What an amazing city! The first day we walked around, I didn't know where to look, there were so many beautiful, ornate houses in every street in the old town!
We fully enjoyed every minute of our trip and I would love to go back and discover some more.... 4 days just isn't enough!
The first day was beautiful and sunny, 30°C, and we spent the day walking around the old town, starting at Charles bridge, before taking a boat trip on the Vltava river, then lunch at a cheap and cheerful vegan place (Country Life). In the afternoon we went up the tower of the Old Town Hall and walked around some more.
Around 6 p.m. it started raining and we took refuge in a lovely little pub (Le Corsaire), had a couple of beers and a light salad for dinner, before heading back to our hotel after the rain cleared.
A statue on Charles Bridge
Charles Bridge seen from the river
Us at the top of the Old Town Hall
View from the top of the Old Town Hall
On Charles bridge at duskThe thunder storm and rain picked up again during the night and the next day it was still raining heavily, so we took refuge in the museum of modern art, housed in the impressive Veletržní Palace.
It took us over 3 hours to walk through the whole 6 floors of this massive museum, so after that we were ready for lunch, which we took at nearby La Crêperie. A yummy spinach pancake and carrot cake later, and still facing torrential rain, we decided to head to a shopping center in town for some window shopping.
Later on, the rain had calmed down, so we made our way to the Municipal building for a drink in its wonderful Art Nouveau café, then walked around some more, stopping at Nike and G-Star so Bart could spend some cash ;-). Dinner was at Thaï restaurant Orange Moon, another lovely place recommended by our Rough Guide.
The impressive interior of Veletržní Palace - 6 floors of modern art
Some modern art
Having fun in the rain
The Art Nouveau café of the Municipal houseOn the third day - our anniversary! - we finally made our way up to Prague Castle and wandered through its impressive interior - actually a very long courtyart surrounded by a number of completely mismatched buildings. A local vineyard on the path back into town offered a welcome excuse for a break and a nice glass of wine.
Back in town we had lunch on the waterfront at restaurant Hergetova Cihelna before visiting nearby Kafka museum - a depressing account of his life, made even more dismal by the installations in the exhibition... coming out into the sunshine, I was just happy to be alive and feel the sun on my face!
We wandered through a park to the Kampa museum (more modern art) but opted for a nice relaxing drink on the waterfront terrace instead of another museum visit :-)
At 7 we headed off towards the next bridge up and, spotting the dancing house, made a quick detour to take a look at it before heading down river again to the pier where the Jazz boat was awaiting. I had booked us a table for dinner and live jazz music during a 2.5 hour river cruise and it was absolutely perfect! We bought the jazz group's CD and got the musicians to sign it for us as a nice souvenir. We arrived back at the hotel at midnight, exhausted but happy...
Enjoying a glass of wine with a view
A curious statue by artist David Cerny in front of the Kafka Museum - the men spell out Czech poems with their pee...
The dancing house
View of the river from the jazz boat
Live jazz with the Frantisek Uhlir TeamMonday arrived fast and we barely had time to pack our bags, put them in a locker at the station, have a quick - but very filling - Czech lunch and make one last museum visit before it was time to head to the airport. As we couldn't agree on which museum we wanted to see, I opted for a visit to the Mucha museum (I love his work), while Bart went to the museum of Communism (one depressing museum on this trip was enough for me!).
Also, a final visit to the local Adidas store means I am now the happy owner of the Adidas originals I had been looking for.
One of Mucha's beautiful drawingsBack in Brussels and it's Bart's birthday today (37!) as well as being a national holiday, so we're relaxing at home with no special plans.
