September 15, 2023 to September 16, 2023
In Prague: Disneyland
As usual, getting out of town was the first challenge of the trip. This time, plumbing problems at home were the late-breaking complications. Barry spent half the day on Thursday - the day before our flight, replacing two seals on a leaking toilet, only to have water shoot out out the back when he flushed it. We still had one working toilet in the house so not a showstopper, fortunately.
Then that night after I ran the dishwasher, the kitchen sink backed up, forcing water to spray out under the cabinet from a loose pipe connection. Barry tightened up the pipe, but after several valiant efforts to snake out the drain, he gave up and wrote down the plumber's number for our son Luke, who is house-sitting while we're gone. I guess there's no great time for plumbing surprises, but the day before we leave? Yeesh. I marvel at Barry's patience dealing with this stuff.
As Luke drove us to the airport yesterday, he assured us he'll have everything under control while we're gone. I have no doubt.
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Matters improved from there. I have no complaints about the Delta flights. Everything ran on time on the three legs to Detroit, JFK and Prague. The food was decent, service was great and their Comfort Plus seats gave us a nice legroom bump. Still, neither of us got much sleep on the plane and I dreaded a repeat of our jet lag experience last year when we flew to Amsterdam. That time we prowled the city like zombies for hours until our room was finally ready at 5 pm. So we were shocked and delighted to find our room at the Hotel Metamorphis ready and waiting for us at noon yesterday. What sweet relief it was to check in and crash.
Three hours or so later we dragged ourselves out of bed to tackle the one errand of the day: scouting the DHL option to ship the bikes in their suitcases on to Montpellier France, where we'll start our bike tour in a couple weeks. After three attempts at finding an open DHL store we came to one with a very helpful attendant who spoke English very well. Most people we have dealt with here do so, and cheerfully.
Unfortunately DHL doesn't have boxes big enough for our cases. He suggested we might scrounge something at a clothing store. That didn't sound too appealing. Since we know we can get them boxed and shipped from Mail Boxes Etc in Krakow - the next stop on our tour of Central Europe, that's the plan. We'll lug them back over the cobblestones on and off the bus to Krakow and then send them on their way. Crossing that task off the list for the day, we wandered off to find some dinner.
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On the way back to the hotel we wondered about the spires jutting up behind this building, reminiscent of the castle in Disney's Magic Kingdom. Hmmm, something to check out Saturday after a decent night's sleep.
Saturday morning after a good long sleep we're ready to ride. What with all the getting ready to leave home for two months, I managed only one ride the week before we left and am itching for some exercise. We have a goal to fit in at least one ride in every city where we're staying on the two week Rick Steves tour, and since that doesn't start until tomorrow, today is open.
At Praha Bike Rental, Carlos tut-tuts skeptically at the route I mapped to Okur Castle. Too far, and too many cars in his opinion. He suggests an alternative along the Vltava River and through a series of parks. OK, fine. Your bikes, your town, we'll go with your suggestion. He sets us up with the full package -helmets, locks, baskets, pump, phone holder for navigation and a Google Maps route with restaurant and beer stops marked on the way.
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1 year ago
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Once we get through all the twists and turns riding out of the city, we have a pleasant ride north on cycle paths along the river. Lots of people are out riding on the trails today, looking pretty fit. At the 8 mile mark, the Klecanky-Roztoky Ferry takes us across the river to ride through two parks.
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I'm glad we took Carlos' advice; we're enjoying the stress-free ride. It's shorter than planned but a good enough workout on these bikes.
In the town of Unetice we stop for lunch at U Lasiku, a bistro marked as a good lunch stop on our Google tour map. On offer are meat pies, fruit pastries and raspberry lemonade. All good, and quick.
A little further on we stop at Unitice Brewery and meet Luzan, a friendly young architect from Slovakia. She speaks five languages and offers to translate the menu for us. She learned English while studying in Milan and is happy for a chance to practice.
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After the brewery, the next section of park trails turn into steep, rough single-track, a tough go on these bikes so we push them for a little while, not too long. From there we graduate to a double track dirt path. This route is not one I would have picked out but it's kinda fun.
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The route loops through the beautiful Stromovka Royal Nature Reserve on the way back to the old city center. We're more than satisfied with this delightful ride through the countryside. If we can do a ride like this on the rest of our stops in Central Europe, we should be good to go from Montpellier France in a couple weeks, when we're back on the Bike Fridays avec les panniers.
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The evening's entertainment, recommended by Honza, the clerk at our hotel, is a classical concert at the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn, a Gothic 14th century Catholic Church. As we walk towards the church it's apparent that this the one with all the spires we admired from a distance yesterday. By now we've noticed a lot more spires around the city and have heard that Prague is known as the City of a Hundred Spires. There's actually more than 500; nobody seems to know for sure how many.
Checking our middle section tickets, the usher tells us that section is full, so we should just go on up to the front section, where there are open seats in the second row. Ok! The program is a crowd-pleaser of classical favorites performed by the Prague Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, including Smetana's The Moldau, his symphonic poem about the Vltava River we rode along today. At 70 minutes, the running time is just about right.
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After the concert we grab some supper on the square at Tyn, then head back to the hotel to check out the scene from our balcony. Lo and behold, there are the spires of the church soaring into the night sky.
Today's ride: 20 miles (32 km)
Total: 20 miles (32 km)
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