What a beautiful day in Prague

Turns out, I'm a little bit jet lagged.

 This morning, I woke up at a respectable 7:30. But then, when I couldn't keep my eyes open to check my Twitter, I put the phone back down and went back to sleep. Until 9:30. Breakfast is only served in the hotel until 10 so we headed straight down to eat and then came back up to shower and get ready for the day. The plan was to spend the day at Prague Castle.

 The castle is very, very close to our hotel. Our room has a view of the street but some rooms have views of the castle. that's how close we are. The castle, and the street our hotel is on, is on quite a steep hill. So we started going up the hill and were at the edge of the castle grounds in about 7 minutes. The castle grounds are quite extensive and there are two different ticket options - the long visit or the short visit. We bought tickets for the long visit and headed off. The castle is made up of quite a number of buildings that have been built over a very long time. The earliest artifacts they've found on the site came from 3800 BC. Buildings started going up around the 800s. But, really - you know something is really old when you read that one of the building underwent renovations in 1400.

 Our first stop was the Story Of Prague Castle museum. It gave an overview of the major events in the castle's history and had extensive exhibits with everything from being able to see the original furnace (from around the 1400's) to china from the 1800's. It was a good intro and helped us understand a bit more about Prague's history. From there, we went into the Old Royal Palace, where we saw a massive, massive hall along with a few of the other rooms. After that, we checked out St. George's Basilica. For the most part, it was lovely - but there was a rather macabre room with skulls wearing crowns painted on the walls and a terrifying skeleton statue. I also wasn't a huge fan of the tomb of St. Ludmila since her bones were on display but the ceiling of the room with her tomb was incredible. From there, it was into the National Gallery where we got to see some beautiful paintings by Czech artists. After that, the goal was to head into Rosenberg Palace but we somehow managed to miss it and were at the edge of the castle grounds before we knew it. We decided it would be a good time to break for lunch and after looping around, we ended up back on the hotel our street is on. We had a quick lunch and then headed back to the castle for the rest of the our visit.

We caught the changing of the guard on our way back in, which was a nice little accident. Then it was into the Picture Gallery, which is where some of the best pieces of art in the Czech Republic are featured. Moving on from there, we went to St. Vitus's Cathedral, which we think may have been larger than anything we saw in Italy. It wasn't as opulent (as everything wasn't covered in gold and marble) but it had beautiful stained glass and soaring ceilings. Then it was onto the Powder Tower to see some of the history of the guard at Prague Castle (not really my cup of tea) before wandering down to Golden Lane, which I fell in love with. It was this picturesque little alley with brightly painted, tiny houses all along one side. These houses were built into the exterior walls of the castle when a new outer wall was built. People continued to live in Golden Lane into the 1940s, including Franz Kafka. Now, the houses were little exhibits and shops. We left Golden Lane to head toward Rosenberg Palace, stopping at the dungeons on the way. Once we were done there, we wandered around the castle's moat and the royal gardens for a bit. Then, we headed back to the hotel for a bit of a rest before dinner.

We ended up at an Italian restaurant for dinner. EDP really liked the look of the menu and after saying something about spaghetti on our way out, it was all I could think of. Our meal was fantastic. Aside from Italy, I'd say it was some of the best pasta I've had. EDP ended his dinner with tiramisu but I had the dessert the Czech are famous for - a pancake with fruit, ice cream and whipped cream. It was amazing. It was sort of like a thick crepe and it was piled with strawberries and ice cream and whipped cream. I loved it. Despite thinking I wasn't very hungry, I gave a completely different impression when I finished my pasta and my pancake without any troubles.

After dinner, I came back to the hotel while EDP went back to the castle to take some more photos. He's been taking most of our pictures on his camera but I've had my point-and-shoot out. I'll leave you with a few photos from my camera. The good photos will have to wait :)

