April 2 Prague

Tuesday April 2

Prague

It was nice not to set an alarm today, and so we slept a little later. We went down to breakfast just after 10, then went out to walk – almost 25K steps and over 10 miles, by my Fitbit, by the end of the day.

Our first path was across the Charles Bridge and I pointed out to Amy where we would be eating dinner – Kampa Park restaurant (I made reservations for 8pm).

Amy also told me about how her daughters had taught her to make a panorama photo with a person in it 3 times, so we played around with that a bit – LOL!

We walk through charming little streets – one shop in particular caught our eye – they had items cut from wood. From little Christmas trees to miniature Bavarian houses. So many beautiful and cute things!

We continued up (and up and up) to the castle on the hill. There was a VERY long line for tickets, so we went around the side and into the courtyard. We went through an arch and saw the cathedral, but again tickets were required so we just continued walking. There was a hillside vineyard, and the hilltop had great views down to Prague.

We walked back down and went looking for the gardens. We passed a tiny fruit shop and I got a large fruit juice. We found the Gardens Below the Palace, but you had to get tickets to go in, and in looking at the photos it was more of an architectural garden than flower garden, so we continued on.

We came down one street, and unexpectedly came across the Lennon Wall. It is across the street from the French Embassy, and since the 80s it has been filled with graffiti inspired by John Lennon, lyrics from Beatles’ songs, and designs relating to other causes.

The wall was first decorated in the 60s by love poems and short messages against the government. After John Lennon was assassinated, an artist painted an image of John Lennon. It has been painted over numerous times (sometimes in protest to a particular political situation), but by the next day there was always more artwork and graffiti. Finally in 2019, it was officially declared an open-air gallery. And in 2021, a museum was opened about the history of this wall.

We continued our walk and got to the river. It was around 1:30pm, so we decided to stop for lunch. We looked up and saw Bella Vida café, with outdoor seating overlooking the river, so we sat down and had lunch. Amy had a pumpkin risotto, and I had a croissant with shrimp and avocado salad.

The weather has been beautiful – the sun was out almost all day, and it was comfortable, except when the very cold winds blew strongly. At one point during lunch, there was a gust so powerful it blew the chair behind me over.

We continued our walk, and went to the “Dancing House,” which the concierge at the front desk of our hotel had told us we should see. It is definitely an interesting building!

We found various little “treasures” – more street fairs, a sculpture of 3 babies (who actually didn’t have faces), a sculpture of a man hanging from a wire by an umbrella, and we also saw some very unique pedal boats – shaped like old cars.

We walked around to the Powder Tower, and then back to our hotel. We went to our room and rested a bit (Robin-speak for I went to work).

We had read online that our hotel has a rooftop terrace, and we asked about it this morning and she said she would let us up, so we said we would come back for sunset. We left the room around 7pm (sunset was 7:37pm) and went to the lobby, where she brought out a special key and used it in the elevator to send us up to the 6th floor.

We walked outside, and just wow, what a view! We could see into the big square, across to the castle, and all around us. Just absolutely beautiful!

The restaurant was a 15 minute walk away, over the Charles Bridge, so we walked to dinner. We arrived around 7:45pm and they sat us right away. When I ate there in 2018 with Vic, we were at a table right over the river, on the same level as we walked in to the restaurant.

This time they took us past there to a staircase, and we went downstairs to an enclosed area right below where I had previously eaten – still with a view of the river, but enclosed and warm and comfortable.

The food was excellent – Amy had a salmon appetizer and zucchini croquettes, and I had sea bass (and a mango lemonade). And I think it was a very reasonable price – 3000 CZK, or $130.

We walked back to the hotel – it was nice to “walk it off” a little before we went to bed.