German & Czech countryside & beautiful Prague ☕︎
- Ian
- 2 minutes ago
- 4 min read
I've decided to add a symbol so you have an idea, prior to reading, that you should perhaps grab a cup of tea or coffee as the blog may be long, see above in title.
The last few days in Munich were very relaxing, pretty much doing nothing except sleeping in, going for a walk, lunch, back to the hotel, bed.
On Friday 13th we boarded the train to Prague for our 5 & 1/2 hour trip.
We were quickly into the suburbs, then countryside with furrowed fields interspersed with commercial factories and depots. Brown and green fields racing by our Czech train, villages flashing passed in the generally flat land, hills a rarity.
The day was absolutely glorious, with radiant sun after a low single-digit and cloud-ridden start to the day. We stop at Freising, collect a few more long-weekenders and head off again to Prague (Praha).
Note to self: no travel on Fridays in the future, long-weekenders.
Landshut (Bay) Hbf our next stop, only brief, for further people to embark. Planes & their vapour trails mark-out noughts & crosses games in the sky, solar panels hemming the railway lines. The terrain is getting hillier on both sides, crop paddocks covering any inch that a village isn’t.
By the time we arrived in Prague it was around 5pm so we grabbed a cab to our hotel, the Mosaic House Design Hotel, a couple of streets back from the River Rltava, which runs through Praha, complete with umbrella people hanging outside (right of photo) & a cow on the awning.
The hotel is very much an 'arts' venue with library over the lounge area, exquisite artworks wherever you look, particularly the lamps in the lounge, extraordinary, and room features.
Dinner at QQ Asian Kitchen, the restaurant within the Mosaic, and where breakfast is also staged. They obviously do a roaring trade as anyone without a booking was unfortunately turned away; fortuitously I'd made a booking from Munich. The restaurant is reviewed, apparently, in the Michelin Guide as a quite highly rated place, which is fantastic for them, however we are absolutely spoilt for choice where we live in Sydney and felt it wasn't quite as good as the reviews has made out, still good, just not super good.
A good nights sleep and hearty breakfast put us in good stead for a day out & about. We head along the river towards The Dancing House. Situated on the Rašínovo Embankment since 1996, the creation of world-renowned architects Vlado Milunić and Frank O. Gehry (Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain; Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, California ). Its concept was inspired by the dance skills of the famous film couple — Fred Astaire (symbolised in the stone tower) and his partner Ginger Rogers (the glass tower).
Adjacent buildings & restaurants, other examples, including a barge transformed into a hotel & restaurant.
I must say that Prague is absolutely beautiful with incredible architecture, gardens everywhere and walk ways in every direction, it really is gorgeous!! I don't think that I've come across a city that I have immediately been incredibly impressed with. Rob B & Cameron M both said I'd love it and they were right, spectacular!!
We crossed the river via the Jiraskuv Most (Bridge) to the western side and ambled northward, our ultimate goal, the Charles Bridge (or the Karluv Most).
Incredible architecture abound wherever you looked, river with locks beside the west bank & beautiful scenery.
We eventually came to a gallery/museum, the Museum Kampa, so bought some tickets and made our way through the various buildings, courtyard and rooftops. There were 5 exhibitions, both permanent & temporary showing various paintings & sculptures.
Originally the home of the Jan & Meda Mladek Foundation collection, the Kampa is a private gallery ranked among the five most interesting private museums in Europe by the British newspaper, The Guardian, in 2015. Meda Mladkova, while living in the USA, began building her collection of Czech art and through her personal friendship with Frantisek Kupka was able to acquire a large collection of his works, which are on display permanently. (see below some that I prefer).
Other exhibits included works by Pavel Rudolf, which were exquisite, Jaroslava Kurandova & Zdenek Rybka, and Valerian Karoušek & Jiří Novák, which were also impressive, see below photos.
The external works were also excellent with an outstanding work by Jiří Sozanský outside the fence line by the river walls, see below.
(Please click on these photos as they are portrait pics)
We made our way to the Mlyny Restaurant perched on the river bank in front of the Museum Kampa for a cuppa then headed towards the Charles Bridge, which was looking slightly crowded.
The Mlyny Restaurant was incredibly popular, even for mid-morning. The Penguins, that light up at night, aren't like Phillip Island but come complete with pigeon spikes, a great extension to the gallery works. Throughout Praha there are the odd art pieces every now & then, I love it!!
Making our way toward the Charles bridge & up the stairs onto the bridge, we found ourselves faced with tourist groups blocking almost all route, and every aspiring artist in Praha. You could get a caricature drawn or get your silhouette done in 10 minutes; this effectively put an end to our day as we looked towards the centre of town and the throng of heads; a right turn and back along the river to our hotel.
A massage and hair cut, now at the some abodes, some recharge hours for Mandy & we headed to the nearest outside seating that provided beverages, wine for my wife. We walked 2 doors down to The Syrian Chef for dinner, where, all of a sudden, a group of 16 or so people came through the door and wanted to feast. The young guy waiter was superb, everything under control and working his butt off. A mixed sample plate sated our appitites as we made our way home to bed.
More in the next few days, cheers!
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