We discovered something great about our iPads that will help us SO much when we travel; our iPads are unlocked and can take a SIM card from another country. (iPhones and most US cell phones are locked to keep you from putting a foreign SIM card in them, that way you have to pay ridiculous international roaming rates) We bought an iPad SIM card with 1.5GB of data for only $15! We can use this for getting maps if we get lost, train schedules, checking emails, looking up addresses for our hotels... All the things we take for granted when we travel in the US become much more difficult when we are abroad without contant internet access...
Since we now had our iPad for maps, we were able to get the email with the address of the apartment (not provided until the morning we arrived) and find our way to the place by downloading maps and using the Metro. We arrived at the apartment, but we were unable to check in because it was too early. We left our suitcases at the apartment and headed over to Old Town Square, only a couple blocks away. As we walked through the cobblestone streets of Old Town, we were amazed at how clean the city is! The beautiful, colorful and artisticly designed facades all appear to be freshly painted and are incredibly pristine. Despite that this area is very busy and touristy, not a single piece of trash littered the sidewalks. We have never been in such an impeccable city. (This part of the city, anyway. A local told us that outside of this touristy area, Prague is like any other large city.)
Old Town Square is the heart of Old Town. The whole square is surrounded by beautiful, colorful facades, and also the Baroque-style Church of St. Nicholas, the Gothic-style Tyn Church and the Old Town Hall. Branching off from Old Town Square like a spider web are tourist-crowded streets of shopping and restaurants. The Old Town Hall is the home of the famous astronimical clock. When the clock chimes the hour, the side of the building fills with tourists watching the clock and pickpockets watching the tourists' wallets... Evidently there are so many pickpockets in this area that the Rick Steves book marked them on the map!
A huge crowd gather by the Old Town Hall to watch the astronomical clock chime. (not the plain clock face facing the camera, the gold one on the wall. :) )
After watching the clock chime, we headed past the Tyn church down a tiny little alley to the Ungelt courtyward for lunch. Olive and I were craving Indian food, so we and Gavin had lunch at an Indian restaurant in the courtyard, while Ron and the rest had a beer at a pizzeria nearby. I didn't have high expectations for Indian food in Prague, but the saag paneer was actually really good! A pleasant surprise, and a nice break from the meat-plus-starch Eastern European diet. Just as we were leaving the restaurant, it suddenly started pouring rain. We ran across the courtyard and into a little art gallery/shop to keep out of the rain. We saw a watercolor painting of the astronomical clock that we liked, but we decided not to buy it right away - we thought we might find some cheaper or better art on the street, since this was the first place we stopped.
We then went back to the square and took one of the busy shopping streets called Melantrichova toward the Havelská market. The Havelská market basically looks like a farmer's market with several lovely produce stands, but about half the stands are selling keychains, postcards and other assorted tourist junk. I bought a mouth-watering pint of assorted fresh berries.
By the time were done at the market, we were able to go check in to the apartment. What a gorgeous place! It was on the top floor, and the top of the building had a huge brass dome; the network of support pillars for this dome came down into the dining room and surrounded the dining room table. Gavin and my bedroom was small, but had two skylights and a built in backlit wall which I termed the "disco wall;" with the remote control we could make it flash different colors, strobe, slowly fade between colors, etc. A fun little addition. We were all desperately in need of some rest after the overnight train and clean laundry after our week in Budapest, so we started a load and took a little nap.
When we got up later, everyone else was still feeling like relaxing in the apartment, so Gavin and I went out by ourselves. We headed out of Old Town and into New Town to see Wenceslas Square. Wenceslas Square and the streets surrounding it are essentially a huge, outdoor shopping mall. We searched for a coat for Gavin; he didn't bring one on this trip and the weather here was cooler than expected, but as we arrived all the stores were just starting to close. We admired the gardens and the National Museum dominating the end of the square, and then headed back to Old Town for dinner.
Wenceslas Square at night. Lovely gardens and the National Museum at the end of the square.
I wanted to try a "traditional Czech pub," so we went to the Rick Steves-recommended Restaurace u Pinkasu for more meat plus starch. :) Gavin tried out a Pilsner beer; the Czechs invented this particular type of beer, and it is pretty popular here. I ordered beef in creamy gravy with a hint of sweet cranberry, served with soft break dumplings, and Gavin had a pig-in-a-blanket looking dish with a soft and smooth puree of spicy meat inside, both very tasty.
After dinner we wandered around through the delightfully-lit Old Town, a very romantic feeling city after dark when there are fewer tourists... We stopped for dessert at a little cafe that serves only crepes, coffee and ice cream. I had a delicious strawberry crepe and Gavin had an insanely huge tiramisu sundae. Then we went back to the apartment, strolling hand in hand through the romantic Prague night.
Gavin and his ridiculous tirimisu sundae. :)
Old Town Square at night. The astronomical clock is on the left, Tyn church is on the right at the other end of the square.
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