Skip to main content

Europe at Christmas {Prague~Day One}

On December 16th, I had a super early morning.  I left the hotel at 5:00.  It was about a 10 minute walk to Terminal 4 from the Heathrow Hilton, and there was suppose to be a 5:11 train to Terminal 3.  I ran the last 100 yards, only to find out when I got there that the 5:11 train was non-existent, so I had to wait about 15 minutes for the next one.  I made it to Terminal 3, was able to get breakfast at Pret A Manger, and catch my 7:20 flight to Prague, Czech Republic.

The flight from London to Prague is only 2 hours, but due to the time change, I arrived at Václav Havel International Airport at 10:20.  I made it through Border Security, grabbed my bag, sailed through customs, and out to the arrivals terminal where my pre-arranged transport was waiting with my name on a card.  He drove me straight to the hotel.

I had selected the Savic Hotel.  It is a small hotel of only 27 rooms/suites, and it's location couldn't be better.  Luckily, they were able to check me in early so I could put my stuff away immediately before heading out for the day.

The Entrance to the Hotel
I just had the Standard Double Room.

The entrance of my room.
The armoire was the closet for the room and held an in-room safe.  
The Bathroom was to the right, just across from the armoire.
(I was pretty obsessed with these wood floors)

I found all of the hotel rooms (and just about everywhere) too hot.  I kept this window open a lot!
The mini bar was in this chest, and I appreciated the coffee/tea set up too.
The marble tile floors were heated, which was nice.
Looking out my window...this is a street.  Like a car and garbage truck (that was entertaining to watch) drive down it street.  This was typical of Prague.  I was very happy I didn't have to drive there. 
This hotel was an old Monastery dating to the 14th Century.  Some rooms are prettier than mine, but I chose not to upgrade.  Here are some pics of their "pretty" rooms with original beams and paintings.
(pics from their website)

After I checked in, I headed out for the Old Town Square.  It was less than a 2 minute walk from my hotel and I passed a little market on the way.
Once I rounded the corner by that yellow building, the Old Town Square came into sight, and I was smitten.  It's like being in a fairy tale, or at least like stepping back several hundred years.
The Astronomical Clock



At the top of every hour, it puts on it's "show".  This is from later that day...

The Old Town Square is dominated by the Clock Tower on one corner,
and Our Lady Church of Tyn on the other.
At this point in the day, I took a bus tour of Prague.  When short on time, I often find that is a great way to see the most of a city.  I bought a 48 hour bus pass because I intended to use it the next day as my transportation around Prague.  I did not particularly care for the tour.  It was okay, but not great.  I didn't take many pictures from the bus that day, only this one looking out at Prague...
Once I made the entire bus loop around Prague, I walked back over to the Old Town Square.  There was a small market along the way, and a pretty tree outside of a shopping area...

I also passed the Powder Tower (or Powder Gate) along the way.  It is one of the original city gates that dates back to 1475.  This is one thing I found so remarkable about Prague.  It didn't suffer much damage in the World Wars.  The only WWII bomb that hit Prague was dropped by Americans who were apparently confused and though it was Dresden (and on a later walking tour, where I was the only American, they told that story, and everyone looked at me.  Oops!  {awkward})

Back at Old Town Square, I wanted to Eat (I hadn't had anything since my 5:45 breakfast) and Shop.  Generally, just enjoy the sights, sounds, smells, etc.


These are known as Chimney Cakes.  They are rolled in cinnamon and sugar, and smell like heaven while cooking.
Here's a video of them cooking...

This is what a serving looks like...
I got it with nutella inside and proceeded to make a giant mess, which necessitated washing my scarf in the bathroom sink later that night.




The sun starts to set at around 3:30 this time of year, so I watched the clock change at 4:00 (video posted above), and then bought a ticket to go up to the top of the Clock Tower.  The view is totally worth the price of admission!  So here are a ton of pics that I took from all 4 sides of the tower...
The sidewalks!  I was obsessed with the sidewalks all over the Prague.  Their patterns were so pretty!



Prague Castle in the distance...


Petrin Hill...
A quick selfie from the clock tower

I took another swing through the market and made some additional purchases, and then decided to call it a night since I had been up since 4:15 a.m.



It was a great day in Prague!  

Stay tuned for Day Two

Comments

Suzanna Cooper said…
Love the pictures! Great job of making me feel like I was (almost) there with you!
Abby said…
Kids our next family vacation: Prague! I've always-for ever and ever wanted to go! When will we think it's "safe" for Russia?

Popular posts from this blog

Swiss Oatmeal {Copy Cat Recipe}

I'm obsessed with Swiss Oatmeal.  I particularly love   Corner Bakery's Swiss Oatmeal.  If you are not familiar with Swiss Oatmeal, it is a cold oatmeal cereal with fruit and nuts. I've had a similar recipe for years, but it was only similar.  It wasn't close enough for my liking.  So I finally set out into the land of Pinterest to find a recipe that was a good Copy Cat.  I found a few, combined them and came up with what I think is a very close Copy Cat Recipe of Corner Bakery's Swiss Oatmeal. Here's what I do (note, this recipe is really just pictures, because I don't really have measurements for these things.  The photos aren't great, but it's easier if I show you what I do)... Here's the Phase 1 ingredients...   Milk Honey Yogurt (I use a vanilla greek yogurt) Oats (old fashioned, not quick...you probably could do steel cut too)    I've simplified this to where you only need a bowl and a spoon for Phase 1 becau

Europe 2023 {Day 9 ~ Munich & Bavarian Alps}

 On Tuesday, December 20th I grabbed breakfast at the hotel and then walked about 15 minutes to where I met my tour for the day.  On my first visit to Munich, I only had time for one "day trip" outside of the city and I chose to go to Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial, but I always knew I wanted to venture down to the Bavarian Alps and see some castles on my next visit.  I had booked the premium tour and it was so fancy.  There was a snack bar and they even served beer and wine on the way home after the last stop of the day.  First stop was at Linderhof Castle. This was a "small" castle of King Ludwig's that was a partial mini-replica of Versailles.  It was a snowy walk to the castle... Interior photos were not allowed, but you can see some pics of the interior HERE Like Versailles, there are fountains and sculptures surrounding Linderhof, but they cover the statues with wood huts to protect them from the winter elements. After visiting Linderhof, we made a (to

It's all about the dress...

I mean I guess it's really all about getting married, but come on, you always anticipate the dress right?  Well holy moly folks!  Today a big secret was released to the press.  No, we still don't know which dress or tiara Kate will be wearing, but we heard for the first time that Princess Diana had a back-up dress!  Here are some of the pictures and sketches... Real dress on Left~ Back-up on the Right Here are the sketches of the back-up dress And you know what?  I like the back-up dress better than the one she wore!  I know, I know.  I'm going to get blasted for saying that, but I'll just confess it right now... My name is Kara and I've never thought Princess Diana's dress was all that and a bag of chips.  Nope.  Not my favorite Royal Wedding Dress by any stretch of the imagination.  What is my favorite?  Probably the one that Sarah Ferguson wore when she married Andrew... It had beautiful beading and stitching throughout.  Also on the train it had an &quo