Prague - Day 3

Our original plan for Monday had been to get up, go to the zoo (Em ADORES zoos, and, as you know, we try to do some things for Em, too) then start off for home, stopping at Pilsen for a brewery tour on the way. Max decided he didn't need a brewery tour, though, so we didn't need to go to Pilsen. Instead, we decided to go to Vysehrad in the morning, then the zoo, then home. We had to clear out of our room before we left, though, since check-out was 11, and we didn't know if we'd be done in time. However, the hotel has a storage closet for that very purpose, so we left our stuff in there. On the hotel website (and on all the TripAdvisor reviews) it mentions Toasties. Toasties are Kristina's special grilled ham, salami, and cheese breakfast sandwiches. We hadn't had time to eat them before, so we all had Toasties for breakfast.

Then, it was off to Vysehrad. Our 24 hour tickets had expired by this time, so we needed to get new tickets. The line for the Information desk was really long and slow, so we had to figure out the ticket machines. I did it, though! I'm very proud of myself. I am a public transportation master, if I do say so myself. Except buses in other languages. They go too many places. They scare me. I know trams and metros have finite areas, buses do not. We did do the buses in Rome, though, so I'm not a complete loser.

Anyway, to Vysehrad. We had to make two transfers to get there, but we made it. Once we got into the park area, it was really quite lovely. Vsehrad was the site of the original castle in Prague. It's mostly gone now, though some of the walls still exist. Now, it's mostly parks and more modern churches. We headed straight to the Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul, which the guide book had described as an "acid trip of color".The doors were closed, and tour groups were standing outside, so we went through the cemetery first. It was a very visually appealing cemetery. Nothing like the Old Jewish Cemetery, this one was laid out very neatly. The part I liked, though, were the tombs along the sides. They were in a covered porch-type area along the whole outside wall of the cemetery. Some were very elaborately decorated, with lots of statues and mosaics. The one in the picture belongs to the composer Dvorak. It's hard to see, but there are lots of shiny gold bits.

St. Peter & St. Paul

Then it was back to the Basilica. The doors were still closed, and tour groups were still outside. This time, there was a nun outside cleaning glass over a sign, so I was afraid to check the doors. So, we went around to see if we could get a good view of the city. The original castle was placed here because it overlooked the whole area, so I wanted to see it. The thing about letting your castle turn into a park is that the trees that make a nice park make it a crappy defensive structure. So, no view, just trees. We went back to the Basilica. Doors still closed, tours still out, but scary nun gone. I went up to check the doors. Locked. I look at the sign she was cleaning. Closed on Mondays. Fart biscuits. I really wanted to see it. Missing that made me realize that we had also forgotten to go see the Jubilee Synagogue the day before. Double fart. Max very kindly offered to go back to find the Jubilee Synagogue, but I couldn't remember where it was exactly, and I didn't have my Jewish Prague book with me. Plus, we were really short on change, and the ticket machines only accept change. We only had enough for 30 minute tickets, which wouldn't have gotten us to the Synagogue and back to the hotel. Good thing we rubbed old St. Jan yesterday, because now I know we can just see those things when we come back. ;)

Jaguarundi

We got off the metro at our station and Em & I ran to the Tesco to get her cape, while Max went to bring the car around to the front of the hotel. We then headed back to the hotel, got our stuff and checked out. We drove to the zoo. I wasn't driving, but it was a pretty stressful drive through town, even for me. The streets aren't terribly well marked, and for much of it, you're driving on the tram tracks. Scary stuff. Once we got out of town and onto the highways, it wasn't bad. We found the zoo no problem. Since it was Em's trip, we followed her. We told her she had two hours, which would get us out of there at 2:30 (since we still had a 5 hour drive ahead of us, and Max had to go to work on Tuesday, we couldn't leave too late) We had 100 CZK left to spend (and a bit of change that I wanted to keep, because I love foreign currency). 100 CZK is about $5. It ended up being enough for 2 sodas and an order of mini donuts. It was a pretty nice zoo. Some of the enclosures seemed too small, but it had obviously undergone a lot of renovation. It started raining pretty hard while we were there, so I was really glad we had brought our rain jackets! It was mostly the same old animals that we see at every zoo, but there were some new ones, including the Jaguarundi, an animal that looks like a cat bred with an otter. The polar bears were really bored. One of them kept pushing off the rocks and drifting on his back to the glass. Then, he would do it again. And again. And again. Sorry you have to turn your head, I don't know if it's possible to rotate videos on here.

It was then time to go home. The drive was uneventful, except for the fact that I got a horrid headache and had to drug myself and take a nap to feel better. Other than that, it was fine. We came in to very happy kitties, and went to bed soon after. :)

Emma says -  The Toasties were awesome, but I'm pretty sure one of the slices of ham was actually a slice of sunshine. We also had delicious hot chocolate. Dad kept calling me small and weak, because I couldn't finish my hot chocolate, and he continued to do so throughout the day. I was kind of sad we couldn't get into the church, but it was pretty from the outside. And some people apparently need to have really big, fancy graves. I want mine to have a unicorn on it. The zoo! My dad dislikes going to zoos, because he thinks they're all the same, and because we go to them everywhere. This one was really different, because it had lots of animals I hadn't seen in other places. And, it was really big. It also wasn't hot that day, which was awesome. We got through the whole thing, but we couldn't find the seals. That day, I made the statement that if I could have any kind of animal under my command, it would be polar bears. I got a penguin to follow my hand, and it was so fun and cute.