First Day Exploring Prague | September 13th 2013

We walked a lot today and boy am I tired!  Since josh doesn't have school on Fridays, we thought it would be best to explore Prague this weekend so we can get better acquainted with the city.  Josh went to school at 11 to pick up his computer from yesterday and then once he got back, we would go out and explore.  I got ready and just waited around until he finally showed up at 1.  He was already doing some sightseeing of his own and got sidetracked of what our plans were for the day.  So after he got back, he made salami and cheese sandwiches, with potato chips and we got ready to explore our side of the city.  When josh was out, he found this beautiful park with lots of rose gardens, the prague castle and a few different churches!   The only catch about all these places that josh found, was that they were mostly uphill!  And I hate hills!  But the views of the city were absolutely beautiful.  The weather was overcast and chilly, not much sunshine today.

Our first stop was Petrin, a beautiful park with lots of lush trees, green grass, beautiful rose gardens and lots of hills.  There were several gardens in this park, all different colors and types of flowers but mostly roses, so pretty.  At the top of the hill was Petrinska Rozhledna which is the Petrin Observation Tower that is 1/5 the height of the Eiffel Tower and built in 1891 for an exhibition.  Being placed on the hill, the top of the tower sits at the same elevation as the Eiffel Tower, it is considered the little brother to the Eiffel and looks very similar design-wise.  In this park, there was a tram that went up and down the hill, Lanova Draha (funicular railway) so although we did the hard part, it was nice to ride the tram down to the bottom.  After walking around the park, we kept walking in the direction of the apartment and found Prazsky Hrad, the Prague Castle.  Walked up a million steps ( not joking, they went on forever) and when we got to the top, the views were so beautiful yet again.  This was a huge tourist site so there were a lot of people visiting the castle which is said to be the biggest castle in the world which is a cool fact and we were there!  Josh and I came to the conclusion that this castle is not very "castle-like" as you would expect, it looks like a large governmental building more than a fairy tale inspired building, which is what I imagined.   Entering the castle grounds is free, which is nice, you just have to pay to visit the interiors of the castle, cathedral or towers. While walking through the castle, the Cathedral of sv Vit or St. Vitus Cathedral is unlike anything we have seen before.  It began construction in 1344 and was stalled by wars, plagues and changes in leadership and was finally finished in the 1920's, nearly 600 years in the making.  Such incredible detail, magnificent size and history in this area of Prague.  We got a feeling of this spot and knew that we would be back especially when Josh's parents come in October, this is such an important thing to see when in Prague.  After the castle, we continued to walk in the direction of the apartment and explored other sites before getting on the tram and going home. We explored for about 4 hours today, took a lot of pictures, walked a lot and I was ready to go home!  I knew that tomorrow would lead to new adventures in the city with Joshua as we explore some more!  I am still unable to post pictures from one of my cameras, which has most of the pictures on it that I took.  All of these pictures are from Josh's phone, so for now this will work! I will post views of the city from the castle in the future!

Our lunch

One of the rose gardens

Petrin Observation Tower, you tell it looks very similar to the Eiffel Tower, only 300 steps to the top!

The never ending stairs to the castle

Entering the castle, not the best picture of the overall building, will show a better one tomorrow

St. Vitus Cathedral