exhibit (which was also accompanied by a Mucha exhibit-bonus!). We had a hot dog snack (which was pitiful) and walked around through the Old Town Square Christmas market where we had several Staroceke Trdlo(s). They are these yummy rings of dough wound around a metal rod, rolled in a cinnamon/sugar/ toffee/almond mixture and toasted over a fire and then rolled again in the mix! DELICIOUS! The day ended with dinner at El Hombre...the usual mediocre not really Mexican food we've found around Europe. Not BAD, per se, but NOT Mexican food!

Last day, we checked out of the hotel, and left our luggage there while we made one last trip to the bridge, walked around the city, took more pictures and then went back to retrieve our luggage. From the hotel, we walked about 50 yds to the tram, rode to the metro station (where we had McDonalds for lunch) and then took the subway from Andel to Mustek to Dejvicka-end of the line where we picked up the 119 bus to the airport! We were a little early, and the plane a little late, but we eventually got home.

It was a great trip.

David Cerny sculpture hanging in a shopping area.

Changing of the guards at Prague Castle


St. Vitas Cathedral

The Astronomical Clock


Charles Bridge

It's kind of a pain to upload 200 photos here...so...if you are interested in more:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=11pcpqol.avvkf3mx&x=0&y=-qhtz5s&localeid=en_US

And here is a video of the candy cutting guys. I was so impressed by this!