Czech Republic: Prague again

I love Prague. I am always happy to return to Prague, no matter how many times I've been there, nor how recently I've been there. This visit was less than three months after my last visit, but it was for a reason. My mom was planning to move back to the states before the end of March, so I wanted to take advantage of a long weekend to spend a few days with her while she was still close and living in a city I love.
I got out of school as fast as I could, and caught a 1400 flight. While waiting for my flight in Kyiv I saw one of my students, it was fun to have a personal sendoff. This first flight took me to Frankfurt, where I had a 5 hour layover.

Fortunately, I know someone who lives close to Frankfurt. I arranged to have dinner with my friend Tripp, it was great to have a catch up with a friend from years ago, and kill the layover. we took the train from the airport to the central train station, then found an Indian restaurant nearby. A nice couple of hours.
Since I flew Lufthansa, the service and food were good. I wish they were cheaper, I'd be happy to fly them all the time.
Mom met me at the airport in Prague, and due to the late hour we took a taxi to her flat. We stayed up late chatting as we always do the first night of any visit by me, and I ate one of the yogurts I love so much.

Saturday morning we got up slowly, and went to see Kafka's grave. What we didn't think about ahead of time was the day of the week. Saturday is Shabbat, and Kafka was Jewish, and buried in a Jewish cemetery. Not surprisingly, the cemetery was closed, so we turned around and went back to where we started. Mom bought me a 24 hr transport card, so it didn't matter how many rides we took.
We took the metro and trams up to the back side of castle hill, to see Loreta Monastery.

I'd seen it a couple months previously, but didn't mind seeing it again. Mom hadn't seen it since she lived in Prague a long time ago, and since she would be leaving Prague soon, she was happy to walk through with me. I've realized it is fantastic to visit tourist spots in Prague with Mom, as she usually has a story to tell of a previous experience, or has some history that isn't on the information boards. I paid the photography fee, and retook some of the photos I'd taken two months earlier but hadn't backed up and lost when my phone was stolen in Bucharest.
I loved the treasury the second time around just as much as the first visit.

The chuch was just as Gothic, and felt even more busy. Gothic churches always feel way too busy for me, at least in terms of how I would prefer to worship.
We walked a few hundred meters to a place I'd heard about from fellow travelers, a restaurant called U Zlate Hrusky. In English the name is The Golden Pear. It's a place with traditional Czech food, and has some special pear dishes on the menu. Mom didn't know the place from the name, but as soon as we were seated, she remembered being there before. A looooong time ago. I loved my pear soup.
After leaving the restaurant we passed a church I hadn't seen before, called the Soldiers Church. We didn't go inside, then exterior was rather boring.
We walked all the way down the hill, across the river, to the old city center. I wanted to get a chimney, but as we got to the place that sells them, the queue seemed to go on and on and on. I love chimneys, but I wasn't willing to wait in that line. Neither was Mom.

Instead we walked to a nearby metro station and went back to her flat.
The next day we took a day trip with Mom's friend from childhood and her son. That's in another post, and was a great day. I love the whole country!
Monday morning Mom and I were up early to beat the crowds. I wanted photos of a couple places without other people in the way. We took the metro and tram to malostranska, and the bottom of castle hill. Then we walked to Lennon Wall. I was surprised to notice that the graffiti had already changed, from just a couple months ago.

I took my photos, and we moved on. I don't think Mom had seen this wall before, as it started in the 80s, I think.
We also took photos at another art installation by David Czerny, the Babies.
From the Babies, we walked to Cafe Savoy for breakfast. This was my second recommendation/request for a specific meal with Mom during this trip. I'd enjoyed breakfast so much back during January that I wanted to come again. Good service, good food. Even though I was the one who had been there previously, it was Mom who took a couple photos I hadn't seen before. I copied them.
We walked across the river on a bridge Mom crossed almost daily when she was growing up. I'm sure there is an official name, but in my head I'll probably always think of it as Mom's bridge from now on.

Remembering that back in January Mom and I had tried to do a tour of the Klementinum and it hadn't worked out, we tried again. This time it worked perfectly. We arrived just 15 minutes before a tour was scheduled to start. Yay! Our tour group was small, just 8 people. I think. It might've been less. Anywho. Our guide spoke well, and gave us all the relevant information. The Klementinum was/is a monastery, and was once one of the learning centers of the continent. Mom remembers studying there from time to time, how amazing that must've been.

The astronomy tower still has some of the original tools used in the 1500s (i think?) which was really nifty to see. Hard to believe that scientists were able to do such amazing things, centuries ago, with tools so much simpler than what we have now. The views from the top of the tower were awesome, I realized how many towers and churches there are in Prague, and how big or small they appear totally depends on distance from the eye of the beholder.
I was most impressed with the library, which was incredible. We weren't able to go past the doorway, but WOW. Just as amazing as the library in the Strahov Monastery. I could've stood there for ages.

