A day in Praha

If we were the kind of people who counted steps………lets just say we’ve walked A LOT in the last 24 hours. It’s been really nice to spend so much time outside, the weather (despite some rain) has been wonderful, and we’ve met a lot of friendly people here in Praha.

As mentioned in the last post we had a bit of a late start to our morning which was super nice to sleep in and not stress about a schedule (yes, Kate is trying very hard not to schedule things!). We left the apartment mid-morning and began our walking tour of the city – starting with the most important meal of the day: Brunch. We found an AMAZING little place called La Bottega. At first we saw a ton of people going to the restaurant next door however we found the real gem. The wait staff was super friendly and the place was so cute! They had a whole case of pastries, coffee served any way you want it, and a lunch menu that was out of this world. Brett had the fillet and as an expert on steak, he loved it! I had a pasta rigatoni with octopus ragu.

You know a place is legit when the Pretty Woman song comes on the radio and they have a quote by George Clooney!

After our filling brunch we departed for the Charles Bridge. It was a crazy mess of tourists, which was a little surprising given we thought we are traveling in the shoulder season. We weaved our way across the bridge side stepping selfie-sticks and avoiding the artist stands and performers along the way. Once we made it across we visited the little shops where Czech artists sell their trades and crafts. We briefly saw the castle before heading back to Old Town Prague.

We walked around Old Town square and saw the Astronomical Clock, more tourists and lots of street performers. What is a good way to clear all the tourists you might ask? A rainstorm!! It came on strongly and suddenly and in an instant all of the tourists ran from the square all the while we calmly put on our rain coats and kept on going. Almost as quickly as it came on the rain passed and there where little showers the rest of the afternoon. In front of the Astronomical Clock we saw a Bentley (€200k), a Rolls Royce Phantom (€450k) and a Rolls Royce Ghost (€350k). In total, there was probably around €100k worth of vehicles sitting there among the tourists! Some were even ballsy enough to touch them!

One of the things I really wanted to see while we were in Prague was the National Library, also known as the Klementinum Library. It is a very old baroque library that is the oldest library in the world, first opened in 1772. There are many unique things about this library however one amazing fact is that everything in the library is pristine and in its original condition. It has survived wars, communism and the worst the world has had to offer. It is also still very much a working library used by experts across many disciplines. All 21,000 books have been catalogued and are searchable using the public library system. Should you want to use one of these books you must apply for a special permit to be approved access. For this reason, tourists are not allowed to walk through the library itself, or even take pictures from afar. I’ve included a picture from google below but it hardly does justice to the magnificent room. The smell of old books hits you and its hard to let your gaze rest any one place as there is so much detail to take in. I’m very excited we got to see this amazing piece of history! There is so much to tell about this room but one last fact is there are 14 hand crafted globes in the library ranging in sizes. Of these at least 2 were specifically designed for the baroque library. One of the most unique ones was a true work of art. The artist used real diamonds in the globe to represent the stars and constellations. They found that if you shine a light on the globe it will shine as if with daylight, and when you take the light away it continues to refract within the globe and the diamonds shine like the night sky!

There is so much more to be said about this amazing library but I’ve rambled on quite a bit already. Our tour finished with a visit to the astrological tower. We climbed 380 tiny, old, wooden steps to get to the top. The view was worth every step!!

We finished our day in a traditional Czech manner – getting a Pivo (aka Beer!). We then went home to take our last sketchy elevator ride to our apartment.

This morning (Oct. 2nd ~7am) we are headed to Český Krumlov to experience the southern region of Czechia. We are taking a bus mid-morning and it should be a few hours ride before we get there. It will be nice to see more of the countryside as we make our way south.