September 3, 2018
Hot and Humid, when is fall coming?
New York, New York
This week has been a somber week where I found out 2 of my clients died and my best friends mother, uncle and nephew passed away on the same day but with unrelated causes. Reminds you again that life is short and to make every day count. And made the trip I took with Jackson even more special and hope he looks back at this trip with fond memories years from now.
So second part of our one week whirlwind tour of Europe was to the beautiful city of Prague. A city that I've always wanted to visit as it has been on my bucket list. We had some hiccups getting to our hotel (I accidentally took out 1000 USD in Czech Crowns instead of 100 USD) and the taxi driver took us to the wrong Hilton. But made it to the right Hilton which was the most beautiful and walking distance to the Old Town. After unpacking and resting a bit, we headed to our first adventure which was to have dinner at Divini's one of Prague's best restaurants and it did not disappoint. It was not only gorgeous but the food was fabulous and the staff was extremely nice. Jackson thought it was one of the best restaurants he's ever been to!
After a good nights rest, it was time for our full day private tour with our terrific guide Maria. We did a walking tour of Prague which meant I walked over 20000 steps in a day! Our first stop was the entrance to the old town. The buildings in Prague are gorgeous.
Entrance to the old town
Maria is a professor of Music and is very knowledgeable about the history of Prague. She is also of Jewish descent so showed us where the Jewish museum is and the Jewish sector. Like many Eastern Europeans of Jewish descent, her family was also impacted by the holocaust where her Aunt's family was sent to the "extermination camps" near Dachau and were killed as soon as they arrived at the camp The Jewish Museum reminds the Czech's of the dark history.
The Jewish Museum
Prague is a vibrant city where one can experience theater, music, art in every corner it seems. The famous opera house was smaller than I thought but even more beautiful than in the photos that I've seen.
Opera House
Cubism: Maria also pointed out buildings that were built with the influence of the Cubism movement. The House of the Black Madonna is still known world wide as a fine example of Cubism architecture. It was built around 1910 and a black madonna statue can be found on the right side of the building near the second floor.
The House of the Black Madonna
Everywhere you go there are beautiful buildings.
Our next stop was to the Strahov Monastery where we took the tram up the mountain. There was a hiccup there too as the tram did not take the usual route so it took us longer that expected to get there. Just like all churches, temples, etc, the monastery is located at the highest point of Prague. I've always wanted to go to his monastery and go to the famous library. It is very hard to get in but Maria with her connections got us inside the library which was just amazing! Jackson was very impressed. The monastery was built in the 1100s and was destroyed several times from fire, wars etc but in the 1600s the abbot of that time built the library which is a hidden jewel of Europe and contains over 200000 books written since the 1600s.
The Strahov Monastery Library – Gorgeous!
Magnificent collection of Globes
Books that are very very old
And of course, there is a hidden door
And beautiful and practical furniture. The chair slides into the desk and becomes portable
And because its a monastery, there is beer. We had lunch there where Jackson enjoyed the beer produced at the monastery.
We then walked towards the famous Prague Castle but encountered art along the way. For example, the paintings on this wall was done to provide an optical illusion which you see…
here! Amazing
The castle of course was magnificent but we loved the scenery the best.
We then walked down the hill back into the old town, where we stopped at one oldest pub in Prague for a beer and "snack"
Having a "snack" at U Glaubicu, a 700 year old pub in Prague
Jackson and I then said our goodbye's to Marie and walked back to our hotel via the famous Charles Bridge. We had our snacks at the hotel's executive lounge long with copious amounts of drinks including specialty drinks made from local liquors and called it the night as we had to get up early to take the train to Berlin – our next and last stop