Hiking Questions To Ask and An Overnight Train to Prague
Every trip, every vacation, every day in our lives is a learning experience (trite, but true) and this trip into the Polish/Slovakian Tatras was no exception. It taught some new lessons and questions to pose the next time I thought a hiking/trekking trip sounded "interesting."
- Exactly what is a "C" moderate trip in this particular country?
- Will we use chains bolted into the side of a cliff? Ladders? Crampons? Ice Axes? (We didn't need these two but ask nonetheless.)
- Is there exposure and, if so, how much exposure? For just a short portion or throughout the entire trip. "Exposure" means route sections where a fall could cause serious injury or death. If you are afraid of of heights, avoid these like the plague!
My druthers are nice, wide forested trails with no exposure. However, when push comes to shove, I can stretch myself and go into discomfort mode IF there are indications what I have to deal with. Short stretches...yes. Seven days of terror...no. With all this behind now, we spent the two days in Tatranska Lomnica is horrible weather. Fog and light rain, and just day-hiked one day and did absolutely nothing the second day. If the weather had to turn bad, now was the time while we didn't have to hike and sleep in a little chalets/huts.
The group caught the overnight sleeper train to Prague "somewhere" with an early morning arrival and transfer to the Hotel Pension City for breakfast before a morning guided tour of the main attractions in Prague. The Pension was about a 10-minute walk to the center and the owner only spoke Czech and German. Clean and perfectly adequate. The group had to squeeze all their sightseeing into one day but we were going to stay on for two extra days.
Prague was once called the city of a hundred spires and established as an amber and salt trading center around 5,000 years ago. Amber jewelry was the other big thing to buy in Central Europe. Gorgeous amber. Originally consisting of six independent districts, they were unified into the City of Prague in the 18th century.
One of Prague's many must-sees is the Old Town Hall, established in 1338, in the Old Town Square. The Astronomical Clock contains figures of apostles dating from 1410. The 12 apostles appear hourly between 9 am and 9 pm and there is always a huge crowd waiting to watch and snap photos including us.
Old Town Square, possibly the best-known square in the heart of Prague, had the Gothic Church of Our Lady before Tyn and the Baroque Church of St. Nicholas.
Filled with tourists, cafes, artists, musicians, and people selling expensive but gorgeous hand-made marionettes at all hours, we walked back and through Old Town Square time and time again. Many of the small theaters, opera houses and even the puppet theaters presented their own versions of Mozart's great opera, Don Giovanni. Mozart held the world premiere of Don Giovanni in Prague, October 1787 with the composer conducting. Unfortunately, we never had the time to see the puppet performance which is supposed to be brilliant. Perhaps next time. Visit the Discover Czech website for information on what there is to do in Prague. Way too much to see in even three days.
