Prague & Budapest - Day 2- Prague

After a long night’s sleep, we were refreshed and ready to hit the other side of the river and some of the major attractions.  We walked along the river and then took a route up the hill that wound through a small vineyard. The destination was Prague Castle; it’s very prominently placed atop the hill and we had been looking at it from the other side of the river, but it was really great up close.  It’s not just a tourist attraction though, it is the official seat of the Czech president.

We walked through the Golden Lane section, which are basically old rowhomes that have been turned into historic scenes or little shops on a very narrow alley. Apparently soldiers and guards used to dwell here and surprisingly people actually lived here until the early 1960s! At the end of this area, you come upon Daliborka Tower, which is actually named for the first prisoner interned there and is from the late 1400s. There is a legend about him actually, about how he learned to play the fiddle in jail and people used to flock to listen to him outside his cell. According to the informational plaque inside, this is baloney—apparently the story sprung from the use of the word fiddle in relation to a torture device not an actual musical instrument, but clearly the charm of the story and the tower being named after him perpetuates the myth.

The setup of the castle is really great for visitors, they flow the traffic through the different areas and the wide open squares really lend themselves to some great photos (stay tuned!). A little further up the hill on the right was St. George’s basilica which was a lovely church. While it’s the oldest preserved church building of the castle, there’s not much else to say as you see the back of St Vitus’ Cathedral and frankly, there is no comparison. The cathedral is huge and dramatic and really steals all the attention on this square.

Before we went into the cathedral though, we first took a quick spin through the Castle seeing the Great Hall, the council room, and a room that housed the land rolls (aka titles). The Great Hall Gothic Vladislav Hall) has a fantastic vaulted ceiling and is actually where the presidential elections take place (every 5 years). The castle has been around since the 9^th century, but the oldest parts of the palace are from the 1100s.

Exiting the castle, we made our way across the square to the breathtaking St Vitus Cathedral.  Amazingly enough, though the foundation stone was laid in 1344, it was not truly complete until 1929. It’s an exquisite building, but still pretty crazy to think it took almost 600 years to build this cathedral. Inside, you’re immediately swept up by the sheer scale of the nave—it has a very tall ceiling and large arched windows that contribute to the overall grandeur. The stained glass was also beautiful during the early-afternoon time we stopped; as the light flowed in, the colors really came to life. With beautiful alter,s an enormous organ, and also neat art (like a large metal plaque/map of the city with 3d elements), we took our time exploring this beautiful space.

When we left the cathedral we thought we would take time walking through the gardens, but it turned out some of them were just wooded paths and there was actually a ticketed event in the more manicured section (the prague food festival). Instead we wandered out of the castle complex and explored small streets on our descent. On our way, we actually passed the US Embassy where we were surprised and delighted to find a car with Maryland plates!

We stopped partway down the hill for a quick lunch at a café on a quiet little square, and then went to the Vrtbovsky gardens. Tucked into a little walkway off the street, you would never know they were here if you weren’t looking for them. While small, this is a beautiful site with terraced landscaping, a small aviary, and just beautiful views of the city from the top. A really awesome place to stop and enjoy some scenery.

Continuing down the hill, we walked through more of the Mala Strana area, stopping at the Lennon Wall where we saw artwork for the UMD Terps and Alpha Phi!  Back in Kampa park, we walked along some streets we didn’t the day before then made our way back across the Charles Bridge. Though it had been a full day so far, we weren’t done yet, so we made a quick pitstop for some awesome ice cream from Angelato (there was a long line outside so we hopped in it since we knew it had to be good!) and that refueled us for our long walk through Wenceslas square (super touristy and not unique) and past the impressive National Museum, to find what we affectionately call “the baby tower”.

From our hotel, we could see this big tv/radio tower that looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. Mitch actually already knew what this tower was and was able to tell us that an artist added baby statues crawling up the legs of the tower; hence the nickname we gave it. It’s up on a hill and is very easily seen from around the city, so knowing the general direction we took off walking figuring we would see it. We got to walk through the Vinohrady neighborhood which was really nice once you were off the commercial main street, and just when we were walking through a park and getting worried that we still hadn’t come across it, we took two steps away from the corner map and lo and behold, there it was. M&B went up the Zizkov Tower to the observation deck while I hung out below, but it turns out there is a restaurant in there as well as one suite that you can rent out. It was a very modern space and the views of the city were pretty cool from the top (216m).

We had literally walked almost the entire city at this point (I think our final tally for the day was somewhere around 15 miles!), so we stumbled back to the hotel to rest and then went to a restaurant called Lokal for dinner. Continuing with our Czech food, we had beef goulash with bread dumplings, beef tartare, and veal with mashed potatoes.  The beer options were light or dark (very McSorley’s!), but they had 3 different ways of pouring it that allegedly changed the flavor. Whatever they did, it was a delicious, comforting meal at the end of a really long day.

Prague & Budapest- Day 1-Prague-From Astronomical Clock to Aephids and Bridges to Beer

No travel issue to report and we made it to Prague!  Mitch met us at Brennan’s office where we left our cars and took a cab to Dulles. Got bumped to TSA pre-check so it was a great start to the trip!  It was a double-decker behemoth, but boarding was still pretty quick since they had two separate ramps. Flight didn’t feel any different for being on the upper level! Nothing too eventful on our flight; though it was hard to sleep since we flew out late afternoon and then landed at CDG at midnight our body time. We only had a quick layover in Paris so after working through the chaos of the security line, we took a quick jaunt through the long airport and arrived at our gate as our flight was boarding. Unfortunately we didn’t get a passport stamp in Prague since Paris was our first EU destination. Grabbed a cab and we were off to our first Hilton of the trip!

