Just kidding, but it was sooooo cold here today. High of only 16 F !!! And snow, but that only started once we decided to leave the apartment, of course. So much for my optimism about the weather forecast being wrong. Today we went to Prague Castle, which is located not too far from our place. It sits up on the second highest point of the city but, unlike the hike up to the observatory, this work out was less rigorous and a bit more “scenic”; we passed lots of interesting shops and restaurants (and tourist traps, of course) as we climbed the cobblestone streets to the entrance of the castle. The wind picked up and the temperature continued to drop as we approached. We couldn’t help but laugh and joke about why we didn’t decide to go someplace warmer (…we also joked later about wanting to go home to Maine where it was warm…ha ha). In our defense, we did know we were coming here at the start of winter because we wanted to a) be free of annoying tourists and b) enjoy the complimenting weather to the “cold” nature of the city (just looks…not the people). Karl said Moscow and Prague are two great places to visit in the winter, particularly at Christmas time, when the people are more cheerful and the unique archictecture creates the perfect backdrop for all the holiday festivities, lights and decorations. He also said Prague has turned much more touristy in the past 10+ years and the people are now much friendlier and welcoming year around (tourists = money). When we arrived at the entrance to the castle we decided to wait outside and freeze a little longer to witness the changing of the guard, something that occurs every hour on the hour. Karl entertained me as we waited (see images below). Not a great day for outside photos so we headed inside to the large central cathedral you can see in prior blog photos. It was quite possibly colder inside (like a stone freezer), and Karl was not thrilled that they asked him to remove his winter hat, but the fabulous architecture and gigantic ornate stained glass windows around the perimeter walls quickly distracted him (he has a great eye for detail, particularly when it comes to building techniques and styles...in other words he actually gets excited about a particular type of door hinge). Unfortunately it was a bit dark inside and flash photography was not permitted, but I still manage to capture a few shots (hello ISO 3200!!!). Admittedly much of the time at the castle was a bit of a blur. Brain freeze. We went into another structure (the old royal palace) but it was not that exciting and also very cold (perhaps it would have been more interesting if I could have felt my toes). Outside we grabbed a hot wine and grog (rum and hot water) being sold under an umbrella (in a snowstorm), where the attendee said to Karl in a hysterical foreign English accent (“okay, in a moment I get you spoon and sugar”…perhaps only Leah Young could have said it better). We downed our drinks and decided to head out (even the attendee was saying that she wanted to go home). Before exiting the castle we hit the public WC (bathrooms) where I pretended to drop in the 5 Krown in the snow covered payment box. While I was still inside, the toilet Nazi came out of a small opening and goes off on Karl for not paying…of course he has a blast with her…another hysterical moment (at least for him, I didn't actually witness it). Outside the castle, we searched out the nearest café/restaurant where we could get something warm to drink and eat. We ended up in a very tourist-y hotel restaurant. I tried my first goulash dish (Karl is an expert by now) and K ordered the pork special (which could have fed an army….four different cuts of pork, two types of dumplings and cabbage). We looked out the window and watched it snow, completely sideways! After 30 minutes or so our skin was still cold, but our bellies were full. Back outside, we walked (slid) down the sidewalks as the snow continued to fall. We stopped in a small craft shop, but I had a sneezing fit and we had to leave. Unfortunately I did not leave my allergies in Maine. At the bottom Karl also stopped at his favorite trdelnik booth for a quick snack (he justifies them by saying they are a fraction of the size of a typical cinnamon bun back in the US and therefore he can have several trdelniks in any given period). Back at the pad Karl emailed and I cut snowflakes out of paper (using small utility tool and a paper punch). We listened to Christmas music and sipped wine before our 8pm dinner reservation at Café de Paris (we ate there for lunch the other day and loved it so we wanted to try dinner…plus it is very close and it was still snowing!!!). Dinner was great and by the time we finished there was at least 6 inches of snow on the ground. On the way back we crossed over to Kampa Island park and walked along the river admiring the city lights as the snow fell...like something out of a Christmas movie. Snowballs, snow angels and a game of chase were all in order before turning in for the night.
A bit of a long plog entry today but, we didn't feel like we did a whole lot, and we did spend a lot of time just hanging out because of the weather. Cold for next few days so not sure what is to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment