Prague + Blog = Plog: Day 18 - Sun at last...back to the observatory

Sun at last. Halleluiah! I’ve wanted to get back up to the observatory to take a few more shots of the city but the weather hasn’t exactly been cooperating. If you remember from a prior plog, our first time up to the observatory we just missed the light at the end of the day. This was not going to happen today, so off we went. K was also much more enthusiastic about going back up; perhaps it was because we were going to take the tram ride up this time.

Despite the sun it was cold and windy at the top of the hill. This made for a rather brutal climb to the top of the tower...up the metal spiral staircase, outside. You could actually feel the tower swaying as we neared the top. That’s when K informed me that these old structures were never built to the same construction standards use in the US. Great.

The view was much better today even if a few clouds had rolled in. I was able to get a few good shots while I could still feel my hands and fingers, and it just felt great to be outside and enjoying the sun again. At the bottom we needed to grab a coffee at the café in the base of the tower to help get warm again before walking to the tram station.

At the station, we were informed by an.....attendent that our round trip ticket was no longer valid. Apparently it was only good for 75 minutes, and we were at the observatory for 90 minutes. K decided to have a philosophical debate with the attendant about the time (and money) it took to climb the tower and support the local cafe AND the FACT that nowhere on the automated ticket machine, or on any of the signs or postings, did it state that the tickets had a time limit (this included the signs in Czech). It did, however, say this in small print on the actual ticket, but even then only in Czech…and this was a tourist area…and everything else in the city was in English 9can you feel the rant?)! It was comical to watch the attendant ignore K’s argument and attempt to show us how to buy another ticket. K, of course, was relentless. I should probably note that the price of a round trip ticket was only about $1.50. But it was about "principal", at least to Karl, and he was having so much fun with it.

For dinner we went to the Malostranská Beseda – Café and Pilsner Urquell Restaurant in search of simple food and a good beer. Pilsner Urquell is the popular Czech beer and the company has a few "original" brew pubs around the city. This particular one was not far from our apartment and located in a renovated historic cultural center. The pub had a dark wood interior, a large brass beer vat, old photographs and more. Perhaps best of all, it was NON smoking (not the case for every other restaurant and bar we have been to so far)

Afterwards we walked around enjoying the local city lights before heading back to the apartment.

I couldn't help it... Chuck Norris is alive SOMEWHERE.

Walkway leading to the tram for the observatory.

A second (and much better I think) panorama from the top of the observatory.

A close up view of the castle from the top. We brought the big lens this time!

Looking down on the Charles Bridge. Behind it in the top right corner you can see the tower in Old Town Square.

You might need to enlarge this picture to see, but I have circled the spot where our apartment is looking down on it from the observatory. This gives you a better idea of where the apartment is in relation to everything else.

A close up view of the tower in Old Town Square.

This is ... uhm another famous building in Prague...? The dome is always recognizable along the skyline.

This is the Hunger Wall, which King Charles the VII (I THINK I got the number right) had built in 1362 to provide work for the poor people of the city and also for defensive purposes.

A view with the wide angle. Pretty cool... there was actually some blue sky too!

This is the church structure that we hiked up to last week but then could not get into... Karl and I both decided that the hike looked like a piece of cake from up on the observatory and that it is very misleading...