The weather behaved today so we gave Prague a second chance and it rose to the challenge. This also meant we didn’t have to spend too much time in the Airbnb.
Thankfully, we’re staying only a couple of hundred of metres from the metro station so we can be in the centre of Prague within a few minutes which means that, when we saw the sun come out, we went sraight to the metro station.
We started at Hlavní Nádraží because we wanted to get the CD woman to print our tickets, but she told this idiot that this was not necessary. So that was nice.
That dealt with, we decided we wanted to see the cathedral, so hopped on a 15 tram to Malostranské náměstí, where I thought the cathedral should be – it turns out it isn’t – then got on the first bus we saw that went up past various embassies – where the police stopped us so they could look underneath us with a mirror – and on to a hospital but, crucially, not the cathedral.
We walked back down through the embassy district and had a drink at an Irish pub – because the Guinnes must be good if you’re only 200 metres from the Embassy – then took a look at Charles Bridge that was aborted as quickly as it was imagined once we saw the number of tourists.
The 23 tram then took us to Prazský Hrad which – Noodles be praised – is where we found the cathedral, once we’d been through some airport-grade security.
The cathedral and surrounding areas were heaving, but we were able to get in far enough to have a look at the stained glass windows and look down the nave. The best parts of the cathedral were cordoned off behind ticket barriers so we didn’t explore any further.
We spent a good part of the afternoon milling around the cathedral and the surrounding area, giving the finger-puppet plenty of selfie opportunities, then rode the 25 tram until its terminus and back again to Malostranká, where we fought our way through the swarms of phone-gawpers – I have taken to walking directly at them while clapping until they notice me – to the Astronomical Clock.
If we thought there were a lot of tourists at the cathedral, there were even more milling around the old town square, along with the mimes and musicians who were enjoying the trade.
We plonked ourelves in front of the clock in what we thought was a good position to wait for it to do its stuff, only to see the space in front of us fill up just before the hour with people who seemed to spend more time looking at their phones – which were all pointed at the clock – rather than at the actual clock itself. A bit like at the church on Zagreb.
I’ve seen the clock a couple of time but this was the first time with the figures moving. In was all over quite quickly – so was almost an anti-climax – but I was thrilled we’d made the effort. Once the clouds dispersed, we got on a 17 tram to see Fred and Ginger and continue along the river.
After some time on the tram, we found a nice bar where we demolished far too many Aperols – but it was our last chance, so I suppose it’s acceptable – before taking a sparkly ride back along the river and on to Florenc to get our metro home.
Prague is done.
