Prague, Czech Republic

On Tuesday we packed our bags and then headed into Vienna one last time to check out the Mozart house and a clock that was mentioned in one of our guidebooks. Here are Patrick and Brennan outside of the Mozart house. There was an audio tour available, but we just couldn't bring ourselves to drag Brennan through another one of those. We walked to the clock, bought some snacks and sat around waiting for high noon. This clock was located on a random street, not a cozy square as we had imagined. There is a figure or figures for each hour, and at noon they all "parade" across the face of the clock. Well, after waiting with the growing group of tourists, the clock was a bit late (all the church bells in town were already ringing) and instead of "parading", the figures crawled across at a laughably slow pace. It was anticlimactic and actually sort of boring, but we had waited so long for the "show" that we felt obligated to stay for the whole thing. So if you are ever in Vienna, go ahead and skip that one!



We said farewell to Vienna and headed on to Prague. We checked into our fabulously located (although slightly stinky - left over cat/litterbox smell) apartment and then grabbed some pizza at a restaurant across the street. We started our first day of touring on Wednesday. Unfortunately it rained pretty heavily for most of the day and was cold, but we toughed it out and did quite a bit of walking. We walked around the old town with our map, checking out the architecture from under our hoods and umbrellas, and stopping frequently in the touristy shops to dry off. We hit up the Astronomical clock at noon and were much more impressed this time, possibly due to the live trumpeter. After much wandering we headed home to nap.



The rain let up in the late afternoon and we struck out again. It was SO nice not to be stuck under an umbrella and puddle hopping; what a difference! Brennan's nap had been unsatisfactory for everyone involved and he nodded off in the stroller, giving us a chance to grab some soup at a cafe near that same clock. We sat outdoors under the heaters (yes, in June. Where is summer???) and enjoyed our soup and drinks before Brennan woke up. It was almost like a real date!



On Thursday we walked the 2 blocks to Charles Bridge, one of the famous landmarks of Prague, and crossed to the other side of the river. We stopped to pet the dog, which is a somewhat new tradition, and then began the climb towards Prague Castle.



It was a pretty long and steep hike, esp. for us out-of-breath preggos, but the view was great and we enjoyed lunch on a terrace overlooking the city. We had coffee and hot chocolate to keep us warm. After that it was a long hike back for naptime, including 2 potty breaks because my very frequent Braxton hicks were clamping my bladder like a vise. Not cool, and I'm sorry to say that with the unpleasant weather to top it all off I was not a happy camper and made no bones about it. Thanks for sticking with me Patrick! Overall Prague was fun to look at with it's cool architecture, and we found the people to be very friendly. We stuck mainly to the touristy sections, so there was shopping aplenty. It's too bad the weather was so terrible, but we enjoyed the city anyway.