American Mom in London: A Weekend in Praha

We finally were able to take advantage of London's proximity to other European countries by traveling to Prague for the weekend. The weekend started with a 3:15am wake-up alarm. After a cab ride to a bus stop and an hour bus ride, we arrived at Luton airport. It definitely made me miss DIA and the fabulous economy parking lot within walking distance of the airport. We traveled to Prague via the Hungarian low-cost airline WIZZ Air. Yes, the airline was as bad as the name makes it sound. On the positive side, we were in the city center ready to begin exploring before noon.

Most of the sights in Prague are close to the city center making walking the main form of transportation for tourists. They do have an extensive tram and subway system as well, but we only used the tram once during our trip. Prague was relatively untouched during World War II so a lot of their amazing historic architecture was preserved. Some of the main sights we saw included Prague Castle, Charles Bridge, Old Town Square, Tyn Church, Saint Nicholas Church, Wenceslas Square, and Old Town Hall with the Astronomical Clock.

We had a couple of traditional Czech meals during our trip. We heard the front desk worker at our hotel describe Czech food to another couple as "like other European food but more fatty." This was actually a pretty accurate description. Things like goulash, dumplings, fried pork, and sausages were staples on the menus. Definitely not something you would want to eat very often. On a side note, this same couple also was really excited to try out the KFC in Prague which we found to be quite funny. I guess we shouldn't laugh as we did make a stop at a TGI Fridays for one lunch which was probably one of the best meals we have had in the past three months (London food leaves a lot to be desired). The best part of the Czech cuisine is by far their beer. The most famous/popular brand is Pilsner Urquell. The original Budwieser is also brewed in the Czech Republic. We had many a half liter of Czech beer on this trip.

David and I agreed that Prague is one of our favorite European cities. All the locals were really friendly and more than willing to speak English. There were plenty of playgrounds in the city for Colin to burn off steam and most of the restaurants were very child friendly. Prague does have a reputation for having a high number of incidents of pickpocketing so we were really careful with our possessions at all times and didn't have any problems. Below are a few photos from the trip.