December 4: Final Day in Europe

Our last day of the trip.

After breakfast downstairs, Cindy headed out to meet some friends who live here. They used to work at the ice cream shops in Key West when she managed one and lived there, and she had not seen them in more than ten years. She was so excited!

Alyx, Ines, Martin, and I went out to explore more of the Christmas markets. We also visited the Saint Nicholas Church in the Town Square, which was absolutely beautiful.

After the day trip to Szentendre I had originally planned for the group earlier in the trip didn’t happen, I was talking with one of the agents from the first river cruise, and she recommended a private guide she had used recently in Prague named Ernestina. I contacted her and arranged a private tour for our group to the Strahov Monastery and library, and then the Castle Cathedral. I thought it would be a great way to end the trip.

I had said I would do the tour no matter how many people wanted to come, and it ended up being 9 of us, including Alyx and also Ines and Martin.

The others in our group were coming by car, but the four of us decided to walk. It was a 44 minute walk from where we started, but luckily Alyx suggested we leave about an hour and a half early, since we would probably end up stopping along the way. She was right, because we arrived at exactly 2pm.

It wasn’t the distance that slowed us down, it was the elevation. Once we crossed the Charles River, it was all uphill. Steep uphill. When I looked it up later, the climb was the equivalent of 51 flights of stairs. Yep.

It was a really good tour and everyone enjoyed it. Some of the facts we learned:

• This is the second oldest monastery in Prague, founded in 1143.

• It belongs to the Norbert religious order.

• The order moved all their relics here in the 1600s.

• Many of the monastery buildings were ruined during religious wars and were reconstructed many times.

• In the mid 1500s, the Habsburgs arrived.

• In 1618, the Thirty Years War began here in Prague. The Protestants ultimately lost to the Catholics.

• The monastery was closed during communism.

• In the 1990s, when communism ended, buildings were returned to their original owners. The religious order could not afford the upkeep, so they rented parts of the complex to businesses such as hotels and restaurants in order to preserve the most important buildings.

• The library holds 50,000 volumes.

• Some relics reflect early scientific research. They collected sea shells and preserved sea creatures, which were fascinating to them since they lived so far from the ocean. They were even given a small crocodile and were told it was a dragon.

• There is also a section of banned books, including erotic works. All but one copy of each was burned, and the remaining copies were kept locked away.

We left the monastery and our guide led us to the tram to go to the castle. She usually walks, but I had asked her ahead of time to use the tram to cut down the walking distance for some of our group.

The Prague Castle:

• The castle is listed in the Guinness World Records as the largest ancient castle complex in the world.

• We walked past an archway labeled “Lvi dvur,” which means Lion’s Court. Past emperors kept lions and other exotic animals here.

• One of the walls features sgraffito, a technique that was popular in Italy. It creates the look of layered stone, but is much cheaper. (This is also where the word “graffiti” comes from.)

We then got tickets to enter St. Vitus Cathedral just after 3:30, since it closed at 4. It is the largest and most significant church in the Czech Republic.

Inside, we learned:

• Many of the side alcoves were private worship spaces and burial chapels for wealthy families.

• There is an intricate wood carving of Prague dating back to 1620.

• The region once had the richest silver mines in Europe, and the cathedral contains a “silver tomb” honoring St. John of Nepomuk, a martyr and archbishop.

• This is the location of the tomb of King Wenceslas (yes, the one from the Christmas song). The church was literally built around his original tomb. Inside the tomb is a door that can only be opened with seven keys, each held by a different high-ranking official. Behind it is the chamber where the crown jewels are stored.

• The blue stained glass window with writing at the bottom was sponsored by an insurance company (now out of business). The scenes depict moments in the past when people would have needed insurance.

Then we walked to the Golden Lane, a small street where the guards who protected the castle walls once lived in tiny homes. One of the homes is also where Franz Kafka lived for a short time. Today those historic houses have been turned into small shops.

We continued walking down the hill, since there really was not anywhere to get a cab until we reached the bottom. We finished the tour around 5pm, and some people took cabs from there.

The four of us went back to a market we had noticed the night before when we accidentally ended up on the wrong side of the bridge for dinner. I got some almond honey wine, which was really good. I asked the couple for an extra cup so I could hold the very hot one more comfortably, but they said no. I even used Google Translate to be sure they understood what I was asking, and they still said no. First time that has ever happened.

There was not much I could eat, so on our walk back we stopped again at the Town Square market and tried a “grilled cheese” we had seen, but it was not what we expected. We ended up getting a chocolate dumpling and a chimney cake instead. Not exactly nutritious, but at least I was not still starving.

We had been in touch with Cindy, who did not join us for the tour since she was with her friends, and let her know we were on our way back and were planning to ask if we could go up to the rooftop. On the sixth floor, the hotel has an observation area, but it is only open until 8pm, so this was our first and only chance to see it. Cindy met us in the lobby, wearing a sleeveless shirt. We told her she would be cold, but she insisted she would be fine. When we reached the rooftop, she stepped out, took one breath of cold air, and immediately stepped back inside wrapped in my scarf like a shawl.

The view was amazing, with the Town Square, St. Nicholas Church, the large Christmas tree, and the Christmas market on one side, and the castle on the hill on the other.

Cindy had stayed inside the elevator, sitting on the little “luggage rack” they have in there. I looked over and could see her through the glass. A few minutes later, I noticed the elevator had gone all the way down to the lobby.

When we finished and called the elevator back up, the doors opened and there was Cindy, still sitting in the same spot. She said that when the elevator reached the lobby she heard someone say, “Is that Cindy sitting in the elevator?” Sure enough, it was a few people from our group who had discovered her riding up and down like it was completely normal.

We went back to our room and said our goodbyes to Ines and Martin. After that, it was time to finish packing, and we finally got to bed around 9:45 pm. Not nearly as early as we hoped.

For the morning transfers, five of us were being picked up at 3 am (yes, really 3 am), four at 7 am, and the last two at 9:50 am. I grouped everyone by flight times to make the transfer costs a little easier.