Day Twelve - Prague

On the road again. Heading south to the Czech Republic. The drive is gorgeous and luckily we are detoured through winding country roads and tiny villages that seem unchanged since the turn of the century. Once we cross the border we pull over to a gas station because I know we need to purchase a toll sticker. The Euro is not used in the Czech Republic so I go to the ATM machine to pull out some Czech koruna. I am unfamiliar with the exchange rate so I just choose 200 CZK (seems like a good amount?).

We are starving at this point so I fumble through the ordering process and get us two gas station sausages with rolls. I confidently hand over the 200 CZK to pay for the sausages, toll sticker and gas. Well 200 CZK is equivalent to about $9 US. No problem, I have a credit card (thankfully!). We eat our gas station sausages in the car and get back on the road.

We arrive in Prague and I am in a constant state of amazement. "Woooow" and "Oh my god" flowing in a steady stream from my mouth. It's truly the most beautiful city I have ever seen. It's every Disney fairytale town brought to life.

We arrive at our hotel or.. botel. We are staying on the boat Matylda. I was a bit weary of this at first but it turned out to be one of my favorite experiences. We enter our room and see the amazing view from our window, the Jiráskův most (bridge) and across the Vltava river a view of the entire Malá Strana district.

http://www.botelmatylda.cz/en/

With our spirits reinvigorated by the sheer beauty of the city we freshen up then start walking towards Old Town. Prague is a very walkable city, it's the only city where we never used public transportation. Don't get me wrong, we walked a lot. An average of 5 miles per day. But it never felt like a challenge when you're mesmerized by the beauty.

We arrive in the Old Town square and are face to face with the Astronomical Clock. Installed in 1410 it's one of the oldest astronomical clocks in the world. It's gilded and ornate and thoroughly impressive. We wait until 6:00 pm for the hourly "Walk of the Apostles" show where wooden figures emerge and peek from various locations around the clock.

Afterwards we stroll through the town square, which is decorated for the upcoming Easter holiday. There are wooden booths crowned with flowers selling various regional treats and goodies. We decide to get a bird's eye view of the city by going to the top of the clock tower. We are greeting with a luminescent 360 degree view of the city in all it's shimmering glory.

We stop for candy at an impressive candy shop, then a fresh trdelnik for our journey back to the botel. The beauty of this city has captured us and it was a treasure to fall asleep looking out onto it.