Day
3
After another wonderful hotel breakfast of fresh vegetables, bread and meat, we met The Group at 9am for our Jewish Town tour with the adorable local guide, Jana. We knew this was going to be an emotional day (was fitting for it to be raining as well), but Jana made it memorable with a kind voice and factual story-telling.
We were given our ticket which allowed for entrance into the sites for the morning with a good reminder to not lose it (since it allowed for entrance into the sites for the morning...). We visited all of the sites we had read about and were given plenty of time to reflect and take pictures, but kept a good pace. In the middle of the morning, we had a quick coffee break and a SPOILER.
Lunch was on our own and we went to a french Cafe just across the street from the last site on the morning tour. This was the start of having cake twice a day... We wandered back toward the hotel and found ourselves at the the astronomical clock just in time for the top of the hour. As we watched the crowd watch the clock, we ran into two members of The Group. We joined them to walk back to our meeting point for the Municipal House Tour.
This was one activity we were not too keen on doing before it happened. At the end of the tour, a lot of The Group was commenting that it was too long and the same thing over and over. The local guide had a thick accent and was VERY into his passion of art so he was lost on some people. That said, Anne fell in love with Art Nouveau and Mucha on this tour and had a great appreciation for the experience (wool AND fringe - that's style). This was one of those either you love it or learn to appreciate it sites.
The Group then took a short walk over to the Mucha Museum. We enjoyed all of the artwork quite a bit (we are not art people) and slowly wandered around for the next showing of a short film about his life. By the time we were able to sit it was a welcome relief!
We were on our own for dinner, so The Group left the Museum sporadically. We went back to the Municipal House to have dinner at the famous Plzenska Restaurant, but it was closed for a private event! We ended up eating at the Cafe, Kavárna Obecní Dům. More cake please!
It was laundry night so we returned back to the hotel and scrubbed away!
Day
4
The Group headed out at 9am to meet Jana for a Velvet Revoltion Walk. On the way to the meeting spot we had a perfectly timed reminder of everyone's names and took our group picture!
We walked along the same route as the students did in 1989, learning a great amount from Jana. The city has done a great job of memorializing the events in a smart way with unique memorials. Katka disappeared for a bit while she was preparing for a SPOILER.
We were free from about noon until 5pm. With our friend Google Maps, we headed off to check out the Communist Museum. It was almost impossible to find. Google kept telling us we were inside of it but we were standing in a market. We finally found a very small, poorly marked door. We probably would have given up, but this was on Ben's must do-list. It was worth it, so try to find it.
After that, we gave the subway a try to get to our late lunch destination. We have pizza at every place we visit, so we had looked up the best place to go before leaving the states. We got off the subway a stop too early but found our way to San Carlo. Yum!
We walked back to the hotel and happened upon the Dancing House and then had the courage to go into a bar for an original Budweiser.
We had some time to rest and freshen up for our last dinner in Prague with The Group at Narodni Kavarna. After, we were treated to a private classical opera concert! This was a great experience - only about 30 minutes but beautiful and makes us wish we had some musical talent. It was a quintessential Rick Steves Tour experience.
When we got back to the hotel we packed what we could and went to sleep for our early departure to Budapest!
What we learned There are over 12,000 headstones and up to 12 layers in the cemetery Lime leaves are a symbol of Prague Art Deco and Art Nouveau are the same thing Use a rain jacket instead of umbrellas Cake is always right Tide One Wash packets are great
What we learned Students always drive change Don't be afraid to ask someone for help Prague deserves a hug for everything it has been through The original Bud is way better If you go to the bathroom with your buddy, the buddy system dosen't work