Europe Trip Day 6

I feel totally spoiled when we stay at Marriott hotels with Mark’s Gold status.  We get free breakfasts and the Executive Lounge here is awesome.   Free drinks and snacks all day long.  We’ve definitely been taking advantage of the drinks so we don’t have to spend $3 on a bottle of water.  I have a greater appreciation for restaurants in the U.S. who give you water for free.  No such thing here. 

We woke early to take advantage of the full day we have here in Prague.  I just love this city.  After meeting the DeWitts in the lobby we headed out to walk across the river on the Charles Bridge which had multiple statues of Saints along the sides.  Here’s one of them with the castle in the background.  I’m pretty sure we burned our retinas in this picture, the sun was so bright.

We did notice that one statue was missing so I had to takes its place.  The spot just looked so bare.

Here we are at the entrance to the castle.  Prague Castle is the largest castle in the world.  Must be pretty important since they  have armed guards at the gates.  Or it’s just for show.

I told Mark he kept doing the same pose in all the pictures.  This is what I got in response.

The castle grounds were huge so we just walked around taking in the sights.  We stopped to go inside the St. Vitus Cathedral along with hundreds of other people.  Here’s the backside of the Cathedral.

We had hoped the haze would have burned off by the time we reached the top of the hill surrounding the castle but no such luck.  So this was the best view we could get.

On the way back across Charles Bridge Myrna and I had fun looking at all the venders.  I did find an awesome bracelet that I just had to have.  It’s kind of nice buying things here.  I have no idea how much I’m really spending when it says 300 Czech Crowns for the price.  Ignorance is bliss, right?  I’ve quit asking  Mark how much it converts to in USD since it might deter me from buying something.  I’m starting to get better at converting Euros in my head so I have a harder time spending money when we are in Germany. 

Here’s the busy Charles Bridge with all the venders.

We saw the oldest functioning astronomical clock, Orloj.  We just happened to pass by right at noon and we were able to here the bells and see the moving statues come alive for a brief show. 

Around noon our legs were getting tired so we stopped by a local grocery store and bought stuff for yummy salami, mozzarella and basil sandwiches.  It made me miss Rome since that was our lunch of choice every day there.  We propped our feet up for a few hours after eating and just relaxed in our hotel room so we could wait for the girls to wake up and chat with us.  Just before dinner time we headed back out to the city to climb up to the top of Prague Tower. 

The Tower was high up enough that it even gave me some dizziness.  I was proud of Mark, though.  He climbed up there with me and even went out on the outer walkway.  Here’s proof…

The walkway was maybe three feet across and there were lots of people up there jostling to get by.  The walkway went all the way around and I was able to get some good pictures since the haze burned off.  Here is my favorite square.  Always good snacks and things to see here. 

Here’s the Prague Castle we went to earlier. 

And look at all those little ants down there.  Those buildings are super tall.  Just goes to show how high up we really were.

Just before descending we were able to witness the trumpeter play on the hour his little ditty.  Then it was back down the many steps to the bottom.  We sat on a bench to rest our legs and started getting silly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finally found the Italian restaurant we were looking for for dinner where we ate gnocchi and calzone and then headed to my favorite dessert place for my last trdelnik pastry.  This time I remembered to get pictures of this yummy goodness.

Oh, Prague how we will miss you.  We will miss this beautiful city and the wonderful souvenir shopping.  Well, at least I will miss the shopping.  Tomorrow is our long drive back to Amsterdam.  Tonight we have to figure out how to fit all our stuff into our three suitcases.  That should be fun.  Toodles!