Prague, also delayed

So in late May we got a three-day weekend for Pentecost (God bless Europe's adherence to religious holidays) so we headed to Prague.  We got on the train super-early Saturday morning, and arrived around lunch.  After sitting in a park eating the sandwiches we had packed (of course!) and dropping off our stuff, we headed out for a big day of sight-seeing.  Lyla had been to Prague a few years earlier, so she got to be the master of this little trip.

First we headed up to the castle district, popping into the botanical gardens, admiring the beautiful buildings, mailing postcards, eating ice cream, buying crazy stamps for our dads, and enjoying the beautiful sunshine.

The castle district is on a hill, and we walked down on the side facing the city, enjoying the view over the old castle wall.  We also saw a giant black thing, so we decided to go investigate that.

After getting a bit lost in the winding streets of the old city, we found the entrance to this little garden.  It's part of the complex of the Castle of Wellenstein, and it is insane.  That big black thing is actually a giant wall of stalactites, mixed in with creepy, goblin-esque faces and bugs, snakes, and bats.  It drips water, and owls live there.  The garden itself is also full of unhappy statues of snarling dogs and snakes attacking people.  In all it was a very strange place, and a very weird juxtaposition with the beautiful sunny weather.

From there we headed across the Charles Bridge to the old town square, where we admired the gorgeous architecture and ancient astronomical clock.  We also ate... kolbasz, langos, and kurtos kalacs, even if each was a little bit different than the Hungarian version.

We spent some more time wandering around the downtown (seeing the funniest nesting doll ever) before meeting a friend for some drinks.  We went first to a pub to watch the extremely-important-to-the-Czechs world cup of hockey (this will be important later) and then we went to the "train pub," where you put your order into a little computer pad, and model trains bring it to you.  Seriously.  We sat down, and a little model train pulled up a few minutes later with delicious delicious czech beer for us.  In that moment, the world was perfect.

The next day we headed to Vysehrad (going "... Visegrad?" the whole time), an old part of the town on a hill, covered in churches and parks, that is considered to be the spiritual birthplace of the Czechs.  We wandered around there, visited the beautiful Art-Nouveau church that dripped with gold-touched paintings inside, and of course I found the cemetery.

After more wandering, we met back up with our friends to watch the final of the Hockey world cup, where the Czech Republic beat Russia.  It was a BIG deal for them, and the main square literally filled with hundreds or thousands of happy Czechs waving flags, chanting, and honking horns.  It was one of the most... I don't have a word for it, but I guess moving... experiences of my life, to be totally surrounded by so many people who were all so happy.  It was awesome.  I can't even explain it.

The next day we dropped our bags off at the train station and then headed up yet another hill to investigate that area.  It was remarkably empty and didn't feel at all as if it were in the middle of a capital city.

After that it was, yep, more wandering, a bit of shopping, and on the train to head back to Budapest.  I really liked Prague, and I must admit I didn't expect to based on its popularity as a tourist destination and my distaste toward crowds.  But it wasn't actually that crowded, with the exception of the Charles Bridge, and actually no more expensive than Budapest.  I had a great time there, and it was definitely one of those times where the city combined with the experience I had there added up to more than the two alone.  It was a lovely, relaxing, and beautiful final-out-of-country trip from Budapest.