Live with Love and Laughter: Our first few days in Prague

We are currently in Prague, we arrived on Monday and have taken our time exploring the city. It is a beautiful city. The number one priority for us when we got here was finding a place to do laundry. We lucked out and found a laundry service across the street from our hotel. After solving the laundry dilemma, we decided to do a little exploring. We walked across the Charles Bridge and back, found a great little place for dinner that was much cheaper than anywhere we ate in Italy, then wandered around the shops in Old Town Square. All in all, a good first day in Prague.

The company that I used to book our shuttle from the airport to the hotel offered a free tour of the city and so I decided to go on Tuesday morning, while Charles painted. So, I met the group at the Astronomical Clock at 11:00 a.m. and we set off on the 4 hour tour. Our tour guide Monika was wonderful! I really enjoyed her information on the places we visited and loved her humor throughout the tour. I took lots of photos, I'll post them on SmugMug soon.

Charles met me at the back of St. Vitus Cathedral after the tour and we walked down the hill back to the center of town together. We picked up our laundry on our way back to our hotel and were both way too excited about our clean clothes!

Fall afternoon in Prague

Clean Laundry!!

That evening we went to find a small pivovar (brewery) that Charles read about in a list of things to do in Prague put out by Time Magazine. The pivovar is in a small hotel and they have a brew that they have been making since 1466. The beer is aptly named 1466 and so we went to try it. Charles had a 1466 and I tried another of their beers, the Oldgott. The beer was very good, but unfortunately they still allow smoking in most bars and restaurants here, so we didn't stay very long.

Charles at U Medvidku trying the 1466

Yesterday we decided to go to the Museum of Communism, which we had seen recommended on a couple of tour guide websites. So, we set off in the morning, with one important stop along the way - the Nike Store. Why, would we want to go to the Nike Store you might wonder, well it's because it is where the tickets to the Sparta Prague vs. H. Kiryat Shmona F.C. Europa League game are sold. So, we went in and bought our two tickets to the game this evening. The Museum of Communism was worth a visit, it's small and the actual artifacts and items displayed are not overly impressive, but it contains a very informative presentation of Prague's struggle under the communist regime from WWI through the present. There is also a documentary shown that includes video of Prague in the time leading up to the Velvet Revolution. We left the museum very glad we had visited, but feeling very somber.

Museum of Communism

After lunch we went to the House of the Black Madonna, which is a building built in the Cubist style. We could not figure out what the significance of the Black Madonna was, other than that there is a statue of a Black Madonna on the corner of the building. So, if anyone knows the significance or story behind her, please email us.

Last night we had dinner at the Strahov Monastery Brewery, which I learned about from my tour with Monika. The beer is brewed and sold only at the monastery. We had great beer and great food and enjoyed the views from above the city.