two backpacks and a diaper bag

Monday, April 2nd. Prague. We stayed home today to take care of some things like clearing emails, clearing receipts, paying bills, getting our taxes done, and other business things that need to be done but we haven’t yet gotten a chance to do. Yesterday, though, we explored Old Town and the Jewish District, and two days ago, we went to Prague Castle, Charles Bridge, and Mala Strana area.

Two days ago, Arthur woke us up at 7. There was no blackout curtain so he was awake when there was enough light coming through. We took our time getting up. Arthur took a nap between 9-9:30 and we finally went out the door around 11:30.

Our Airbnb is located in Praha 6 which is quite close to Prague Castle, but before we headed there, we first went to Letna Park to get a view of the city. It was only a 30-minute walk, and the walk was quite relaxing and pretty. There were not many people around in the park, and the view is wonderful!

You could see the whole city, including how packed Charles Bridge looked!

From here, we made our way to Prague Castle. There was a long line to get into the castle area. The area was free for us to explore, but the security was heavy. It took us about 20 minutes of waiting in line before it was our turn to get checked… and we were on a shorter queue. Anyway, when we finally got it, there were so many people walking around. So many tourists! And we’re guilty of being one of them.

It was also Easter Weekend, so maybe that was why there were so many people around.

We didn’t end up going inside Vitus Cathedral because the line was just too long. The outside was magnificent anyway, so we spent some time admiring and staring at it.

In one of the squares, there was a market. And tons of people in such small space.

We had to get the Green Beer. We didn’t have Czech money, but they took Euro, so that was good. Sean asked what was in the Green Beer, and all they said was “herbal.”

It tasted good.

We then walked around some more, beer in one hand. Arthur had been asleep all this time.

Afterwards, we exited the castle and made our way to Charles Bridge. Before we walked up the stairs to Charles Bridge, I got hungry and we looked for a place to eat. Also, Arthur had been sleeping for three hours and I was worried that he was going to wake up as we crossed the bridge. He must be hungry, and we wouldn’t have a nearby place to feed him. So we decided to look for a place to eat.

The internet was slow and we weren’t patient enough, so we looked around for a restaurant for us to stop and eat. There were a couple of restaurants in this one square. Sean went to two of them to see if there would be a place to put the stroller. They didn’t. The third restaurant had enough space. Decision made. Restaurant Dvorak.

Arthur woke up right after we ordered our food. We did the usual. We fed and changed him. Then Sean and I took turns eating our food.

The food was all right. Service was okay. There were not a lot of people there, but it wasn’t really lunch time so that made sense.

When it came time to pay, Sean handed over his credit card. They only took cash. We didn’t have Czech money, and we didn’t have enough Euro. They directed Sean to the nearest money exchange and ATM.

Sean was gone for a good 15 minutes. When he returned, we looked at the bill again. They had charged for the bread and an unreasonable amount for service.

We didn’t say anything, but truly, we felt cheated a bit. Also, the ATM claimed that we could take our Euro, which would be fine because Euro is useful in many of the countries we will visit next. However, what came out of the ATM was all Czech money. So Sean had lots of Czech money for the 3 days that we were there. We knew we would have to change the money to Euro when we leave Prague in three day, but that’s a lot of money lost over exchange rate. Oh well. What to do?

As we left the restaurant and walked up the three set of stairs to Charles Bridge, we looked up on google the reviews for the restaurant. It had a 2.2 stars and the complaints were the same as ours. Next time, we need to be more patient and look for a better restaurant.

Anyway… Charles Bridge was packed with people. It was definitely very touristy. But you have to walk it at least once, right? Well, once was enough. We couldn’t even saunter. I didn’t really enjoy the walk across the bridge. There were too many people and there were always people selling stuff and performers looking for an audience. We walked the bridge pretty quickly.

Once we’ve crossed the bridge, Arthur started to squirm. We knew he was tired. So we stopped by somewhere quiet enough for Sean to put him to sleep in the car seat. Arthur fell asleep at a money exchange place.

Then we made our way South to the other bridge for us to cross over back to the other side to Mala Strana.

This bridge was much better. We could see the castle and Charles Bridge, and there were not a lot of people here.

Mala Strana was nice and calm. As we walked through the neighborhood, we decided for our destination to be Sternberc Palace.

Halfway through our walk, Arthur woke up. It was raining, so we had to take shelter in the nearest archway that linked two buildings together. We tried to look for a cafe but the nearest cafe was hella full. There were no more seats.

We took Arthur out of the car seats. We knew he was hungry. Sean tried to look for a nearby place for us to sit and feed him, but there was nothing around that was close enough. It was raining so Arthur would have to be in the car seat so that we could put the rain cover on him. We had no umbrella so I couldn’t carry him to the next stop. Sean and I only had our waterproof jackets.

Arthur kept crying. So I just decided to sit by the stairs and fed him. It worked out fine. Thank goodness the temperature was no longer in the negatives. It was warm enough for me to nurse Arthur outside. This was a good place also because it was like a dead-end. No one came through this archway.

After we fed Arthur, we had to change him again. We used the stroller bassinet to do this. We were thankful for the warmer weather and the Graco stroller-car seat combo.

Even though Arthur didn’t go back to sleep, he didn’t mind being on the stroller. This time, we placed him in the bassinet and placed the car seat under the stroller. We then covered the stroller with the rain cover. Arthur was amused.

We got all the way up to Sternberc Palace.

But then, Arthur was once again grumpy. Today was our longest day out. I was tired, too. We decided to call it a day. We called an uber and went home.

We had another home-cooked meal, watched a movie, and went to sleep.

Yesterday, Arthur woke us up around the same time because of the sun. We took our time getting ready yet again. Then we took an uber to Wenceslas Square.

There was another market there.

We got ourselves a cup of hot wine and non-alcoholic hot pear.

We walked down the strip and made our way to Lucerna Palace to see the upside down horse.

Interesting statue. The horse had his tongue out.

Then we made our way to Old Town. We passed through another market.

We got ourselves a chimney bread with Nutella inside.

We walked around the market some more… and then continued on.

And stumbled unto another market.

This one was full of souvenirs and hand-made things.

We walked down the row, wondering whether we should get anything, but we were reminded that we still have two months to go with only two backpacks and a diaper bag.

And we continued on and finally got to the Old Town Square.

And yet again… another market. This time, it was for Easter. Lots of stalls and lots of people. It was quite buzzing with life.

We stopped and looked and walked and chatted and admired and wondered. It was like a fair but the slow pace was quite enjoyable. I’d rather be here than at Charles Bridge.

From here, we made our way to the Jewish District passing through some pretty amazing buildings and architecture. The slow walk with a stroller really allowed us to slow down and look around more consciously at our surroundings.

We finally got hungry again. Yesterday, after Charles Bridge, we stumbled upon a restaurant called Bellevue with a Michelin sticker on the door. After our experience with a terrible restaurant yesterday, we wanted to treat ourselves. So we made our way to Restaurant Bellevue. We passed through the quiet parts of town, mostly because we consciously chose quiet streets.

When we got to Bellevue, it was closed for lunch. It would open again at 5. We didn’t want to wait that long, but we also didn’t want to have a bad experience like yesterday.

Restaurant Smetana was only 30 meters away and it was part of a hotel. It looked nice and proper. We went inside. The restaurant had just opened a month ago so it didn’t have many ratings yet. The six reviews, though, were all five stars on TripAdvisor. We knew we weren’t going to be cheated like yesterday.

The food, service, and decor were all wonderful. The dessert was unique. We enjoyed our experience there.

Arthur got to hang out with us. He fell asleep quite quickly toward the end of the meal but before that, he was in a really good mood. Also, we could tell when he was getting tired.

In general, we are starting to understand his cues and needs so we could respond appropriately and both he and us are no longer frustrated with each other.

After the meal, we called an uber and made our way back home. We asked our uber driver if he preferred Czechia or Czech Republic, and he said most people he knew preferred Czech Republic. Not many people liked Czechia. Just a thought…