My amazing friend Karin, took me with her to Prague on a business trip. I tried really, really hard to be the very best traveling companion ever, as these are yearly jaunts she goes on all over the world. Seriously though.... I was blessed to have such a great opportunity and Karin was a warrior traveler. We walked over 60 miles in 7 days and ate and drank our way all over this city and I was thrilled to learn she loves to take photos as much as I do.
Looking at the city from Prague Castle
Near the castle, early evening after the crowds cleared. The opening scene from Immortal Beloved (one of my favorite movies of all time) was filmed just behind where I stood here to take this photo. Most of the story takes place in Austria but was filmed almost entirely in the Czech Republic.
beautiful details everywhere
my obsession with mannequins continues....
plenty of creepy dolls at the toy museum and one whole floor of Barbies.
The National Museum was incredible, we spent a whole day here, looking
at all you would expect from a Natural History museum and so much more,
like the room with fetuses, two headed skeletons, small pox virus in a
jar, medieval birthing apparatus, and footage playing on a TV screen of
a woman giving birth to Elvis singing In the Ghetto. fun!
Cesky Krumlov- a 3 hr bus ride from Prague- This is the view from the Castle. They have kept bears in the moat since the 1600's. The bears have a lot of space but it still seemed a little off to me. Especially since there are lots of bear rugs in the castle, the obvious ancestors of the current ones in the moat.
Other than that... I loved this town, over all prices were much better than Prague and as you can see from the photo it is a beautiful town with a river winding through it, you can canoe here - something we did not have time for on our one day trip here. We had many choices for a day trip and I'm glad we picked this one. Rick Steves comes through again.
We visited many, many antique stores, old marionettes were plentiful but out of my price range. While visiting Cesky Krumlov, one of the most wonderful medieval cities in Central Europe, I found a box of old heads and bought a few to bring home. I LOVE them.
here they are in my backyard.
Here is where we had our best meal. THANK YOU to my sister-in-law Daphne who sent me $50 before I left and said she wanted me to have a nice meal on her. This was one of those places we stumbled upon, just walking through neighborhoods, away from the main tourist areas. It was run by a lovely Italian couple and we spent 3 hours here, working our way through appetizers, yummy pastas, red wine, desert and limoncellos. It's called Alla Stella Nera and if you ever find yourself in Prague, I highly recommend dinner here. Be sure and order the chocolate mouse.