After the tour we finally got our chimneys. Just as good as I remembered :)
We walked through the old city center area, and made our way to the area near Charles University. I loved seeing the buildings where my mom was a student. We didn't go in the buildings, but it made family history just a little bit more real for me.
Even though we'd just had chimneys, we settled into a cafe (named for Kafka, on Kafka square,) to warm up and relax with coffee and tea. Good service, nice decor. They also served Kosher food, which I thought was nice even though I'm not Jewish.
After the cafe we walked past a couple souvenir stores when Mom decided to enter one of them. Since she knew she was leaving soon, she wanted to find a coffee mug with Prague/Praha written on it somewhere. Even though this sounds like an easy thing to find, it's not as easy to make a decision. There are HEAPS of coffee mugs with pictures of the city, the flag of the country, words in Czech, etc... Any visitor can browse for ages and ages when looking for just the right mug.
Even though I'd seen it before, and Mom had no thoughts about it one way or the other, I convinced her to go see the spinning Kafka head. Definitely a unique piece of art, as are all of Czerny's works.

We went back to Mom's flat, and on the way decided to go to Kafka's grave. This time, we didn't get to see it because of our arrival time. The cemetery had been open all day, but we arrived 15 minutes after it closed.
Actually, that isn't true. The cemetery closes at 1600, but the last admittance is at 1530. We arrived at 1545. Argh. Defeated again!
That night we had dinner in the food court in the mall close to Mom's flat. Simple, easy.
The next morning we got up early and finally saw Kafka's grave. Its the truth, the third time really is the charm!
Sadly, that was the end of my trip. When I got back to Mom's flat, I had enough time to pack up, and Mom took me to the airport. It was harder than ever to leave, knowing that I wouldn't be seeing Mom again for who knows how long.

Czech Republic: another day trip out of Prague

It has become somewhat of a tradition that when I visit Mom, we do a day trip out of the city with a childhood friend of Mom's and her son.
Hana and Carl picked us up around 0900, and we started driving. The weather was good, everyone was happy. Our first stop was at a place that isn't on a tourist list of sights. There were actually signs telling us not to go there, buuuuuuttttt...
Our fist stop was an old quarry called Velka Amerika. Translated, that means Big America. It's an abandoned, partly flooded quarry. According to Wikipedia, it is sometimes referred to as the Czech Grand Canyon. It's definitely not that big, but it's really pretty. There is also a Little Amerika quarry somewhere close, but it's not nearly as picturesque.

As I said earlier, there are signs warning visitors not to go down into Big Amerika. The reason is because of safety. Howeva, that didn't stop us from taking a peek. We didn't go down anywhere, but we did stand out on a ledge and take a few photos.
On the other side of the quarry we could see the paths that had been worn by other visitors who had gone down into the quarry. Depending on the water level in the summer, it would probably be a fantastic place to have a picnic and swim a bit.
Our second stop was the major stop of the day. A village/very small town around a castle called Karlstejn.

As you might guess, the castle was named for the great Czech king, (Charles IV,)just as soooo many other things are throughout the country.
The castle was founded in 1348, according to the official web site. King Charles first stayed there in 1355. At the time, he was not only the King of Bohemia, but also Holy Roman Emperor. Get this, at the time, Berlin was in the Kingdom of Bohemia!! Bohemia was a lot bigger than most folks know, but was never a really well known military empire; at least not in comparison to others, like Prussia or Mongolia or Rome.

Charles built the castle as a storage place for his collection of holy relics, and the crown jewels of the Roman Empire. They were kept in the Great Tower of the castle. Though this was a castle built to last, only Charles IV and his son Sigismund ever stayed there as Czech kings. (Poor guy, Sigismund doesn't sound like a fun name to have as a kid, my apologies to anyone ever bestowed with that name.)

We walked through the tourist trap street up to the entrance of the castle. The street is filled with cafes and restaurants and souvenir shops. At the entrance of the castle, Mom and I got tickets for the next English tour, which started straightaway. Hana and Carl waited for us outside.
Our guide took us through various rooms and told us the history and story of the castle, it was interesting. There wasn't much decoration, and while I enjoyed the stories and history, I found the castle interior quite boring. As we were in winter season, the Great Tower wasn't open so we didn't get to see that at all. I'm glad we didn't pay the fee for photos, as it would not have been worth it.
After our tour we found Hana and Carl. I think they'd been hanging out in a cafe and nursing cups of tea for the hour or so. I stopped for postcards (not only of Karlstejn, but I also found some of the quarry!!) and a magnet.

After driving back to Prague, we had lunch at a place called U Michaela. It is a local place, catering to those who live in the area. Traditional Czech food, nothing extravagant. Exactly the kind of place I love. We started with garlic soup, then had chicken and veggies. Yum.
It rained while we were eating, but that was the only rain of my entire visit, so I wasn't complaining. It stopped raining just before we went back outside.
After eating we went back to Mom's flat, that was the end of the day. Another great day trip.