Prague - last two days

Day 13
This picture seems to sum up Prague: Beautiful architecture, scenery, and BEER.

I'm running a few days behind on the blog so this next entry might be brief!

We began our day later than we should have - as has become the norm. It's easy to stay up too late on these lovely summer days! We wandered around the Mala Strana neighborhood in search of breakfast. On the way, we spotted the John Lennon Freedom Wall as well as a charming peeing statue. Ha ha!

We found the somewhat hidden Wallenstein Palace Gardens near our apartment. Somehow all the tour groups had found it as well. Oh well.

We took the metro to the Zizkov neighborhood to avoid crowds and to see the impressive TV tower. The tower is huge and also known for its crawling babies. That's right. There are huge crawling babies all over the tower. I believe the artist responsible for the babies is also created the peeing statue above. We took the speedy elevator to the top for some impressive views over the city. Our hometown feels so small after seeing the size of some of these European cities.

We found a nearby playgrounnd (Vrch Svateho Kriz) with a historic pub nearby (Parukarka). A great hour diversion for the kids to let off some steam.

DD#2 has become quite obsessed with fresh apricots. They are in season here and fruit is sold at little stands all over the place. She has eaten a ridiculous number of apricots and insists we buy more whenever we see them. It's hard to say no when your kid wants fruit so we've been indulging her passion. It's pretty cute.

We decided to keep the playground streak alive and head to one far from the town center - Krouzky na Vltave. The tram ride was relaxing and gave us energy for what was the most challenging (and dangerous) of all the playgrounds I have seen. Holy cow! I actually climbed up to the top of this thing and braved a slide just to see. Scary! We were actually happy a storm came through with heavy rain so we had an excuse to leave the playground before someone broke an arm.

We enjoyed the dry tram ride back into the city center. DH was especially happy that I found a beer stop that reminded us somewhat of our favorite beer haunt back home. Pivovarsky Klub is highly recommended.

After a break at our apartment, we headed out yet again for dinner. We found a nice Czech place in the Old Town that happened to be playing the final World Cup game. Perfect!

Day 14 - Last Day in Prague

I attempted to get up sort of early for a nice run along the Vlatva River. We finally got ourselves together and headed into the main part of the city. After four nights, we realized that we had spent little time in the city's center. We were set on a grand cafe experience on our last morning in Prague. The Grand Orient Cafe was certainly grand and the cake and coffee/hot chocolate was a sugary start to the day!

So many beautiful views all around the city.

DH and I visited Prague twice about 11 years ago. Since then, it seems tourism has escalated and capitalism is going strong. Who knew KFC would be so popular in Eastern Europe? Street entertainers were everywhere. We were particularly intrigued by this man floating mid-air. Clearly some sort of contraption is involved. Hmmm...

We probably walked 5-6 miles today wandering, shopping, gawking, and enjoying the scene. Eventually we ended up back at the river and decided to rent a paddle boat for an hour. A great work-out and wonderful views. Again.

We ended our 5 nights in Prague with an outdoor Indian meal. We were craving some spicy food! Even though Prague has become more crowded I know I will be back again someday. It's such a beautiful city and still affordable. We really enjoyed exploring some of the neighborhoods away from the city center.