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We had pretty decent flights for our river cruise. Although a nonstop would have been sweet, there really is no such thing when flying into Prague, or at least not that Viking was willing to pay for with our “free” flights. Up at 5am (CST), we left about 7am for the airport. Here, Jim is enjoying the first of many beers on our 4-hour layover in Newark (to help him sleep on the plane).

One great thing about flights overseas is that a meal is included, as well as several drinks and even after-dinner drinks. Unfortunately the latter came with some spillage of Bailey’s across my white sweater. Suggestion #1: DON’T WEAR WHITE ON AN OVERSEAS FLIGHT. Since it was stuffy in there anyway, the sweater ended up in the overhead bin, and washed up nicely with some beautiful-smelling body wash in the hotel sink! Crisis averted.

We landed in Frankfurt and after a quick hop, skip and a jump we landed safely at PRG a little before 10am (3am CST). As promised, the Viking rep was there to greet us and get us loaded in the van for our trip to the Art Nouveau Palace Hotel, right at the edge of Old Town Prague.

There we met my brother who, just a couple months earlier, decided to join us on the cruise. He was coming in from Florida and arrived slightly earlier, so he was waiting in the lobby with a group of folks he had met on the plane. He definitely has the gift of gab, which helped us come out of our shells a bit on this cruise. Meeting fun folks was half the fun, and it didn’t take long to gather a core group for meals and downtime, which added some consistency to the madness – where we could talk about our days and learn more about each other.

Arriving at the hotel so early in the day, we lucked out and were able to check in – even though many others from our Viking group were not. We spruced ourselves up and decided we may as well explore for a bit, so we opted for a quick jaunt over to Old Town – just four or five blocks away. It was exciting to be walking again after the long flights and even though we are usually snug in our beds at 3am, we’ve always heard it’s best not to nap, but rather go to bed at our normal bedtime in an effort to quickly acclimate to a new timezone.

As soon as we left the hotel, we knew this was going to be a very special place indeed. The streets and sidewalks were like mosaics, made from cobblestones. Even the manhole covers were beautiful and the area we visited was neat as a pin with no signs of litter. Our only obstacles were the occasional work zone where the cobblestones had come loose or were broken, leaving a pretty dangerous situation. Fixing the streets must be a painstaking job – all done by hand – and certain areas were certainly met with more urgency than others. So I guess that may be Suggestion #2. WATCH YOUR STEP AT ALL TIMES! I’m not sure we saw any concrete walkways on the entire trip – most were cobblestones or brick. I suppose a little inconvenience is to be expected from a city dating back to 1306 BC!

While the guys were looking for a jacket to stave off the chilly and rainy weather, I was attracted by the sign outside Hamley’s Toy Store, so I went in to take a look. It has a carousel INSIDE the store! This store just opened in 2016 with “the unique concept of a giant toy store merged with an amusement park. Thousands of toys, loads of attractions and 4 floors full of fun!” Turns out the dream started in 1760 with William Hamley from Great Britain. Click on the link for the long history of Hamley’s. I wish I would have known it was such a big deal, I would have lingered a lot longer there and since all my grandkids love LEGOs, I would have definitely ventured to the basement to check this out:

“Visit the Czech Repubrick exhibition with its space of more than 900 m2 (almost 10,000 sq. ft.) and get to know how it would be like to live in LEGO wonderland country. The inquiring Legolem shall be your tour guide. You will discover all the Czech landmarks in one place! Legolem will show you the Karlštejn Castle, the Ještěd TV Transmitter, the St. Vitus Cathedral, the interiors of the Villa Tugendhat, the biggest Lego-coaster and you’ll finally find out how the camera obscura works. Set off to the Lego country full of Czech historical sights and enjoy this sort of different world.” – from Hamley’s Toy Store

Hamley’s Toy Store, Prague

A carousel INSIDE the toy store. Awesome!

Suggestion #3. While you’re busy looking ahead (or down at the walkway), DON’T FORGET TO LOOK UP! There’s so much detail and beauty in the buildings, it will amaze you!

Depending on the amount of destruction dealt to each city during WWII and the years following, some cities were rebuilt to look like the buildings that were destroyed, while others took on an updated look. On this river cruise we enjoyed visiting the more authentic, sometimes medieval cities the most. Since Prague had no real military significance, it was spared from a lot of damage during WWII, thus making Prague one of our favorite destinations of the entire trip. As I progress thru these blogs, you’ll see more!

The Municipal House, a fabulous Art Nouveau building, finished in 1911

The Municipal House front entrance.

Also watch this wonderful video at czechtourism.com.

More than a thousand years of building has left architectural gems in Prague which millions of visitors come to admire every year. Uncover the mystery of the Gothic monasteries, enjoy classical music concerts in one of the Baroque cathedrals or relax in the beautiful Renaissance gardens. Prague will soon convince you why people have been saying that it is one of the most beautiful historical cities in the world since as far back as the Middle Ages. – from czechtourism.com

Before we left on our walkabout this morning, our Viking guy – Ivan (pronounced Evon) – suggested our destination and gave us vouchers for free beers with our dinners at Kolkovna. Famous for its local fare, the menu included several items that went well with beer, so we all had pork, red and white sauerkraut and dumplings. Welcome to Prague! Cheers!

Since by this time we were zombies, I will leave you here so we can get some much needed sleep. Tomorrow is going to be awesome with our first Viking excursion!

Next up: Awe-Inspiring Prague

Happy trails,
Barb