OUR LAST DAY IN PRAGUE....

We had a wonderful day today!  It's our last day in Prague, as tonight we catch a "sleeper" train for Krakow, Poland.

After a great nights sleep we were up fairly early this morning.  We had a relaxing breakfast here at our apartment, and then spent some time packing our bags and making sure we were ready to go this evening--our train leaves at 10:30 p.m.

We didn't have much planned for today--just to wander and explore this lovely city one last day.   We walked up our street a few blocks to check out a pretty church that we've been admiring--it was closed so we couldn't go in, but the outside and the small park around it were pretty.

Then we decided we wanted to spend some more time in the Old Town areas on both sides of the river, so we hopped on a tram, rode across the Vtava River and just started strolling, with no specific destination in mind.  We had the best day--it was very relaxing just to wander, with no pressure to navigate from one site to another.  We noticed there were a lot fewer tourists today--they must have one home yesterday.

Pretty streets scenes:

A canal that runs from the river, reminded us of Venice:

On the other side of the bridge, there's a water wheel in the canal:

I spotted this small plaque that had been uncovered--1890:

As we were wandering around near a park by the river, we spotted this memorial from the Czech people in honor of OUR firefighters who lost their lives on 9/11.

The inscription reads (in Czech and in English):

"A firefighter is a person who lives two lives, one for themselves and one for others.  Therefore the life of a firefighter holds a true understanding of all that is human.

Dedicated to the memory of the 343 New York Firefighters who lost their lives on 11th September, 2001

We shall never forget."

We walked a few blocks over, and found the Lennon Wall, a wall of "graffiti" inspired by and dedicated to John Lennon.  It was started in the 1980's, and was a source of great irritation to the communist regime for many years.  The original painted face of John Lennon has long since been painted over with layers of paint, but if you look closely you can still spot a few.  There was a steady stream of tourists taking pictures.

John Lennon:

 These two were my favorites:

More street scenes--I LOVE Prague--It is such a beautiful city:

For some odd reason, this window just "spoke" to me--I'd like to live right there:

We stopped at a small restaurant on an almost deserted lane, and had a really good lunch.

Mmmmmmm-dark beer:

We shared a couple of appetizers--this sausage, pepper and red cabbage platter:

And--pickled cheese with onions, it was  wonderful--feta and Camembert cheese, herbs and onions:

We walked over the Vtava on a  bridge just up stream from the Charles Bridge;  What a beautiful view:

I liked these two building decorations--A man on one corner, and a woman on the other.   It has almost an Art Deco feel, I'm guessing 1930's or so?  Notice the fish are swimming out of the man--and towards the woman!

By now it was almost 5 pm, and we wandered miles--just taking in the beauty all around us.  We made our way through the maze of streets in the area of old town and hopped on the subway back to our apartment--need to drop off bags--I did a little shopping today!

About 6:30 we walked the 4-5 blocks to the same brewery and restaurant that we'd eaten at last night.  We tried a couple of new dishes, and they were very good.

David's beef goulash with bacon dumplings:

My rabbit with potato pancakes, also very good:

We'd looked at their desert menu last night, but we were too full for desert;  but we saved some room tonight so we could try a desert made with beer!

Crepes with beer jam--seriously deeeelicious!  The jam was made with berries, and what tasted like a dark porter or stout beer--and we could definitely taste the beer:

We strolled back to our apartment one last time, talking about what a great time we've had in Prague.  We both think it's the most beautiful city we've been to and, yes--that includes Paris!  Paris is still my favorite city--but Prague has her beat in the "beauty" department!

One last look at the pretty Prague skyline, we are going to miss it!

We're relaxing for an hour or so, then taking the subway to the train station.  The sleeper train should be a fun adventure--stay tuned!!