I didn’t get much sleep last night so I was a bit out of it but I powered on. After breakfast we headed out toward Petřín park which has a observation tower styled like the Eiffel Tower. The hill has a funicular to get you to the top and your public transportation tickets used on the metro, buses, and trams work for it as well.
Across the Charles Bridge
We felt it was early enough to walk across the Charles bridge before it was swarmed with crowds. The crowds were moderate and we checked it off the list.
Stay on the Funicular
A word of advice to future travelers: There are two stops the funicular makes. If you want to get to the top, stay on the tram. We got off at the first stop and the tram driver, who must see this every time, closed the doors and continued up the hill. Not wanting to give the tram driver the satisfaction of seeing our sheepish faces, we walked the rest of the way up.
Even though the funicular was running the tower was closed for another 45 minutes so we did some exploring. We found a mirror maze and a planetarium. Both were closed but we found them. The tower eventually opened up and we purchased our tickets to take the elevator to the top.
Not that Museum
Devin made me responsible for the next stop on our trek so I decided to take us to National Museum which is off the metro stop Muzeum on the A line. Unfortunately the line outside was something we weren’t willing to wait in.
While observing the line and taking photographic evidence we noticed there was a separate section of the museum that everyone seemed to ignore.
This line free place is called New Building of the National Museum and it houses three different changing exhibitions. Two sounded normal:
- Light and Life – How sunlight has played an important role on evolution and different ecosystems.
- The Celts – A look at the Celts from the Iron Age of Central Europe.
The last and most confusing by name was Noah’s Ark. We headed to this one first on the highest floor. As it turns out this had nothing to do with the story from the bible. It was a look at various stuffed animals and lessons about extinction from natural and man made causes. Whew. It would have been hard to take a science museum seriously with an exhibition on the ark fable.
For dinner I sought out a Lahůdky which is essentially a Czech delicatessen. You’ll find a wide variety of Chlebíček (open faced sandwich), potato salads, sweets, and many more. Typically there are no chairs so you eat standing up or get it to go. Wash it down with a beer and you can eat for less than $10 for two people.
Devin went on an adventure while I relaxed back at the hotel room. Here are some of her pictures:
