Brenna and Shannon went to tour the Jewish quarter this morning, while Sabrina and I explored additional hidden streets and squares in Old Town.
We popped into what we thought was a sandwich shop, but turned out to be a gourmet butcher of some sort.
We wandered over to
Havelský Market, and browsed the stalls selling fruit, spices, mushrooms, tourist souvenirs, etc.
After not buying anything at the market, we drifted north towards the Jewish quarter to meet Shannon and Brenna near a tram stop.
They met us at a cafe, around 12:30 PM, and we took a tram ride over to
Žižkov. We walked a few blocks from the tram stop to
Vítkov hill.
To get a panoramic view of the entire city, it is unfortunately necessary to climb many, many stairs. And hills.
Halfway up the hill, we were treated to a view of Žižkov, including the
Žižkov Television Tower.
At the top of the hill, we found our objective: the
National Monument.
The prime selling point of the monument is, of course, the
third largest horse statue in the world, featuring
Jan Žižka wielding a mace.
Oh, and the view isn't bad from up there, either.
After completing a lap around the outside of the monument, we ventured inside to see what was on offer.
There seemed to be about a dozen staff members idling about, as the place was devoid of patrons. Also, the woman at the ticket booth informed us that some/most of the Things To See are currently closed, but this also meant the admission fee was reduced.
(According to their
official website, "From February 15 to March 24 the exhibition hall, the Liberation Hall and the Laboratory of Power will be closed for operational reasons.")
Essentially, that meant we were able to see the "great hall", or whatever it was called, and got access to the roof platform, for about $4 each.
As there was an ample supply of bored staff, we basically got escorted through the museum, starting at the hall upstairs, which still has a very soviet ambiance.
Next, we were escorted to an elevator, escorted to the top floor, and escorted to the roof access door. The view was even better from up there, looking north towards the Vltava river.
But the real reward was the rooftop viewing platform.
I'm not sure why they have decided that the elevator is one-way, but the workflow they have come up with involves taking the stairs all the way back to ground level.
After descending Vítkov hill, we took the tram back to the apartment (Tesco, actually) to add Barb to our expedition for the rest of today.
We hadn't had a real meal all day, and it was almost 2:30 by the time we met Barb, so our first endeavor was to head south a few blocks to
U Fleků for a snack and some liquid nourishment.
After our... late lunch? we wandered around New Town for a bit, eventually heading back towards Old Town.
As we approached Old Town Square again, we sought out a gelato cafe that Sabrina and I had walked past a few days ago.
Around 5:30, we ambled through Old Town Square, headed towards the
Powder Tower. I guess it was the first time we had walked past the Astronomical Clock at dusk or night, as we were surprised to see that they are projecting an image of what the clock
would look like, were it not under renovation, onto the canvas that's covering the scaffolding.
We got to the tower at 5:40, about 20 minutes before sunset.
I was hoping to see a sunset from the top of the Powder Tower, but it was (once again) a cloudy evening. Nonetheless, we climbed the narrow stairs to the top and took in the view of the city at dusk, again.
From this central location, you can see the Petřín tower, Prague Castle, the monument at Vítkov, the Žižkov TV tower... pretty much everywhere we've been this week.
The climb down from these towers is always the dicey part; the cramped stairs are difficult enough on the way up, but (I think) worse on the way back down.
Having returned to street level, we debated what to do for dinner.
It being Friday night, Old Town was somewhat crowded, so we wandered around for about an hour, looking at restaurant menus and trying to find a place that could seat five people during prime dinner time without a reservation.
We found a local place with immediate availability (indeed, Google Maps shows 9 PM as its peak busy time) called
Katr (meaning "jail", according to their website).
Everry table had a gas burner in the center, and an exhaust hood above it; we could order various meats and grill them yourselves, according to the waiter. We opted to have a professional chef cook our food, instead, which was quite good.
Sometime around 9 PM, we parted ways with Barb and strolled back to the apartment.
Tomorrow, we will leave at 9 AM to head to the airport; our flight departs around noon.