After checking in, a quick rest and breakfast at the hotel, we were on our way.  We first walked over to the Old Town district and saw the Municipal House and the Powder Gate, which is right next door. The Municipal House is actually more recent than most sites in Prague (finished in 1911), but is a cool Art Noveau building where not only does the Prague Symphony play, but the document granting Czech independence was signed in 1918.

 The Powder Gate is one of the original gates in the city’s walls. It has been around since 1475 and became a gunpowder storehouse after the New Town was incorporated into the City of Prague and there was no longer a need for walls.

Continuing through Old Town, we went down and timed our walk perfectly to see the Astronomical Clock strike the hour. With rotating automatons and carvings, it was pretty cool and a must-do in Prague.

Fighting through the crowds after the quick show, we went to a beautiful church on one end of the square called Tuynsky Chram.  It’s a bit funny how it’s positioned—it’s at the end of the square, but there are storefronts in front of it, so you can only see the upper half. It’s definitely one set of the spires you can see from around the city, but it’s a shame you don’t get more of a sense of it at once when you’re that close.

Dodging Segway tours and offers to join them, we made our way over to the Jewish Quarter and saw the Old-New synagogue and the Jewish cemetery. The Old-New synagogue’s really memorable name comes from the fact that it was originally the new synagogue to differentiate from an older one that no longer exists (built in 1270). Interestingly enough, it’s the oldest synagogue in Europe and it has been continuously used for more than 700 years (except for the Nazi Occupation from 1941-1945). The cemetery actually dates from 1439 and because this was the only place Jews were allowed to bury their dead, the graves are actually 12 deep in many places with each new tombstone placed in front of the last.

The walk overall was charming; the streets are cobble-stoned and fairly narrow outside of the main square and if you got off the beaten path a bit, it was really quiet and almost residential. It didn’t hurt that we had a gorgeous day either; mid to high 70s and sunny the whole day. We continued our walk down along the Vltava River on the Old Town side, down through the parks and checking out all the boats on the water until we reached the Charles Bridge. This is one of the best known sites in Prague and is a really old bridge with a gate that matches the Powder Gate (this one is called the Old Town Bridge Tower) and 30 sculptures along the bridge itself.

On one side of the tower you can see coats of arms, etc while the other is more damaged; apparently from a battle with Sweden in the 1600s. It is also now a place to sell art, jewelry, souvenirs etc, so between the picture taking and the shopping, it can get a bit crowded.  It has been around for 650 years and has actually been a pedestrian promenade for most of its history.

Since we were starting to break a sweat from the strong sun on the bridge, we  took stairs to the left as we were approaching the end of the bridge and walked through the quieter Kampa section on the opposite bank.  We found a quiet place along the river to stop and grab a beer and enjoy the scenery. Very relaxing minus the aephids who were very attracted to Mitch and Brennan!  With the long travel day and the calming beer, we started to fade fast, so we hiked back to the hotel and took a quick nap.

Dinner was really great and a true Czech welcome. Pivovarsky Klub was a few minute walk from our hotel so it was nice and easy as well as being authentic. It’s actually partially a beer boutique so the beer options were a bit overwhelming. We were trying to go with types we hadn’t had before and had heard about one called Kozel, but when I went to order it the waitress gave a bit of a look and suggested we try a different one—turns out is the easiest to find and most unexciting one! Thankfully she steered us in better directions and we tried an unfiltered and a saison, but the favorite was from Benedict and was an imperial (bievnosky).  The food was great too and we decided Czech food is really just regional comfort food so we were really on board after such a long day—we tried pivno syr (beer cheese with mustard and onions, beef with candlesauce, berries and bread dumplings, and schnitzel with mashed potatoes.  Full and tired, we went back to the hotel and Brennan watched the Champions League final. Definitely an awesome way to begin our adventure in Prague!

South America- Day 31- Sao Paulo/ Home!

Cannot get over that it is our last day on our incredible trip! We fly out a little after 9 tonight, so we luckily had some time today to continue exploring Sao Paulo.  We packed up and checked out, then headed to the Ibirapuera Park in the middle of the city. Noted as being the city's version of Central Park, it is a beautiful spot to walk around but didn't feel as big as we expected. There is a terrific lake in the middle, filled with swans and ducks, and there is plenty of shade on the pathways that helped shelter us a bit from the sun (the trees there also have some of the craziest root systems we've ever seen).

We wandered around here for a while, then walked through the surrounding neighborhood, seeking out the MUBE, which is a small modern art museum we read about on CNN.  The walk itself was nice though the museum was very small. There was one exhibition, one under construction, and the outdoor sculptures; the space was cool as well, but definitely didn't take us long to complete. It's actually right next door to another museum that is based on audio and visual components, and it turns out there is a cafe near that one, so we ended up eating there. Surprisingly cool and chic crowd, which was a nice surprise!

Unfortunately I woke up this morning feeling a little off and as the day progressed, kept feeling worse. Hoping it was just allergies we kept walking for a little while longer and hit the nice shopping district on Oscar Freire. Wasn't really up for much, but we did walk the strip and I picked up a pair of Havianas as a last token from Brazil. We ended up going back to the hotel after this and resting for about an hour before changing and grabbing our cab to the airport.

The traffic in SP is absolutely insane and even though the airport is not that many kilometers, we had heard horror stories so we left two hours to get to the airport. An hour and 45 minutes later, we were very glad we did! Lower stress level all around! Our flight actually ended up being late since the plane was stuck at a remote section of the airport, or some such nonsense. They made us switch gates and there was overall mayhem, but the good news is that it eventually worked out and they bussed us to the plane and then we were off on the nine hour flight home to the US.  Newark to Dulles and then arrived back home!! What an absolutely once-in-a-lifetime trip!