Day Three in Prague (Sunday 10th September 2017)

Today was pretty quiet day wandering around Prague. Quite a bit of walking and lots or tram rides. The day started with a reconnaissance mission to find out where tomorrow’s bus to Nuremberg will leave from. We knew it left from the Prague Central Station but we thought it prudent to know exactly from where within the complex. The last thing I wanted to be doing tomorrow morning was rushing around, in a crowd of people trying to quickly and correctly interpret and understand signs in Czech. So, instead, we did that today!

After we successfully executed our mission we strolled over to Wenceslas Square, less than a kilometre from the station. As the name suggests, the square, which is actually very long and, relative to its length, quite narrow, a memorial to the same chap of the Christmas Carol fame. He’s much older than I thought, leaving his mark on Prague (and Christmas) during the very late part of the 1^st millennium. I wonder if his decedents still collect royalties from the song? The square rolls down the hill from Wilsonova Avenue for about a kilometer with good king Wenceslas atop his steed with a commanding view of all that’s going on around him.

After a coffee at the Wenceslas Cafe (where else) we found our way to the area near Cafe Louvre again. A “hole-in-the-wall” newsagent sold us two all-day tram tickets (about AUD 7.00 ea) and we jumped on the next tram planning to look at the Jewish quarter. We overshot the mark by one stop so we wandered back in thr direction from whence we had come. Kerry was keen to visit the old Jewish cemetery but that didn’t eventuate because access to it was all wrapped up in one ticket that provided access to all the significant buildings of that quarter of town. Neither one of us wanted to see the Jewish sites enough to be prepared to actually pay to see them. So we left, after Kerry bought some ear-rings from a street stall. On the way out we passed a WC so thought we’d spend a penny before we moved on. At every WC in Prague (and they are everywhere) to make a deposit one must first make a deposit onto a plate at the entrance of KOR 10.00 (about AUD 0.70). I’ve got no problem with that at all. It’s just the way it is in Europe and the facilities are always fresh and clean. Well, bugger me, at his one the price was KOR 15.00. That’s a 50% mark-up!! If that’s not extortion, then I don’t know what is. How to win friends and influence people!

Next we headed for the Vinohrady district of the New Town (Nové Město) around the Peace Square (Namesti Miru). The square is dominated buy the beautiful Gothic St. Ludmila's Church. Unfortunately the church was locked but I managed to get a couple of shots of the inside through a window. Next we walked over to another famous church completed in 1932, The Church of the Most Sacred Heart of Our Lord. It was locked too. I’m sure it’s Sunday and we’re in a Roman Catholic State!

The No. 13 tram took us back to where we could pick-up the No. 22 back into town. A mis calculation of where the tram would turn was us back in the other side of the river. No problems! We’ll just get off and catch the next one back. The convenience of having an all-day tram ticket! Where we alighted was right in front of a memorial to all the Czech people who’s lives had been lost or destroyed because of the “despotic oppression of the communist regime”. The memorial was comprised of about eight figures of the same man. As one moved from the first figure in the front back each subsequent figure was diminished compared to its predecessor. The final figure was barely recognisable as being the same as the man at the front.

Our “recovery” tram took us back to the Old Town near the Charles Bridge. We shouted ourselves another trdelnik (sweet roll. Kerry’s had ice-cream in the middle) and then went in search of a place fro a drink as beer o’clock was fast approaching. We found a lovely little hotel called Černý slon (The Black Elephant) in the shadows of the Church of Our Lady before Týn Just 30m beyond the Old Town Square. A tip for travelers to Prague. Certain things always pop up to serve as a benchmark for the cost of things in an establishment or an area. In Prague, for me, it was the price of beer. Half a litre of local beer (the standard serving :) ) should be KOR 60-70 as it was at the Black Elephant and the place next door. Thirty metres away in the Old Town Square it was at least twice that price, if not more.

We decided to stay and eat in the hotel’s restaurant. The barman cum waiter showed us to a table in a beautifully appointed, sandstone-walled, high-vaulted ceiling that dated back to 1530. Needless to say the ambiance was something special. A younger couple followed us in with their French Bulldog in tow. He was a lovely chap who just wanted a rub and a scratch (the dog, not the man). We struck up a conversation with the couple who were lovely too. After a lovely mea and a very different glass of the local Cabernet we walked back to Republic Square and caught the No 8. back to the hotel to prepare for tomorrow’s journey to Frankfurt.