A Fun Day in Prague

Prague, Czechia

Dean here. Today was a full day of sightseeing.  We left the room at 8:30 and weren't back until 9:00!  Despite some initial grumbling (by Dex) it all worked out great. Here's the run down.

[Kylie]  This morning, I got up happy and awake for two reasons.  Number one, no one woke me up telling me to pack up and get on the bikes because it is a rest day!  Number two, Mom had arranged for the family to do an escape room.  None of us had ever done an escape room before, so we were excited to try and crack the code and escape.  The escape room was at 10:00, but it was only 8:00.  Since everyone was up and awake, we walked up to a giant national monument of a huge horse with a blindfolded man riding it.  I eagerly awaited for my watch to tick to 9:50, the time Mom said we would leave for the escape room.

City of a million bricks

Kylie by the imposing National Monument

When we approached the building, a kind woman led us down to the basement and explained the rules of the game.  Once she was finished, she led us to a small, green-lit bunker, with three locked doors.  This is where she explained the situation.  We were secret agents on a mission to find hidden documents before the KGB arrived... in exactly one hour.  Our comrade started the timer and left the room.

At the start, it was a mad dash to search all the coats, hats and other objects in the room.  Dex quickly discovered the first key that led us into another room that resembled a small living room.  Again, it was a race to find keys or codes that would unlock the many padlocks in the room.  This is when I noticed that there were small red symbols on the cupboards that corresponded to other objects on the room.  For example, an old fashioned calculator had three numbers circled that gave the combination for one of the cabinets.  We quickly began cracking codes.  Many minutes later, we had just unlocked a cupboard and were expecting another clue inside, but when we looked, we found nothing, but a fingerprint in the far back corner.  Dex and I were stumped and disappointed that the cupboard was a dead end.  But just then, Mom took a look and pushed on the fingerprint.  Suddenly, the back wall of the cupboard popped open into another small room. At one point, we had to siphon and then pour water into a flower vase on a small desk that then magically unlocked the desk drawer.

When the clock finally ticked down to zero, our comrade, called us on a walkie talkie and informed us that she could hold off the KGB agents for another five minutes.  This was just enough time for us to unlock the last door, grab a game from a mannequin, roll three "loaded" dice, open a combination lock, and remove the secret documents!  Whew.  We all agreed it was a blast, and I hope I can do it again soon.

[Meg] After our great escape, we grabbed lunch and made our way to Old Town Prague, to see the Astronomical Clock and to cross the Charles Bridge.  Wowzer!  Prague is a big tourist destination.  There are all kinds of tourist shops offering everything from traditional Czech pastries to beer steins to ice cream to Matryoshka dolls that have up to 20 stackable options!  All the while, the backdrop of the buildings, churches, castles, and spires make one feel like they are in a fairy tale setting.  We had lots of fun meandering around the narrow streets, taking in the sites, but doing very little purchasing... we've got no room in the panniers.

Trdelnik cylindrical pastry

Hundreds and hundreds of Matryoshka dolls

When we made it to the plaza with the Astronomical Clock, I knew we would have to make a return trip, as it was 10 minutes after the hour.  So, on we went, more narrow streets, more crazy souvenir shops, and more people.  When we got to the bridge, it was nice to see that it was a manageable number of people.  Here too, craftspeople were selling their wares.  Dex and Kylie spied a scuba project going on in the river, checking the structure, apparently.  I was surprised to see how much protective gear went on the scuba divers.  From gloves to full body wet suits, there was nothing exposed.  As we watched the divers jump into the river, we were listening to a neat Dixieland band playing directly behind us.  It's this kind of atmosphere that I enjoy so much.  So many people, so much history, everyone enjoying the experience.  I'm grateful to be on the road again.

