This trip that we took was lovely, though I must admit it totally exhausted me. That sounds remarkably obnoxious of me to say, but I only mean that after the trip (not right at the end, but in the weeks following), I completely lost the motivation to relive my trip through photo-editing and blog-posting and generally talking about what a wonderful time we had.

Mostly I think this is because I am now a (somewhat) fully-fledged adult with a capital-J job. Also, just as we got back it was becoming summer here in the Pacific Northwest, which meant light and warmth in the evenings and many summery social engagements to enjoy. Pacific Northwest summers are truly sensational, and I just didn’t want to be sitting inside during those moments.

But we did indeed have a wonderful time, and now it’s late autumn and the dark days are here. I’ve actually been enjoying them so far – staying inside to read and eating a lot of soup and having ample hours of darkness to edit photos. So here are some of the many wonderful things we saw in Prague…only six months after we saw them. All images can also be found on my flickr page, if the link works. 

We rented an adorable airbnb apartment in a neighborhood close to everything. And I’ve said it before, but airbnb/homeaway has changed my life – I might never stay in hotels again. Our last three big trips we’ve rented places, and it’s been more relaxing, more luxurious, and much less expensive than the hotels we could have stayed at in the same places. We got to cook for ourselves (I really, really love grocery shopping in Europe), had a laundry machine, and enjoy the small but extremely functional kitchen (something else I love about Europe).

On our first morning there we explored the Wallenstein Gardens, complete with roaming peacocks and wonderfully manicured hedges.

Afterward we stopped for hot chocolate (not pictured, but delightful) and pastries at a cafe called Pekárna V Karmelitské. I had the most wonderful ham and cheese pastry – and I went back for seconds.

We also explored the fabulously baroque St. Nicholas Church, with amazing checkered floors, and then traipsed uphill in bleary weather to marvel at the stunning stained glass in St. Vitus Cathedral – complete with Mucha’s famous window. 

This half-window at St. Vitus was also interesting to me:

Later that afternoon we wandered through the Franciscan Gardens and into Our Lady of the Snows Church, or Kostel Panny Marie Sněžné, in Czech. 

All in a day in Prague. More posts to come.