Post 16: A Bucket List Kind of Day! Prague

Guest Blogger, Amanda from Seattle back again to continue chronicling our adventures in Prague.

Dancing Buildings

The next morning, we got up bright and early and we did not even know that today would be a Bucket List day!  Well of course, Prague itself is a bucket list city. It is very beautiful, one of the places that did not get bombed like crazy during WWII so there is still so much great architecture and history from pre-WWII. Its position along the river Vltava has made it a prime location throughout it's history.  The first thing we did once we left the hostel was to check out the Dancing Buildings. They were only a few blocks away from our hostel.  They are also referred to as Fred and Ginger. They were designed by the Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry. There is a restaurant inside, but the timing was off for us to go to it. Our next stop would be the Charles Bridge. 

Along the Charles Bridge I get to make a wish

John of Nepomuk was a priest in Prague under King Wenceslas IV (son of Charles IV).  The Queen made a confession to John of Nepomuk.  Unfortunately for him, the King was a very suspicious man,  and he wanted to know the Queen’s confessions which John of Nepomuk would not reveal, not even to the King, because it would be against his commitment of confidentiality. John of Nepomuk was therefore executed by being thrown into the Vltava River from the bridge and drowned. The plaque on the statue of John of Nepomuk had been polished to a shine by many people who had touched it over the centuries.  Tradition says that if you rub the bronze plaque (the one depicting St John being thrown off the bridge), you will one day return to Prague.

Along the Charles Bridge

We walked along the river to the Charles Bridge. We would cross the bridge and then take the Funicular up to the Petrin Tower, visit the Mirror Maze and view the Castle and other sites up on the hill. Legend has it that Hitler stayed at the Prague castle when the Nazis took over Prague and he was not happy that the Petrin Tower obstructed his view.

Funicular=FUN 

Legend has it that Hitler wanted them to take down the tower because it obstructed his view

Notice the coin slot on the door to the bathroom

Mirror Maze

Loved the mirror maze, wish it was larger!!

At the Castle

We walked down the hill back into Old Town Prague and as we were meandering around, I saw a place that offered FISH PEDICURES. This has been on my bucket list for a few years. They were outlawed in the United States as being unsanitary. These fish eat the dry skin off of your feet. At this venue, they washed my feet before I put them in the water and I had a sore on one of my legs (a mosquito bite that I had scratched too much) and they covered that with a piece of surgical tape. So I felt that the sanitary-ness of the procedure was fine. The fish nibbling on your feet tickles a little bit. And after a while it was quite monotonous, and I was ready to be done after the novelty wore off.

My Bucket list item, A Fish Pedicure!!

Then we walked on and found a place along the river to have lunch. We wrote our postcards and planned the rest of our day.

Best Mussels I have ever had and that includes Brussels !!

Most gorgeous postage stamps too

Writing postcards during lunch that is my beer

It looks like a lot of money, but it's not really as much as you'd think....

Then as we were walking back into Old Town, we saw the Zorby sign! Ryan was fascinated with the Zorby and the idea of walking on water in a plastic bubble!! So we decided to stop and fulfill his bucket list wish as well.  You step into the bubble and then they fill it with air, blowing it up like a balloon.

Ryan's Bucket List Item, Zorby on the water!!

It was very challenging for Ryan to even stay upright in the Zorby. It was almost better to just lay in it and enjoy just floating around in a bubble. Trying to walk or move around was exhausting!!

 Decorated Eggs, REAL eggs, therefore, I did not bring any home, I was sure I would have them broken in pieces by the time we got back to Seattle.

Street Food in Prague

Awesome fruit drinks on the street in Prague

Model Train Restaurant

So we just stumbled upon this Model Train Restaurant. We were walking by and I saw the signs and I said that we had to eat there!! It was so amusing and so much fun. They had an extensive track layout and the trains went round and round, delivering drinks and taking away dirty glasses.

Model Trains deliver your drinks

And they take away your dirty glasses too!

So really that was another bucket list item that we did not even know existed until we stumbled upon it!! We finished our day going back to our hostel and looking forward to traveling to Munich in the morning.