So, getting across the bridge was an enjoyable jaunt that left us thirsty and ready for a small break.  We went to a nearby souvenir shop/mini-market to get some beverages and, thanks to Google, found a nearby park.  The kids immediately began making a game of flipping the bottles to try to have them land upright, while Dean and I figured out our next move.  Luckily, the Prague Castle offers 2-day tickets, so we left the kids with my phone and made our way up to the castle.  I was concerned that it might be closed as we were the only two people heading up the long, cobbled steps, with loads of people going down.  No need to worry, we made it in, purchased our tickets and then took advantage of the late afternoon light and sparse crowds to see St. Vitus Cathedral.  St. Vitus is very much in the style of Notre Dame, so maybe that is why it made such an impact on me.  Knowing that it will be a while to repair the iconic church, made me appreciate this one all the more.  Of course, it didn't hurt that it was a beautiful, enormous space either.  The Stained Glass murals were breathtaking in the afternoon light.  My favorite panel was a depiction of the Holy Spirit descending onto the apostles.  It was bright and stunning.  Both Dean and I were glad for the chance to see the church on our own.  We realized, however, that we needed to get back to the kids, as we were gone a little longer than we'd meant to be.

[Dex] Now that we were finally back together again, we decided to take a walk downtown to find some dinner, and hopefully see the Astronomical Clock in action.  When we got to the square, we saw a crowd gathered and clapping.  When we went to investigate, we saw a short blond man juggling and doing some tricks.  Next to him was a rickety tower made up of three tables and a microwave on top.

He cracked a few jokes and we decided to stick around.  Soon after the street performer tossed out three balls to three men in the crowd.  He told them to hold the balls up so that everyone could see them, then he asked for three volunteers... and picked the men whose hands were up....just like he asked them to do.  Before he could get any farther, a little kid from the audience ran into the circle.  The performer joked around with him, and let him try to play with the balls, but the little boy never gave them back.  He would throw them in the opposite direction.  Finally, the little boy's older brother came to his rescue.  The street performer was quick to include the boys in his routine, and then he teased them pretending to pack them into his suitcase....but let them go and sit down instead.

Finally, he asked the three men, who were still holding onto the balls, where they were from and called them by their country name.  So we had America, Venezuela, and India.  He told Venezuela and America to stand by the tower and to hold their hands out, toward one another.  Then he gave India three rolls of toilet paper each on a plunger.  He told the crowd that he was going to jump onto Venezuela and America's hands and they would throw him up onto the tower.  Then India was to toss him the toilet paper so he could do his final act.  He went to the back of the crowd and started running towards America and Venezuela.  He made like he was going to jump, but at the last second,  dodged behind Venezuela's back and climbed up onto him.  Once standing on both men's arms, he climbed carefully onto the microwave, then called India over, who gave him a helmet and the three plungers with toilet paper.  On top of his helmet, was a stick, resembling a unicorn horn.  When he had everything, he bent down and pulled out a plate of Swedish meatballs from the Microwave.  He spun the plate on his finger as fast as he could, balanced that on the stick, put the stick in his helmet, then managed to juggle the plungers.  The crowd cheered, and so did I.

We were about to go look for dinner when we realized that the Astronomical Clock would be ringing in just a few minutes.  So, we stuck around, to make Mom happy, even though the clock performance was less than stunning.

Since I had chosen dinner last night, it was Dad's turn to determine where we'd eat.  He found an Asian Fusion place called SIA, which served small portions of great food.  We had five different dishes (Singaporean Noodles, Crispy Chicken in Red Curry, Bao, Dumplings, and Spicy Duck Wonton Soup with rice) and two desserts.  Still, we decided to get ice cream after, because, well, we didn't think our two desserts were enough! Kylie ordered a coconut flavored ice cream that, for whatever reason, was black.  But we all agreed, it was tasty.

Our final event of the day was to board a tram, which was the first non-walking mode of transportation we had since leaving our apartment 12 hours earlier.  When we finally made our way into our 4th floor AirBnB apartment, we were exhausted and happy.