Prague has always been on my list of cities to visit ... and not visit! 😂😂
Let me explain - it's the movies' fault! I can't remember which movie I watched first but when I was younger, I watched XXX (with Vin Diesel) and I could not take my eyes off the scene with the bridge. The landscape was beautiful. That day I promised myself I would someday go to Prague. And then I made the mistake of watching Hostel 😱😱 a couple of years later and swore the opposite. Although in the movie, I think they are in Slovakia, I know it was filmed in Czech Republic!!!
That movie has definitely traumatised me. But I've had too many people around me telling me how beautiful it is. I just knew I had to go one day, so why not on this European road trip.
Munich, Germany --> Prague, Czech Republic
IC Bus (49,80€ / 2 adults & 1 child)
7:35am - 12:40pm
We left Munich at 7:35am. Fortunately, the bus was very very clean and the seats were very comfortable. So comfortable that the Husband and Baby Girl slept during the whole 5-hour ride!
At around 12:40pm, we arrived at Praha hlavni nadazi, which I quickly understand is the railway station. I also realised that Praha is Prague, and that contrary to other travel experiences there might be a slight language barrier here to deal with. Most words are unfamiliar and have weird accents on letters. For example, a small v (ž) --> what is that?? Thankfully, a lot of people in Prague speak English so it wasn't too hard to go around the city.
Aside from the language barrier, we also realised that the Euro is not the country's currency. I used my bank card to get our tram tickets for 2 days, but I couldn't help but wonder how much in bank fees I would have to pay. Which is actually something legit to think about because when we got home and I took a look at our bank statement, I saw that we paid bank fees both in France and Czech Republic!!
If you want to know more about the money system in Prague (atm, money exchange, etc ..), check out this guy's youtube channel: https://youtu.be/eyK8dQH-Vh0
He has other videos on Prague which are very useful!
We had our first meal at McDonald's. We love eating at McDonald's in different countries just because each McDonald's is so different from the other. In Germany, there's the Pork Ribs Burger, in the Philippines there's Fried Chicken and Spaghetti, and in Japan I've heard there's a Rice Burger and Shrimp Burger too!!! Yummm ...
In Prague, I fell in love with their Cheese and Mushroom Nuggets. It was so delicious! Also, how is it that the Apple Pie dessert is still not available in France?!?
By the way, something wayyyy funny happened to us here in McDonald's. I won't get into details, but oh my God one of their employee thought I was a homeless person and was even offering to give me the code to their toilet so I could freshen up. 😂😂😂 Too funny!
After lunch, we decided to check-in our hotel, Alveo Suites. Thing is, we didn't find it right away. In fact, we couldn't find the hotel because all there was was a door. When we finally saw it, we read that we had to proceed to yet another hotel, Urban Creme (about 50 meters away) to check-in from there.
Like Munich, we reserved our hotel from the Application, Hotel Tonight. The prices are really interesting, but careful - this room price is for 2 persons. We paid 15€ for an extra person and got an upgraded room. We were given a nice suite with a bedroom, a living room with a couch-bed, a small kitchen, a nice bathroom with a washing machine! So practical especially since we were travelling light (only 1 backpack per person). We also paid 0.80€ per person / day for the travel city tax.
Hotel Tonight: EAMORA1 (get 20€ off your first reservation)
As soon as we got a machine going, we decided to go out and wander in the streets of Prague.
This is the view that I've always wanted to see in person. We sat here for an hour, drinks in hand, listening to music playing nearby. Magical!
The Dancing House was designed by Frank Gehry. If you look closely, you will see two dancing figures - a man and a woman. This is why this is also called Fred and Ginger after Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, two famous American dancers.
Since we had unlimited tram tickets during our stay, we decided to ride it from one end to the other. This is, I believe, an exhibition ground.
Here we go again - grabbing some Czech snacks as we end this first day in Prague. 😊
The next day ...
Here was the view from our hotel room. We woke up early morning to enjoy the whole day in the streets of Prague. We were already leaving for our next destination in the evening.
Early morning hugs are simply the best! ❤️❤️
Our hotel only had rooms. Basically it was an apartment building with several hotel rooms suites. There were no restaurants, no welcome desk - nothing. Thankfully, there was a Lidl supermarket so the Husband went to get us some breakfast goodies for us next door.
Then we were off to the streets of Prague.
Church of Our Lady Victorious and the Infant Jesus of Prague 🙏
Not so far from the church, we saw a Filipino restaurant and store, P.noy Tastes of Asia. Of course, we picked up some stuff. It's just too bad that we were backpacking, so we couldn't get more. The Husband got an order of Halo-Halo, but he was sorely disappointed.
French embassy in Prague 🇫🇷
The Lennon Wall
John Lennon Pub
There weren't too many people in the streets of Prague so it was truly a pleasure walking around. Also the weather wasn't too warm - it was perfect!
At some point, we entered this cute little shop, Truhlar Marionety. They had the cutest marionette!
We also stopped at a bookshop, Shakespeare Bookstore & Café, looked around for a book, and sat down to chill. I went home with a second hand copy of Tuesdays by Morrie by Mitch Albom.
Piss (Čůrající postavy) - sculpture and fountain by Czech artist, David Cerny.
On vacation, we don't usually eat lunch at restaurants. We usually like to get something quick, street-food style during our walks. In the middle of the afternoon, we stopped at Amorino for some gelato. Amorino's Strawberry and Pistachio is on point!
Unfortunately, it started raining hard when we took the funicular to the Petrin Gardens. Thankfully it wasn't cold, but it was hard to appreciate the landscape and the view.
At the end of the afternoon, we went back to our hotel to get our bags we left when we checked out in the morning. We decided to have an early dinner before taking our train to Berlin. Restaurace Sklep was not too far from our hotel and looked really intriguing. And most importantly, they served local specialties!
Cheers!!! I love my family!
Plzensky Gulasek - pilsner beef goulash with onion, fresh chili pepper, and homemade potato pancakes
Pomalu peceny spalicek - slow-roasted pork neck with round potato dumplings and white cabbage
Domaci bramborové noky - homemade potato gnocchi with Italian cheese sauce and sliced chicken breast, baby spinach, and parmesan cheese
After dinner, it was time to go to the train station and leave Prague. We know we haven't visited all the landmarks of Prague, but that's intentional. Prague in December is apparently very beautiful. 😉😉
Next stop .... Berlin!