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A "surprise" winter trip to Prague

Note:  this was originally written in 2017 but I have updated it. 

When I was planning my ten-week trip to England and Spain for the winter of 2016/17 I decided I wanted to do something a bit different.  I had read about "surprise trips" out of the UK and thought "why not".  The website nor anything similar no longer exists sad to say as I had thought about doing this on my last trip to England.  I provided Expedia with the following information: how many nights I wanted to be away and the dates, my preferred airport, an approximate budget and three places I did NOT want to go.  I was informed not to check my credit card bill but of course I did because well..I'm snoopy plus who doesn't check their credit card bill?  All it told me was that I was flying EasyJet which is a popular budget airline flying all over Europe.   I was to be flying out the morning of January 16th from Gatwick Airport and told to be there by 7 a.m. with carry-on luggage only.  Three days before departure I got an email telling me the weather forecast of the place I would be visiting so I knew what to pack.  A forecast of snow? Okay, guess it's not southern Europe then!  I narrowed the possibilities down from perusing the EasyJet website (told you I was snoopy...I prefer to think of it as having detective skills) and determining which flights were leaving from 9 to 10 a.m. that had the possibility of snow.  It was either Krakow or Prague.  Secretly I was hoping for Krakow as I had just been to Prague less than two years previously.  

The night before the flight I booked a room at the IBIS hotel at Gatwick as I did not want to have the stress of worrying about delayed trains.  I headed to the North Terminal and hung out just waiting....of course, I was there before 7 a.m. because I am early for everything.  

At 6:50 a.m. the email came...

Laurie, you're going to Prague! 

It also contained the name of my hotel and how to get there from the airport. 

Most of Easy Jet's flights take off from the North Terminal so I went there to wait but of course mine took off from the South so I had to take the shuttle back to that terminal but still had plenty of time to get my boarding pass and go through security before the 9 a.m. flight.  

Less than two hours later we touched down at Prague airport.  Now to find my way into the city.  The surprise trips always ensured their destination cities had public transit available to the airport. As instructed I hopped a bus to the closest metro station and then on to the closest metro stop to my hotel.  

Finding my hotel (the Rubicon) was a nightmare.  I thought my confusion with Prague was because I let Claudia do all the work on my previous visit in 2015 and I just followed but nope, Prague just confuses me!  I don't recall swearing and muttering (and yes, sometimes almost yelling) "where the f*ck am I" so much.  I didn't think I would ever find my hotel and it didn't help that locals kept sending me in different directions!  I finally found it behind Town Square and was able to store my carry-on bag with the front desk as my room wasn't ready yet. 

Expedia did book my flights so that I had maximum time there with a morning flight out and a late evening flight back. I covered quite a bit in those three days including a day trip to enchanting Cesky Krumlov.  

The first day I wandered around the Town Square and Old Town. Yes, there was snow but honestly, it added to the charm.  


Above is the Jan Hus memorial (he was burned at the stake in 1415 for proposing radical church reform...sigh...religion!) with St. Nicholas church in the background in the Old Town Square.  


The Astronomical Clock in the Town Hall has dancing saints and a crowing cock on the hour.


Kiosks selling pastries, ham and other meats as well as hot drinks.







I am not a lover of snow or cold (to put it mildly) but somehow European cities look much more romantic in the snow than my hometown does!!! And it's such a good excuse to pop into a cute cafe for a hot chocolate!!!  

The next day I took a day tour to Cesky Krumlov. While I would love to go back in the warmer weather, the dusting of snow made the town look like a fairy tale! 






This is the town square. 



This stunning bridge is called The Cloak Bridge which is part of the Palace complex and was constructed between the 16th and 18th centuries. One level was designed for riding horses across.  

We drove to the town in a van and we were crammed in and most of us did not wear seatbelts.  Bad I know...and guess what?  We were busted.  So I got my first ever (and hopefully last) ticket for a seat belt infraction.  The fine was less than six dollars Canadian.  The ticket has pride of place in my travel journal.  


After a heavy goulash for lunch, this was my evening meal.  I am not a beer fan but being as Prague is famous for it and the original Pilsner was brewed here I had to try it.  And some Czech chips/crisps as well!!  


The next morning I headed out to explore the nearby Jewish area. The
Spanish synagogue was built in 1867 to 1868 in a Moorish design.  I attended a concert there that evening which featured songs from Mozart to Gershwin.  It was very enjoyable and as youc an see below the surroundings were absolutely beautiful. 


I also visited the Pinkas Synagogue which features a list of names of every one of the 77,297 victims of Nazi persecution from Bohemia and Moravia.  






The surname of the family is in red and the dates are the dates of their birth followed by the day they were taken to the camp from Nazi records...So poignant and incredibly sad. There were many walls filled with names like this. 50,000 were from Prague alone...

I had visited a couple more synagogues before Pinkas but there were people at prayer so I didn't take photos.  

My final destination in the Jewish area was the Old Jewish Cemetery which is the most visited monument in Prague. It is right outside the Pinkas Synagogue.  It was established in the 15th century and is the best-preserved Jewish cemetery in Europe. 







I really recommend a visit to this area; so very interesting!!! 

From there I wandered over to the Vltava river.  


Walking towards the beautiful Charles Bridge - you can see the statues. 


 Here is a view of Prague Castle. 


The bridge was much quieter than my last visit!  




Once on the other side I immediately headed to the Mala Strata and the John Lennon Peace Wall.  




And then I had to finally visit the John Lennon restaurant!   



Of course, I want lots of cream on my boozy Irish coffee - what a silly question!  In case you hadn't guessed by my attire, it was quite nippy!  I have to say I toasted John twice - yes, there could have been another one of these!!  As they were playing Beatles and 60's music it was hard to tear myself away but eventually I did. 

I then headed over to the riverside to get some views of the Old Town of Prague across the river. 




By now I was pretty well knackered.  Two months later I had my knee replacement (Thelma!) so walking was difficult at times for me on this trip - sometimes I could only walk ten minutes before I had to sit down.  I got to know a lot of benches on that trip but I was determined to have one more adventure before I went under the knife. (or power saw..) I am very stubborn.  I headed back to my room to rest up for the concert I was going to attend that evening that I mentioned earlier.  

The next morning knowing I had a long day ahead I decided to rest a bit and enjoy my hotel until close to check-out time. I then headed out to walk around Old Town and do a bit of retail therapy.  







Of course, I had to have a chimney cake (trdelnik)even if I had to eat it with gloves on!!!  




This is St Nicholas church...the interior was really beautiful and it made a great place to sit down and warm up!!! (well as warm as you can get in an old church) 





My trip home consisted of not having the right change for the metro and dealing with that (the ticket office harridan refused to give me any and would not sell me a ticket - machine only), a delayed departure, a delayed arrival (due to an airplane door that would not open), change of the location of my first train from Gatwick, canceled train, late train.....I finally crawled into my bed in south London at 1:30 a.m. 

Despite the cold I did enjoy myself and am already planning more winter getaways (in my head of course...not for real...yet...) to European cities in the future.  I hope you enjoyed my little surprise getaway as well!!!  































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