The city of a hundred spires

It's here. WE'RE here. We have just come back to our hotel after our first day in Prague. But let's go back a bit... Let's start with yesterday.
Yesterday, I got up early and took Penny over to the dog park for a good run. Then, it was home to get Penny bathed, get showered & dressed, get the last minute packing done, and get all of Penny's packing done. Shortly after 1, my parents picked EDP, Penny and I up and we took off for my Gran's for a visit. After a cup of tea, we headed over to the airport so that EDP and I could check in. We hadn't been able to check in online so we (read: I) wanted to get to the airport at least three hours early so we didn't have to rush through anything.
Well, the airport was really quiet. And after waiting for somewhere around 30 minutes to check in, we breezed through security and hiked over to our gate. EDP went to grab a snack and I settled in to wait for boarding. Not long after our snack, the plane started to board. I didn't understand why they were boarding so early so I took another look at my ticket. I thought we were leaving at 6:50. Nope. We were leaving at 6:10.
The flight was relatively smooth. We had one bit of turbulence with the seat belt sign on but other than that, it was good. The landing was smooth and we were on time. We cleared customs in Brussels and then headed over to our gate where our connecting flight was already boarding. It left right on time and was a great flight. We got to Prague with no problems, collected our bags and were ready to go.
We took a taxi to our hotel, where we stowed our bags and then decided to head down to the Old Town Square by way of the Charles Bridge after grabbing a quick bite to eat (apple strudel for me, cheese plate for EDP.) Our hotel is on a fairly long, steep hill with the castle at the top and the bridge at the bottom. We headed down to the bridge along the cobblestone roads and found our way to the Old Town Square and the astronomical clock. We went to the top of the tower to get a great view of the city (yes, including me - we just had to wait for my drugs to kick in.) Space was really cramped, though, and with so many people, it was hard to get a good view of anything. But what we did see what beautiful - and there were a LOT of spires to see, so it's not hard to understand where the "city of a hundred spires" tag comes from. Once we were back down in the square, we headed back up to the hotel to check in.
Our room is up on the third floor and is really more of a suite. We've got a lovely four poster bed with a little sitting area. We also have a large hall area where our luggage is residing and where the bathroom and another small bedroom opens off of. Hotel Green Lobster has turned out to be pretty good so far. Once we got our bags dropped, it was time for a shower and a nap (or a nap and a shower, for some of us.) Then it was back into the Old Town Square for dinner and a ghost walk.
EDP had found a restaurant in our guidebook he wanted to try so we were making our way down to it when we realized that he had expected me to remember where it was and I expected him to have the guidebook with him. We ended up finding it anyway and dinner down in their lower level. I had traditional Bohemian cabbage pancakes and EDP had some kind of platter with duck and ham and sausage and dumplings and cabbage and bread and who knows what else. I also dived right into drinking a beer with my dinner, something I'm not going to be adding to my short-list of worthy alcoholic beverages but it did get Thing 52 off my list.
Once dinner was over, we headed back into the square to wait for our tour to start. Our guide was Simon, who appeared to either be British or faking a British accent. He lead us around some gorgeous streets and alleys, telling us some of Prague's less-than-rosy past. It was a nice night for a walk and seeing a lot of the buildings lit up for night was beautiful. With the tour over, we headed back to our hotel where we've settled in for the night and I expect will be getting to sleep soon. We do have some lovely pictures, already, and I'd post them but I'm just too tired right now. Maybe tomorrow.

It's the final countdown...

1 hour since the bags have been at the door.

20 minutes until my parents come to pick us up.

3 hours until we're at the airport.

5 hours, 14 minutes until it's time for drugs.

5 hours, 44 minutes until the plane takes off.

Oh, and of course, here is the obligatory picture to prove I can pack light.  

If the rain in Spain falls mostly on the plains, where does it fall in Prague?

It would appear that it doesn't.  Current forecast for Prague is showing 23 and sunny every day we're there.  And Vienna won't be much different.  We'll see temperatures from 21 - 24 with mainly sunny conditions.

Vacation is looking promising.

Only about 3 weeks to go!

Tomorrow, it will be three weeks until we leave for our trip! Yay!

Amazingly, I haven't already gotten every single minute of every single day planned out. EDP has been reading our travel books - a little bit every day and we've got a pretty good idea of what we'll do but with only two cities, we can be a little bit more laid back with our itinerary.

What have we decided we're going? Well, I think I've already mentioned a few things but here's what we've got in mind...

Prague

The main attraction in Prague is Prague Castle. It's one of the oldest castles in Europe and is HUGE. We're planning an entire day to take it in since there's more than just the castle to see. There are a number of churches, royal gardens and the palace that will be wandered around. We'll also visit Charles Bridge while we're in this area. The bridge is one of Prague's most famous monuments, due to its amazing views.

The Jewish Quarter and the Old Town are planned for another day. The Jewish Quarter features a few museums and a cemetery that come highly recommended. Close to the Jewish Quarter is Old Town. The main attraction here is the Old Town Square, with it's astronomical clock. This is also where Wenceslas Square is. It's a good thing we aren't going at Christmas time because I would definitely be singing Good King Wenceslas in the square if it was.

Beyond that, we also have tickets to see an opera at the Prague National Theatre (click the link, the pictures are stunning). We're seeing the Bartered Bride, composed by Smetana, a Czech composer. We have box seats for the performance, which sounds very fancy!

