SO! Back to Prague. To NOT visit the castle seemed absurd, so I checked the metro map and our teeny guidebook and we decided to go one stop past the castle and walk downhill. The throbbing tourist hordes were intimidating. The Prague metro was cool, but very subtle in its signage. I'm not sure I would have known where the entrances were if I hadn't stumbled into one by accident.
ALSO! One of the themes of our time in Europe has been Las Obras, street construction. We exited from our station, and followed folks up the escalators and out the doors to...6ft high plywood walls leading you through a major construction site. So we followed the crowd, and eventually came out on a sidewalk. The sky was hazy with humidity, and we were thoroughly turned around. But off we went! To the Castle! More accurately, OFF THE MAP! Things got tense as it became clear that we had wandered into the embassy district, and/or the military slash rich person enclave district. The armed guards, cars with tinted glass and flags, and barbed wire+camera combos gave it away, really. Oops. Castles we found, but not the medieval variety. Here is a street sign from our sweaty wander. Google Map it. That's right. We got some exercise and sweated off our Heineho's.
A very nice lady at a commuter train station and I had one of those German/Czech/English patois conversations that conveyed successfully to her that a) we had no idea where we were b)we didn't want to be where we were and c) we had no idea how to get to the castle. She literally walked us up a hill, across the street, and plunked us in front of a bus stop and told us to get on it. So we did, bless her. And it took us right back to where we started, but on the OTHER side of the construction. Las Obras! We then found our way to the moat, and the gardens, and the castle, and eventually back into the delicious bosom of the Cafe Gran Orient for a well earned meal. Whew!
The view from the castle wall facing the River was wonderful. I could see a massive sculpture wall on an interior courtyard, but couldn't see how to get there. If anyone knows what it is or when/why it was completed, I would love to know.
The rest of the evening was spent window shopping and admiring the decorative art of Prague, before retiring to our hotel for some vodka + strange television. We fly back to Barcelona in the morning.
OH! and a P.S. -- The Prague Garbage Men wear amazing coveralls in U. of Miami colors. We tried to find some for Sean and various members of the Miami expats, but to no avail.
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