Good Kids: Prague (take two)

Arriving in Prague was a bit of a disaster - the traffic into the city was painfully slow and congested, and it was pissing rain by the time we parked our car near the apartment we had booked (where Jeremi and I had stayed before when visiting in July). We all took the tram into the city centre to go pick up the key from the agency that rents the apartments, only to be told that we'd been moved to another flat. This happened the last time as well, but we were happy about it then as we were moved to a bigger place, near where our other friends were staying. This time we were moved to a smaller place (though still big enough), and right downtown, which meant no pesky trams for us. While this was good, poor Jeremi and Chris were sent back across the city to pick up the car (with all our luggage) to bring it by the new flat, and then Jeremi and I set out with the car (and a newly purchased map of Prague) to bring it to one of the very cheap and secure park and ride locations at the end of the metro lines. (Highly recommended to anyone thinking of visiting Prague with a car.)

We ended up gettin back quite late, made even later as we wandered the streets trying to find some sort of takeout food we could bring back to the apartment that night, as we were all starving and too tired to go out. We were all tired, and Jeremi was a champ, proving himself yet again as the hero of our vacation. (I was much whinier about wandering around hungry.) And then the next morning he was up first, and found a grocery store to buy us all food for breakfast and snacks while the rest of us were still sleeping. He's pretty fantastic. (There are few things I love more than waking up to find that food has mysteriously appeared during the night.)

And so we spent a few days wandering around Prague, seeing the sights. Here are a few taken from the tower at the old Rathaus (city hall) on one of the squares in the old city. You can see the people down below crowding around to see the astronomical clock do its thing on the hour. We kept missing the clock during our passes through the city centre, but finally did manage to catch it before we left. From this height you can see how intricate some of the cobblestone patterns are.

It really was warm and lovely this day - Jeremi was in shorts, and I was fine without a sweater (or sleeves).

There are some lovely views over the city from the tower as well.

We thought it best not to do any baby-dangling from that height, so one of us stayed inside the glassed-in section with Owen, and charmed the people on the outside through the glass. Owen also really, really likes smooshing his tongue and lips and gums against the cool glass, which entertained the people on the other side to no end.

Here he is trying it again, at a restaurant.

Some lovely mosaic-tiled ceiling from the old Rathaus:

And here's one of the old crystal shops, which has the entire outside of the building covered in some sort of fresco (hard to see well here). Prague really is an ornate city.

Jeremi was trying to make me share my pastry here... ...they're these pieces of dough spiralled around some sort of bar, which are then cooked from the outside in. Quite tasty when fresh, and they come apart just like they're put together.

The next day we decided to check out the palace on the other side of the river. Jeremi and I didn't make it there last time, so it was new for us too. It was quite a hike uphill to get there though, and pushing the Owen the whole way made sure I got my exercise for the day.

Here's Owen, abandoned in one of the palatial courtyards. (After seeing how cute he looked here, I wished we'd taken more pictures of "abandoned" Owen throughout the trip.)

Chris just loved this guy, and his giant club.

From up at the palace there were also some views of the city, if you were tall enough to see over the wall. We thought this was hysterical at the time, but the picture really doesn't make it so clear - I'm staring at the bricks while Jeremi points out the beautiful things on the other side.

Another highlight of this trip was garlic-flavoured potato chips. I know this sounds silly, but they were so incredibly delicious. We tried a brand from a grocery store which were so-so, but this little deli had these hand-stapled plastic bags filled with chips so garlicky that it made your mouth burn, and you could taste it the next morning. I couldn't get enough of them, and Chris was busy working out his distribution plans for a North American expansion of the product. While we don't actually have pictures of the chips, you can see some beer and sausages in the deli window.