We also have a day trip planned out to Karlovy Vary, one of the most famous hot springs in the Czech Republic. Currently, the plan is to hike some of the trails in the area followed by booking a couple of spa treatments, including a dip in one of the famous hot springs.

Vienna

Originally, we had planned on taking an overnight train into Vienna. The price we found online was very reasonable and we'd save a night on a hotel. Then, when I tried to book the tickets, we discovered you have to buy a ticket for the train AND a ticket for the sleeper car. That made the price less reasonable. So we decided to take an earlier train and stay an extra night in Vienna. Unfortunately, our hotel was fully booked up so we booked a night at a nearby hotel and will have to move after our first night. A bit of an inconvenience but we'll manage :P

Once we're in Vienna, EDP's friend, Wayne, will be meeting up with us. Wayne is currently living in Germany so he's going to make the short trip to Austria and hang out with us for a bit. Yay!

Vienna will be a bit busier for us than Prague. There's a bit more going on there. Our cultural event will be seeing the Vienna Boys Choir and we'll be day tripping to Durnstein and the Melk Abbey. The plan is to rent a car and visit Durnstein, a little walled town where Richard the Lionhearted was imprisoned. It also features the ruins of Kuenringer Castle, which is claimed to have inspired the Brothers Grimm. There is also an Abbey not too far away that we might try to fit in and I'm pretty sure EDP told me about another little town but I can't remember what it was.

Back in Vienna, we're going to be taking a day with Shonbrunn Palace, it's gardens and it's zoo. Shonbrunn is a major tourist attraction and it's where the court went during the summer. The complex is enormous, which is why we'll be taking an entire day for it.

Another day will include a visit to the Imperial Palace, where we'll go to the Treasury to see the imperial crowns of the Holy Roman and Austrian Empires. This is the only part of the palace we're definitely planning on seeing but we'll check out anything else that catches our eye.

We're also considering a museum or two but will probably wait for Wayne to let us know if there's anything he wants to see before we make too many more decisions.

I think that pretty much covers everything we've figured out so far. I'm pretty excited the trip is so close now. Time to start packing, I think!!

Czech this out...

You thought we were going to Chile, didn't you?  Well, we were planning a trip to Chile in the fall but we've decided to postpone it for now and head over to Europe instead.  So where are we going?

Prague and Vienna.

Yeah, I know, right?  It's going to be awesome.

We've pulled this trip together rather quickly.  Less than two weeks ago, the idea of postponing Chile came up.  Now, we've got our vacation time approved (and I don't just mean me - EDP scheduled his time off already, too), flights and hotels booked, and have started the lists of what we want to see.  And really, most of it has come together in the last three days.  And we haven't even bought our guidebooks yet.  

So now it's time to start the travel blog and record all of the details.  For those interested:

• We depart from Toronto on September 24 in the evening. We land in Prague around 10 in the morning on September 25.

• From there, we'll make our way to Hotel Residence Green Lobster. Seriously, that's what it's called.

Hotel Residence Green Lobster, Prague

We'll spend 4 days in Prague, hopefully taking in an opera, touring Prague castle & the Charles Bridge and seeing if we can make our way to one of the hot springs, which Prague is famous for.  We also hear that Prague is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe so we'll be spending lots of time drinking it all in

• After we've spent our time there, we'll take the September 29 overnight train to Vienna and check in at our Vienna hotel, Pentahotel, for the next 4 days.

Pentahotel, Vienna

• While in Vienna we'll be seeing a performance from the Vienna Boys Choir (tickets already booked!) and visiting Schönbrunn Palace, along with it's gardens and zoo

• Early in the morning on October 4, we'll head to the Vienna airport and fly back to Canada.

So yeah, a bit of a change of plans but we're pretty excited about what's coming up in about two months.  It will be different from our Italy trip.  We'll only have two hotels instead of five so we can settle in a bit more, I'll have my netbook with me to blog frequently, and EDP now has a really nice camera so we'll get some amazing photos.

We're looking forward to spending the next two months figuring out everything we'll see.  So far, it's looking like the Prague half of our trip will be a bit more relaxed and laid back whereas Vienna seems to have a lot more going on so will likely be a bit busier.  I think EDP is probably most excited about the fact that I won't be whining to stop for gelato every 15 minutes.  But I hear the strudel in Vienna is amazing and apparently, the most famous dessert in the Czech Republic is a pancake stuffed with ice cream & fruit and topped with whipped cream so I don't think I'll be lacking in the sweets department.

Also, for those of you keeping score - while there aren't any volcanoes to climb or waters for snorkeling in Prague or Vienna, I'm looking to cross of Thing 58 and Thing 93 while in Prague and Thing 88 in Vienna.