Prague, Czech Republic

After arriving in Prague after driving from Krakow it was getting later in the day so we headed for a walking tour of the city in the night time. We got on the metro system and due to some issues with one of the lines we had to get off at Muzeum and walk a bit further. This wasn't a problem as the walk down the hill was quite enjoyable.

I did not post all of the photos I took on the walking tour as my camera doesn't like night time very much. We walked through the Wenceslas Square before walking into the Old Town area of Prague.  Below is the Astronomical clock on the Old Town City Hall.  The clock was first installed in 1410, making it the third-oldest astronomical clock in the world and the oldest one still working.

We kept walking and crossed Charles Bridge which was very beautiful. I didn't take any photos because I knew they would not turn out well so just enjoyed the walk. I stopped enjoying the walk as we headed up the hill towards Prague Castle. It was quite the hill with lots of stairs. If I were to do it again, I would do it at a much more leisurely pace, possibly with an ice cream and a lot of stops involved.

The Prague Castle below is named by the Guinness Book of Records as the largest ancient castle in the world. It occupied an area of almost 70,000 m², at about 570 meters in length and an average of about 130 meters wide.

Below is St. Vitus Cathedral, it is located within Prague Castle.  What I didn't know until it was too late for me to go back and visit the Cathedral was that  the famous Czech Art Nouveau painter Alfons Mucha decorated the new windows in the north part of nave. Alfona Mucha is my favourite artist. 

The backside of the cathedral. It was very large and impressive looking at night. After we finished walking around Prague Castle, admiring the views over the city we headed back down. A few of us didn't want to walk towards the metro as the closest one was closed so we ended up taking a cab.  

Now the next part of this post will be taking place after my Prague Zoo post.  After leaving the zoo, I caught the bus back to the metro station and carrying my beloved Tapir, I headed onto the metro. My ultimate goal of the day was to get to the Mucha Museum. Anything else that happened was just by chance. 

 Due to the metro station having one line closed it was a bit difficult to map out where I was going but I managed to take the metro and switch stations without a problem. I got off in the Old Town area of the city and walked to the Mucha Museum.

Below is some of his work that I have found through google images as I was unable to take photos in the museum. Everything was just so amazingly beautiful up close. I really wished that Stephanie had been there with me as we both share a love of him.

After leaving the museum I did not have any real plans except to wander and get food in my stomach. The architecture of Prague is very cool and there is a lot of different buildings. Its also very crowded with tourists, or at least thats how I found it.  I followed along my map that I had got from the hostel and wandered around the city on my own. I bumped into a few people from my group but mostly juts stayed on my own exploring.

 I ended up getting a really tasty sausage from a vendor and ate it while people watching in the market place. They had a lot of booths set up for Easter.  I spotted another Alfons Mucha exhibit in one of the buildings and hurried over to check it out.  Below is a very poor photo of the wall by the staircase as I was leaving it. I took it with my phone. The exhibit was very good, as I had just been the museum I really enjoyed the exhibit and it gave me a good view into his work. Seeing some of his paintings I had never before seen was the best part. The fact they were all original pieces of his work. It was so great!

After the Mucha exhibit I went nearby and checked out the Tim Burton exhibit they were having in a really cool old building. I've always been a fan of Tim Burton movies. Since I didn't have any big plans for the day seeing all these extra exhibits was great. The Tim Burton was excellent and showed a lot of his inspirations and drawings over the course of his career.

Above is a photo of one of the towers by Charles Bridge. I had wandered over to the bridge having thought to cross it but the amount of people swarming it changed my mind. I snapped a photo and headed back to wander more.

Eventually I headed back to the hostel and found a Mexican restaurant nearby. As it was my last night in Czech Republic and I hadn't really had much to eat besides that sausage earlier. I decided I would order a traditional Czech meal. Sure, I was at a Mexican restaurant but they were the ones offering up traditional food.   I'm not about to call myself weird.

Looks disgusting doesn't it? It was delicious though. It was roasted beef tenderloin in creamy vegetable sauce, cranberries and bread dumplings. The menu said to not go home without trying it so try it I did and I was not disappointed. I'm getting used to going into restaurants and eating by myself. 

Anyways, sorry for the utter lack of photos of Prague. I really thought I took more than this but these are pretty much it. I really enjoyed the zoo, all of the Mucha aspects of it and would definitely return to explore more of the city as long as it wasn't so crowded.