First Full Day in Prague
We awoke on Monday morning to beautiful blue skies and a walking tour at 10 am. We walked up to the main street, found the shop that sold train tickets and hopped on a train. There was a gentleman sitting with headphones on waiting for the train so I asked if he spoke English. He took off his headphones and started talking like an American. It turns out that he was from North Carolina and has been living in Prague since 2001. He is a dual citizen since birth and loves his life here and would never move back. His wife is Czech and he has no reason to return. He provided us with directions, what stop to get off and which stop to go to in order to find our tour.
We jumped off the tram and headed into the metro underground. The gentleman told us a stop that started with an S and Ilise saw a stop that looked similar and we jumped on the train. Usually I’m the one making sure we go in the right direction, but Ilise seemed to have it handled. About 15 minutes later we exit the metro to find ourselves in the suburbs, we had gone in the exact opposite direction from where we needed to be! We returned to the subway and headed back in the opposite direction. Our walking tour was scheduled for 10 am and it was now 9:42 and it seemed like we would miss our tour, but they always start late and I figured everything would work out exactly as it should. We arrived to find that our 10 am tour had just left but that we could join the 10:45 am tour, which worked out just fine for us.
We started touring with Katrina, a young lady from Belarus. She was extremely knowledgeable and energetic. Katrina told us about everything in the Old Town, she provided us with history dating back over 1,000 years. We learned about how the city was built, their greatest kings and also about many of the amazing buildings we were looking at in the city. Prague is extremely beautiful in the same way that Budapest was. The buildings are unique and the river cuts right through the heart of the city. We didn’t get much time to walk along to river, but we have 10 days here and I’m sure we will get plenty of time to do that. We toured for over 3 1/2 hours, our longest free walking tour yet, and we were able to talk with a number of the others on the tour. We saw much of the Old Town area and the Jewish Quarter and ended up looking at Prague Castle, which is the largest mid-evil castle in the world. We bought tickets to view the castle that we will use on another day.
After the tour we headed straight for, you guessed it, gelato! I must say that since we left Italy the gelato is just not the same. We took some time to relax in the square a bit and then jumped on the metro back to our apartment to get some rest. We have done a lot of touring the past few weeks and it’s time for all of us to get some downtime. With an extended stay here we can take the time to relax and enjoy the city. Upon our return I also walked across the street to a local tennis club that I noticed when we arrived. I spoke with Jarda about the possibility of playing some tennis and he asked if I could be there at 8 am today and we would hit. Once he understood my level he could suggest other players that I can play against. I’m looking forward to playing some tennis and getting a good workout. It has been almost 4 months since I played, but I know I will enjoy the sweat. Off to the courts now!
To a life well lived!
Some extra pics from today:
Larry Kesslin 