Before we left home, we purchased one optional tour
and it was scheduled for our last day in Prague.
With that tour, we had lunch, enjoyed a spectacular 25 minute concert,
and enjoyed the museum-quality collections of the
Lobkowicz family at their personal palace
located on the grounds of the large
castle on the hill.
We had gorgeous weather that day and this palace
provided views of the city that were breathtaking.
To re-trace our two-week trip, you can click through
to all parts of it here:
Part 1 is here,
part 2 here,
part 3 is right here, friends,
part 4, here,
part 5, here,
part 6, here,
part 7 is just a click away,
part 8, here,
and part 9, here.
At the end of day 2, we walked down from the fortress/castle to the trolley,
and enjoyed the views from atop the hill and through
the trolley windows as we headed back to the hotel,
and then enjoyed a fine dinner at The Imperial Cafe,
with its glorious tile work on all surfaces.
On day 2, we also had lunch in this quiet cafe we found off to the side in the castle complex.
The food was so-so – but the views?
Amazing.
Trolley views!!
Loved the reflection of the sky on our hotel as we returned to it at the end of
exploring day 2.
Dinner that night and below, lunch the next day at the Lobkowicz palace.
This small room was where we ate ‘traditional Czech goulash & dumplings.’
You’ll see a photo of it below the ones of the view from the window of that room.
It almost looks like a different city from the hazy view of the day before.
The menu and the host – who grew up in Boston. When the wall came down,
his dad sent him to Europe with his savings – not enough – but a start.
They gradually have recovered many of their homes and possessions,
but live in a 1-bathroom rented apartment
and offer these special tours to try and make their treasures
available to the public. It was outstanding.
They own two original manuscript copies of Beethoven symphonies,
and a hand annotated script of Handel’s Messiah by Mozart
when he re-orchestrated it.
Also lovely artwork and a fascinating family story.
The best view of the Charles bridge that we had while there,
courtesy of our telephoto lens.
And the old Town Hall from miles away.
The dumplings look like plain old white bread to us.
On our way to the concert, admiring the ceilings and the view from
one floor further up.
Outstanding music – violin/cello/piano.
Private chapel.
I loved the concert room after it was all over – the light was just right.
Our last night we walked to a different MacDonald’s
and had TWO burgers and ice cream —
perfect way to end our time on the night we had to PACK.
Driving to the airport (courtesy of Viking),
we enjoyed one last view of the hill where we spent most of our time in Prague.
Leaving Prague, some reminders of the beauties we’d enjoyed the previous two weeks:
Yellow rape-seed fields, charming villages, shifting clouds and sun.
And landing in Zurich 90 minutes later, we saw similar views. . . through rain.
A two-hour layover, with only our backpacks to worry about. Going home, we checked those bags we’d carried with us from LA.
It was wet out!
Saying good-bye to Europe.
A glimpse of Greenland.
The TV screen that was in my lap for 12 hours while the guy in front of me kept
his seat fully reclined the entire trip. Ugh.
Coming into California.
And into Los Angeles.
These two books (gifts from our daughter) were terrific.
We highly recommend the Top Ten books for any travel.
Here’s a postcard of that diamond I talked about in the post about Dresden.
And the downright gaudy toy-like setting August the Strong had in his collection.
And last, but not least, a 3 foot high carved piece of ivory, also in August’s collection.
Our son’s family came for a cook-out over the weekend of our return,
and the girls enjoyed the puppets we bought them in the Prague castle,
a charming toy shopped carved out of the rock.
Within 10 days, we were swept up into lovely family celebrations,
like Joel’s graduation from middle school and our son’s
and 2 grandsons’ birthdays.
Lisa, Joel and Karl prepared a gorgeous yard/house and table for
about 60 friends and family to enjoy as we celebrated everyone.
Traveling is truly a gift.
But home is an even greater one.
We are grateful for all of it!!
Diana, I’m catching up on your photos this morning. Wow! What an amazing trip you had and what gorgeous memories you’ve captured. Feeling a bit breathless living through you this morning! Are you feet back under you yet?
I think I’m standing upright most of the time, Laura! Thanks for asking. It took about 8 days to move through the enervating fatigue of traveling abroad for 2 weeks topped by a non-sleep homeward bound journey for 24 hours — the older we get, the longer it takes, I guess. But life is feeling manageable now, helped along by some lovely weather here last week, calling us to sit in the yard for part of each day. And I’ve discovered a couple of new mystery novel series and have read several since we’re home. It feels good to read something longer than a blog post!
Gosh, Diana – I’ve spent the early afternoon with you on your trip – and seen parts of the world for the first time – and have lovely visions of brick and stained glass and spires and flowers and rivers and rooftops and my very favorite . . .rape seed fields –
What a journey – thank you!
I thought they were mustard at first, but they’re more regular in size and have more flowers. I LOVED them everywhere we saw them — and that was a lot of places! Thanks so much for coming along, Sue.
Wow, Greenland and Los Angeles – quite a juxtaposition! And those yellow rape-seed fields? Amazing! I’m going back to scroll through some of your other pics -what a journey, Diana (you must be exhausted!).
It was a wonderful journey – and we were tired for about a week afterwards! Having some problems with my knee now, too, which will hopefully dissipate very soon! Thanks for dropping by.
FABULOUS travel/photo/logue, Diana. And how perfect it must have been to come home to family celebrations. Oh, the gift of home. I spent only one night away at the beach with my son and his family and as much as I enjoyed it, there’s nothing like climbing into your own bed. Thanks so much for sharing your trip here, Diana. You are a gift to me. xox
Thanks so much for reading and scrolling your way through all of this, Patricia. And we were more than happy to come home and rest up a bit. We leave again in 3 weeks but for a vacation, not a trip. We try to go somewhere in HI about every other year with one or more of our kids, so that’s next. This is a gift of retirement, that’s for sure. (And I’m going to take an online writing course while we’re there. . . for some reason, other than this travel series, I’ve had no urge to write in this space for several weeks. I think I’m being asked to wait for a while. . .but then again, something could come at any moment. It’s part of this interesting process!! So glad you got to be at the beach, even if just for a night and love your pictures. That setting sunlight in summer is just marvelous.