Day 14 - The Climb Up To... Nothing

Weather is still somewhat discouraging. There was a strange fog like moisture in the air today that brought warmer temperatures (30F); it also seemed to bring a fog/haze that contained the cold as well...if that makes any sense. It still has not been great for getting out and about but we were determined to give it a go today. At night, when returning to the apartment, we can see a large structure lighting up the sky in the distance. It sits somewhere on the hill in between the observatory and Prague Castle. We decided to make this our target for the day and so we made off for another day of climbing. The cobbled streets up to our destination were covered in wet snow, making it a bit slick, but a great workout for the core and stability muscles :) but also very bad on Karl's broken toe. As we approached the top we could finally see that our target was a church (from the bottom of the hill you can't really see above/beyond the surrounding buildings). In any event, the church is not nearly as impressive as the nighttime lights make it seem to be. Especially because it is all gated and you can't get in to see it up close. Oh well, our journey wasn't all wasted because the view from the top (back down toward the city) was a good one...even if you couldn't see the whole city because of the fog. It was one of those moments where it was hard to capture what the eye actually sees. I did manage to take a few shots however. After about an hour we started to get cold and decided to head back down the hill, taking a different route for a change of scenery. I liked the walk down the other side. For one, it wasn't nearly as steep as the hike up had been and also because it was much less touristy and I took a few photos that I really like. Once down we headed back to the apartment, but not before stopping for a couple of trdelniks, of course!

For dinner we went to the Buddha Bar in the middle of the city. It’s an upscale Asian restaurant that Karl wanted to go to. The original one is in Paris, where he went to the grand opening and ate at often when he lived there. Apparently there are now a half dozen or so in major cities throughout the world. We overate... again. Vietnamese spring rolls, coconut shrimp, dumpling sampler, Kobe beef (which we sent back disappointed because it was crap), seared tuna, etc. We also had some cool sake drinks...with raspberry and cucumber. Very tasty.

The walk back was absolutely beautiful. It started to snow again and our route took us through all the beautiful city lights and squares. It’s sometimes hard to describe exactly how picturesque this city is. Despite the low light/visibility during the past few days (I have never used such high ISO settings continually!), nighttime is a real treat. It's like something out of a movie. Major churches, cathedrals and castles light the night sky. Street lamps light every road, path and alleyway with a soft, golden glow. The falling snow makes doesn't translate over into photographs as well as I would like taking, but gives us a solid visual treat that we won't need photos to remember.

The street outside the apartment. Just to show you what we walk through every day...

All of the sidewalks (previously mentioned) are all done in beautiful cobblestone patterns like this one. So much work went into almost every inch of this city.

Door... to the German embassy.

Looking down at what we slipped/trudged up to get to the destination of the day.

A panorama from the top. Still having the pesky vignetting issue...

Holding up the castle :)

Ditto!

Another view from the top.

Karl is thankful for Trdelniks.

Little Mole!

Little Mole taking in the view.

Our destination. Too bad we couldn't see any of it until we were halfway down on the other side.

Little alley stairway.

Lamp post.

Door.

The walk down some other stairs from another view point. I think I slid the majority of the ways down.