Castles and Shopping in Prague

Sunday, August 4, 2013. What a busy day we had today. Our Czech breakfast was very different from the ones in the Netherlands and Germany. The hotel serves mugs of coffee in a pot, rather than small demi-tasses. On the buffet, we found an egg salad dish, a noodle dish, small sausages that looked like hot dogs, beans, regular scrambled eggs, breads, cheeses, and yogurt. Pam remarked that the fruit yogurt was like the kind I served her as a child. We used to buy plain yogurt and mix spiced blueberry jelly into it. Sure enough, I saw other guests mixing other flavors of jelly into the yogurt. After breakfast, we set out to make the steep climb up to the castle. To get there, we crossed the Charles Bridge, a pedestrian bridge over the Vltava River. He weather was nice and cool without a cloud in the sky. There were very few pedestrians on the bridge as well. It was a perfect time of day for pictures and a steep climb. As we entered the square at the top of the hill, what should we see but Starbucks! We did not pay the fee to go in the castle, but did wander around the grounds to see the Saint Vitus cathedral, the gardens, and took beautiful pictures of the city of Prague below us. What goes up, must come down, so we made the long treck back to the bridge. On the way we encountered a bride and groom who were having their pictures taken on the steps to the castle. We were exhausted, so we decided to buy some meat, cheese, and fruit at a local grocery store (5$ only) and return to our room to cool off. after lunch, ibuprofen, and a rest, we took off for shopping in the Old Town. There were a lot of crystal stores and garnet stores. We had no interest in souvenire shops. We also walked through a mall and an open-air market. Pam found a book in English about the mole asisting in the birth of the rabbits that we were watching on the bus video. What are the chances of that happening? Needless to say, she had to buy the book. The mole is everywhere in the stores of Prague. It must be a very popular character. Next, we decided to rest again and cool off in the hotel air conditioning. This time we were forced to stay in a little longer, as a thunder storm rolled through. We had storms last night as well. By the time we left for dinner, it was 7:00 and much cooler outside. We found a restaurant that served traditional Czech foods and enjoyed goulash with potato dumplings. Our travel book warned us that frequently foreign travelers get less food and are charged more. Sure enough, there was a 60 Koruna (3$) cover charge on our bill and we only had 8 pieces of beef in our goulash. That makes me want to go back really soon! At least the pivo (beer) was cheap. There is a really good dark beer made by Kozel that we are enjoying and have found that it is well worth it to order the larger size. Pam announced on the way home that she had "had enough pivo for one night". I laughed so hard, I almost wet my pants! It wouldn't be the first time that happeded in Europe, but that is another story.