Where people flock to a clock…a death clock…
June 21-22, 2024
We took a train from Vienna to Prague and were happy to get booked in the family car. We shared it with one other family and it had a little sofa and tv which mean they got to move around and we didn’t have to worry about being loud. The views from the train also offered a little peek at the Czech Republic and there were many cute towns, farms, and rolling hills. It was a beautiful ride. When we arrived, we hopped on a tram to our hotel which is located up the hill behind Prague Castle. As the tram climbed each hill we knew we will be relying heavily on their transit, as this does not seem like a hike we want to take with Liam daily.
It’s really a beautiful city
After checking in we headed right down the street to Strahov Monestary Brewery, which is within grounds of the monestary that was founded in 1142, and the brewery has apparently been around for over 600 years. We got a table in the garden, but a storm started so we moved into the beer hall. It was a great dinner and night. As we left, we could see it would continue to storm a bit on and off so we decided to stay nearby and explore a bit more. First, we walked over to viewpoints just outside of the monastery and were blown away by the view of the city. Prague may be the prettiest city we have visited yet! We continued strolling a bit and realized we had stumbled upon the castle. At this point it was nearly empty because of the rain so we started to walk through it to get a peek without all the tourists. It was beautiful but it was late and the storms picked up again so we headed back and will make sure to cover more of it in the next couple days.
On our second day (first full day here), we decided to explore the old part of the city. We began at Wenceslas Square. It is often remembered as a site for political demonstration and we recognize it most for the revolution from the Soviets. We took in the sight of the massive statue of Wenceslas on his horse and the National Musuem sitting behind it. We also took in just how packed the city is with tourists, which we think will only get busier as we get more into the center. Then, we headed to the Franz Kafka head statue. This seems to be the equivalent of our Bean statue downtown with everyone flocking to take pictures of the shiny reflective figure. Every 15 minutes the head would make small turns and on the hour we got to see the full show, which it rotated in various routines until making a full rotation.
We then started walking to the Old Town Square, wandering down streets that would catch our eye. We enjoyed seeing another work of David Cerny, who seems to have made every piece of sculptural art here. This was a fighter plane on the side of a mall with moving butterfly wings instead of airplane wings.
After strolling through more streets, we stumbled onto a street market and and grabbed some tasty hot dogs and sausages. We then found the square and the astronomical clock! It truly is a sight to see, and explains why just so many people crowd around to see it. We eavesdropped on a nearby tour and learned the meaning of the story that takes place each hour. On the hour, the skeleton ring the bell to remind us that we are an hour closer to death so we shouldn’t sin. Surrounding him are several statues representing the cardinal sins.
Charles Bridge is peaceful when not on it
We continued walking the streets, and were hoping to explore the Jewish Quarter more but realized it is the Sabbath so everything is closed. We will be back to visit this area tomorrow! Instead, we made our way to the river. We checked out views of the famous Charles Bridge. It is beautiful and long, and incredibly packed with people. We made our way to the bridge and braved the crowds to cross it. We took in all the street performers, huge statues, and views of the river below. After making it across we found a little park that let Liam run around while we sat and relaxed in the shade while taking in more views of the bridge and river. We went to Lokal, a beer hall for dinner and enjoyed the festive environment and traditional Czech food.
