Roam: Prague, part 1: getting to know our new city

Beautiful Prague

In Amsterdam we said goodbye to Nik who had to fly back to Portland for work. The kids and I boarded a train to Berlin, then on to Prague, while Nik caught a train to the airport. We had arranged to stay in an apartment in Prague belonging to a Portland friend. Prague was on my list of must-see places in Europe, so we were very grateful that Eva's apartment was available to us.

Leaving Amsterdam and goodbye to our hardworking Nik.

En route from Berlin to Prague, enjoying our first of many European train trips

Some pretty scenes from our train window

Eva's sister-in-law kindly met us at the subway station near the apartment and showed us around. We were about 20-30 minutes outside of Prague by public transportation, in a nice building close to subway, tram, buses, grocery stores and a few restaurants. Perfect!

We wasted no time in venturing into Prague by tram the next day, as I was very excited to see the beautiful city. Most signs were in Czech, and everything looked pretty foreign. This inspired me to look up the Czech alphabet to see how things are pronounced and to start to learn a few phrases, in order to make Czech seem less foreign. It is an interesting experience to be foreigners who speak none of the local language, yet we don't look any different from the locals. This was very different from Costa Rica where we were very obviously foreigners.

Heading into town on the tram.

One of the vintage trams that we rode a lot.

We rode the tram across the Vltava River that bisects Prague and found a restaurant serving Czech food.

Hearty meat, potatoes and dumplings!

Happy diners

We walked around the heart of tourist Prague and crossed the famous Charles Bridge.

Lovely waterway and Kampa Island to the left, seen from the Charles Bridge

View of the Prague Castle from the Charles bridge.

Another day we rode the tram and walked up into Petrin Park then over near the Prague castle. This was just a scouting trip! We had plenty of time in Prague, so it was nice to not feel rushed to see all of the tourist spots right away.

From lower Petrin Park

View of Prague rooftops from below the castle

Segway tours are very popular in Prague. It was always kind of a funny sight, and we stuck to walking.

All types of boats on the Vltava River.

We made our way to the Old Town Square to see the famous astronomical clock. I was very impressed with the gorgeous buildings all around the main square and beyond. There was no end to eye-popping architecture!

Astronomical clock, built in 1410; the oldest working one in the world!

Church of Our Lady Before Tyn, in Old Town Square.

Lots of street performers including this man with his pink cockatoo.

The Jan Hus Memorial in Old Town Square. It was unveiled in 1915 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the martyrdom of Jan Hus. He was a symbol of strength against oppressive regimes.

The strange and wonderful Frank Gehry creation, "Dancing Houses" or "Fred and Ginger"

We waited for a warm day to get out on the Vltava on pedal boat. Sullivan chose the Cadillac of pedal boats.

Pedalling in style

Madeleine pedals with the dancing houses off in the background.

We returned to Petrin Park, this time riding the funicular to the top of the park to visit Petrin Observation Tower. The tower was built in 1891, inspired by the Eiffel Tower after the Club of Czech Tourists visited the world exposition in Paris in 1889.

Petrin Tower

Enjoying the view from the top of Petrin Tower. We earned it after climbing many steps!

After conquering the tower and enjoying some ice cream, we saw some more of the park, including the observatory and gardens.

Observatory and rose garden in Petrin Park

Another day we took the bus to the impressively lovely Jewish Quarter where we wandered among the stunning buildings and toured several synagogues.

Pretty in pink

Memorial to Franz Kafka who lived most of his life in the Jewish Quarter. The sculpture show Kafka sitting on a headless man's shoulders, inspired by Kafka's short story, "Description of a Struggle"

The Old-New Synagogue, the oldest site in Prague's Jewish Quarter, and Prague's main synagogue for over 700 years.

The Pinkas Synagogue was very moving, a memorial to the 80,000 Jewish Holocaust victims from Bohemia and Moravia, regions of the current Czech Republic. Victims' names were hand painted on the interior walls of the synagogue in the late 1950s. The memorial was closed for 20 years after the Soviet invasion in 1968, but was then restored and reopened in 1995.

Painted names in the Pinkas Cemetery

We were especially intrigued by the Old Jewish Cemetery, tucked in between two synagogues and a ceremonial hall. The cemetery opened in 1439 and closed in 1787. It is estimated that 200,000 people are buried here. Because of the limited space, graves are 12 tombs deep, making for an interesting hilly terrain. The most famous inhabitant is Rabbi Loew, the creator of the Golem, an artificial man made of clay. The Golem was meant to protect the Prague ghetto from antisemitic attacks and pogroms.