Welcome to Praha! (That means Prague)

In 2012 I accepted a new job and went back to work full time.  Dave and I used to travel extensively and we were not doing much lately.  Dave said one day, "I think we need a vacation back to Europe.  Where do you want to go?"  I immediately responded with, " PRAGUE" and took him by surprise as he's been wanting to go to Spain for some time.  I don't know why, but Prague has been on my bucket list of cities to travel to and I've heard nothing but wonderful things.  So Prague it was and on this trip; we incorporated a trip to Vienna and Budapest as well.

So without further ado; here is the recap of our adventures to these three cities.

We departed San Antonio on Saturday, the 20th of July.  We flew Delta airlines nonstop from San Antonio to New York; then nonstop from New York to Prague.  We had a layover in New York so we met our nephew Matthew for lunch at Lenny's Clam Bar in Queens.  He's a good kid!

The Newphew

We basically flew through the night and arrived on Sunday AM at 11:30.  Our only delay was in NY as we had a rain delay and arrived about an hour behind schedule.  We took a cab from the Prague airport to the Hilton Prague Old Town Hotel. They were so kind and hospitable.  They placed us in our room immediately and we were set to go.  We dropped off our bags, took quick showers and hit the ground running as we had a 2:45PM bus and walking tour of Prague.  Whenever we travel we always start with an organized tour of some sorts then get the general overview of the city.  From there we venture out on our own.  Our game plan was three nights in Prague; a train to Vienna with four nights in Vienna; a train to Budapest with four nights there and back to Prague for an overnight before departing the next day for home.

The bus tour was good but not great as we felt they really zipped past all the sites and didn't leave much wiggle room for decent photos.  We got a quick overview and covered Old Town Square and the Municipal House, the Powder Tower, the main train station (Praha hlavní nádraží), the National Museum (Národní muzeum), Wenscelas Square, the Dancing House (Tančící dům), the National Theatre and the Prague Castle.    

After the bus tour we got off on foot at the Prague Castle and walked through it looking at the Schwarzenberg Palace, Church of the Virgin Mary, Chapel of the Holy Cross, St. Vitus Cathedral, the Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul, the Obelisk and viewed the changing of the Guard.   Leaving the castle we walked by St. Nicholas Church and over the Charles Bridge back into Old Town Square crossing through the Klementinum which houses several libraries and official houses and stopped off at the Astronomical Clock.  Needless to say we acclimated quickly and got our bearings for the next few days.

Tourist view of Charles Bridge

The view into the Schwarzenberg Palace

View from Prague Castle

Castle entrance

Little girls watching the changing of the guard

The doors to St. Vitus Cathedral

Stained glass inside St. Vitus Cathedral

The Obelisk

Street performer on the walk way to Charles Bridge

Cafe after the walk way

The view from Charles Bridge

Old Town Square

Close up of the Astronomical Clock

After a full day we hit the hotel for cocktails and snacks then later made our way to the mall just to check out the stores and grab a lite bite.  After a quick purchase at Marks & Spencer we called it a night.

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