Europe Travel Blog: 20 December (Munich/ Prague)

20 December 2019

Today was a light day on sight-seeing/ exploring. In leu of flying to Prague, it was decided to take the train. It’s about a 5-hour train to Prague from Munich. It can be one of the easiest and relaxing journeys with a bit of planning.

After arrival at the train station, we went to the machine to print our tickets. Even though we had arranged them a month in advance, we still had to print that day. After getting our tickets we made our way to the departure board to check our platform. On the departure board we were to find platform 26. Upon arrival at platform 26, a nice man with a snack trolley informed us the train to Prague had been moved to platform 24.

Upon arrival at platform 24 we waited on our train to arrive. Once the train arrived, we looked for the cars that were going to Prague. On European trains, not all cars will go to the same station. Our train was split in half before crossing the border of Germany and Czech Republic. After finding the cars that were going to Prague, we found the 1st class carriage and took an empty compartment.

Upon the train leaving it dawned on me we should have bought a sandwich or some food for the journey. The only food sold on this train was from the snack trolley. This included water, coffee, and assorted chips.

The train wound its way through beautiful woods and country sides. The picturesque views from the train were worth the time, but you would spend about the same in an airport anyway! On this train ride I was about to do some work and research about Prague and begin working on my travel blog, one reason why they are late! Even though there was downtime, it can be used wisely to make other things less of a hassle. For most of the trip we had the car to ourselves. It wasn’t until the last hour or so of the journey anyone else sat in our compartment.

The main train station in Prague is not hard to navigate. A lot of the signage is in English as well as German and Czech. It was not a challenge to figure out the exit. I will say a few things that helped was knowing a few simple Czech words to aid in navigation. After exiting the station, we took our luggage to the street and called an uber to deliver us to the hotel.

Our stay at Prague was at the INNSIDE Inn By Melia in the Old Town (Prague 1). This location is wonderful for vacationing in Prague. You are a 10-15-minute walk from the Old Town Square and many of the compact sights in Prague. Not only is the location great, the hotel is only around 5 years old. The room was spacious and comfortable. The room came with a complimentary minibar that was restocked every day, free of charge. The bathroom included a bathtub as well as shower. The hotel also has a restaurant in the lobby.

After check-in and a quick re-fresh from the train, we headed out for a quick exploration. I had been to Prague once before (May 2016), but somethings were fuzzy. I knew if I could get to the Old Town Square, it would be easy to navigate from there.

On this walk we passed by the Municipal Auditorium. I consider the Municipal Auditorium to be one of the best examples of Art Deco architecture in Prague. The municipal auditorium is home to a concert hall, expensive French restraint, inexpensive café, and Pilsner Beer Hall. (We did not eat at any of these while in Prague.) There were two concerts scheduled each day in the main auditorium while we were in Prague. We decided to take in the 8:00pm performance of “Christmas Classics.”

After purchasing the tickets for the concert, we visited a local Christmas market and devoured street food being sold there. Street food in Prague, and Germany for that matter, boast some of my favorite street food. My favorite in Prague is what the locals call Prague Ham or City Ham. Prague ham (Pražská šunka) is a type of brine cured, stewed, and mildly beechwood-smoked boneless ham. When buying off a street vendor, you buy by the gram. As soon as ordering, the ham is cut off the bone from the spit roast. Depending upon who you order from, it might be grilled before being served with a slice of rye bread.

After eating, we progressed to the Old Town Square. Here we took just a few minutes to brows through the Christmas Market. From right off, I noticed this market was better than the Christkindlmarkt in Munich. Hand blown and painted Czech glass ornaments were at many of the stalls. There were even blacksmiths making things for their booths.

As I looked at my watch, I realized it was almost the hour. Being almost the hour in the Old Town Square means the Astronomical Clock is about to chime. We moved over to catch the ringing of the hour at 5:00pm. Between my time here in 2016 and this trip, the Astronomical Clock has been completely cleaned and refurbished.

After watching the clock chime, we headed back into the Christmas market for one more treat, a trdlnik. While the trdelnik is actually from Hungary and not Czech Republic, it has taken a hold here in Prague and might as well be from Czech Republic. It is strips of dough rolled onto a pole and spit roasted over a fire then coated in cinnamon and sugar. This first one we got was plan. That means that were no additions to the trdelnik.

After having our evening snack, we headed back to the hotel for a bit of a refresh/ downtime before the concert. I was happy to be able to just run a warm tub of water and relax and get myself in a state of mind for the evenings concert.

As the Municipal hall was just a 10-minute walk from our hotel, we only left 45 minutes or so before the concert. Upon arrival in the main concert hall, I was astonished by the architecture and detail work in the Art Deco building. The concert was a cross-section of Christmas carols and music by Baroque composers Bach, Vivaldi, and Corelli with Mozart, Fauré, and Binge.

After the concert we headed to the palladium to grab a quick burger from Burger King before heading back to the hotel for the night. (This is where my mom discovered a combo is just the burger and fries while the meal includes the drink.)

"Eastern Europe has been really trendy. Prague is the best-preserved city in the region … and the best beer in Europe lands on your table there for 50 cents." - Rick Steves