The original plan had been to start with the Charles Bridge Tower this morning, as I’d already bought tickets for that. Carmen’s legs were a little on the tired side, so we decided we’d avoid stairs for now, and head to the Old Town Square instead. The tickets would last for another day as they’re good for thirty days from purchase.
On our way there we found the Clam-Gallas Palace; Carmen had remembered the name from a YouTube video we’d watched the night before as a recommendation for rainy days. Today was likely to be a rainy day, and we were there, so we thought we might as well check it out first. Although the courtyard gates were open, we found the palace closes on Mondays; so maybe something for another day. We continued on towards the square after that, reaching the small square first.
I’d been keeping an eye on the time as we’d been walking; it was getting closer to the hour. There was a good reason for this. We stood in the Old Town Square, with a small gathering of people staring at the astronomical clock attached to Old Town Hall. At 10:00, as the bells rang, the clock became animated, with figures moving around in windows. Something simple, but I thought it worth us seeing once whilst here. The clock is advertised as being 600 years old. Many parts of it have been replaced over the years though, with the calendar face having been replaced several times. The most recent replacement from 2018 hit the news when it was discovered in 2022 that the replacement differed greatly from the original.
The square was host to an Easter market this week, so it felt a little busier than it otherwise would have been. Wooden huts, ones we’d passed by on race day, were selling different foods and souvenirs. There were decorations too, with some being added to the nearby as we walked around. Towards the centre of the square was a raised platform people were using for Easter-themed photographs, and next to it was the Jan Hus monument.
We didn’t linger long though as it was starting to rain, so we took shelter inside the Church of Our Lady before Týn, but found that although the courtyard for it was open, the church was not. Something else to do another day. We walked through the Ungelt, and found our way to the Powder Tower. This one gets its name from the fact that they used to store gunpowder in this one.
We found we could go up the tower for 100 CZK each. I wasn’t too sure about it at first, but we decided we may as well since we were there. The first few steps are the steepest, as it winds around onto the first floor where they check your ticket. There’s then more steps to continue up, but not really much to see other than the view from the observation deck. The rain had fortunately stopped by the time we reached the top.
Passing the Municipal House, we found a large souvenir shop to look around. Carmen bought a couple of magnets, and the man serving her was complementing her on her look, and her coat. It made her feel a little uncomfortable. He did however give us a pair of free tickets to the Mucha museum - they were being handed out to everyone in this store.
Heading back towards the apartment, there was the Estates Theatre and the Havelský Market. We didn’t find anything of interest in the market, but we found a canteen style restaurant that was very reasonably priced. Havelská Koruna looked like one I remembered the Honest Guide talking about when he did a video on canteen restaurants and getting traditional Czech food. It was the payment booths by the doors that reminded me of it. I decided to have goulash with dumplings - it tasted good, and for the price of 190 CZK was a very reasonably sized portion.
Mucha is a big name in Prague - you will see it in multiple places. So it shouldn’t have come as too much of a surprise that when we decided to make use of those free tickets, we found our way easily enough to a Mucha museum. It was however not the correct Mucha museum - this one was the Mucha Art Foundation Museum. The one we wanted was around the corner at the Mucha in Palace Kaunitz Museum.
The museum has much of Mucha’s work on display - from advertising the plays of Sarah Bernhardt, to the designs he’d done for Czechoslovak bank notes and stamps. It would have been 300 CZK each without the free tickets!
Close-by to Tesco is The Brick Museum, a place where an entire basement is dedicated to showing off one of the largest LEGO collections in the world. I'd intended this visit to be a surprise for Carmen, but she'd already spotted the place on our way back from Tesco on Saturday. The entrance fee is 330 CZK per person which I quickly bought online tickets for. At first I had my doubts whether it was worth it as I thought it was just one room, but then there was another, and another, and I soon realised there was plenty to see. There were old LEGO sets, and big builds of landmarks such as the Charles Bridge. On the ground floor they also sell LEGO, and plenty of different mini figures, but ones such as Monkey D. Luffe could easily set you back 529 CZK - more than you’d pay on eBay.
On the other side of the Quadrio shopping mall from here is another square, where you can see the Rotating Head of Franz Kafka. This is another piece by David Černý - this one is made of many shiny panels that rotate once an hour so he changes direction. This one was a little more controversial as locals at the time felt it was an advertisement for the shopping mall. Our timing was perfect so we got to see the head rotating just before it had finished moving for the hour.
As we weren’t far from the apartment, we headed to the Lillova cafe which is situated in the alley beside it. We both had tea and cake, myself having a blueberry cheesecake, for a total of 350 CZK. This was a quiet place, and it felt relaxed there away from the bustle of the tourist-heavy Old Town.
After an hour's rest at the apartment we then set back out, walking over to Střelecký Island in the hope of seeing nutria - a rodent native to South America that looks a lot like a beaver. They were introduced here by fur farmers, and can now be found along the Vltava. They do spread diseases to humans, so actual contact with them is ill-advised.
As we crossed the Legion bridge, we could see people gathered on the water edge. Was it that simple to find nutria, and we’d found them already? As we got closer we could see below they were most definitely easier to find than expected. We headed down the steps, and down to the riverbank where people were feeding and stroking them. Neither action was likely to have been the best idea.
I got the photos I wanted, and we continued on across the bridge to the other side where we climbed some steps to the Memorial to the victims of Communism. From there, there’s a path lined with cherry blossom trees, and it’s not too busy either. We walked along them and followed the path part way up the hill through the Petřín Gardens as well.
I did wonder if we should head up to the Petřín Tower whilst we were in the area, but it was a bit much for today, and would leave us with even less to do later in the week. When it was time to start heading back we thought we could leave through a nearby gate, but this turned out to be an entrance to the Vrtba Garden which would be closed for another few days. We turned back, and found a way out by the College of Technology. Carmen suggested we collect our mugs as it wasn’t far, so we headed there next.
Mine didn’t come out quite how I wanted, the brown paint I’d used on the dragon had almost completely disappeared, same as it had on Carmen’s robin. It was a little disappointing, but it was only our first attempt at painting a mug.
On our way back to the apartment, we stopped in a few souvenir shops around the lower town. From one of them I bought a Christmas bauble saying ‘Prague’ for 230 CZK.
Once back at the apartment we didn’t really know where to go for food, so I used Wolt to order us a pizza each. I had a Hawaiian with peppers, whilst Carmen had one with chicken, egg, and spinach. The two together with delivery came to 459.80 CZK.
It took around thirty minutes to arrive, and for the last ten minutes I stood outside the apartment block waiting for the driver. It was getting chilly, and I wished I put my coat on to wait. I saw the Wolt delivery driver approaching, so I raised my hand. He went straight past though and parked a few doors down. When he got off the bike I was walking over to him, but he was still looking up at building numbers - ignoring me.
When he finally listened to me trying to tell him it was for me, he asked “Paul?”, sounding more like Powell.
“Yes,”, and then under my breath I muttered, “well, close enough.” I thanked him, and headed back inside with the pizzas.
Another day was already over.