Old Town - from above

I was a bit worried that we'd end up having a weekend a bit like the one we spent in Melbourne, when I had a bad foot and Mr A was badly struck down by a lurgy and literally spent most of the weekend asleep. My head cold is a bit of a pain, but it hasn't spoiled our fun today. Let's wait and see whether - like almost all head colds I get - it ends up as a chest infection. It's the first head cold I've had this year, but I did have had a chest infection without a cold perhaps at the end of last year? Can't remember. It didn't amount to much really.

Anyway, back to today. We've had a splendid day. After coffee at the Bakeshop just near the hotel, we wandered to the nearest metro station and bought ourselves day tickets for the princely total of less than £4 each. As some trams had been rerouted and this wasn't reflected on google maps, it took us a while to get the first one, but eventually we did (number 22 going across the river and round the back of the castle), which we stayed on until the end. We crossed the rails and came back on what I think was the same tram after it had been up the hill and turned round, and dropped off at Pohořelec. We found beer/coffee with a view (I've added another view of the river and Mr A did a pano). Jumpers and coats came off. It was really warm! A complete contrast to earlier in the week.

We wandered down the hill through Hradčany, snapping photos of houses (see second extra), diving off to the right to avoid the crowds walking up to the castle, and picked up a tram heading down the west bank of the river, another one over a bridge, and finally the Number 17 down the east bank of the river as far as Podolska vodarna, past a farmers' market taking place down on the river bank. Lots of people got on the tram with wicker baskets of fresh food. From there, we wandered up and around the fortifications of Vyšehrad, which frankly I didn't even know existed until I saw them today. We found another tram which took us to the centre, and then - from the same stop we got off - yet another one to Karlín, where we had coffee on Thursday. There we had lunch at Lokal Hamburk, which is part of the same chain of restaurants where we had lunch on Wednesday (but less crammed and less touristy - that was the idea). Yet another tram, after lunch, took us back to Wenceslas Square, where we joined the hordes heading through the tourist areas, to the Old Town Square, where we sat in the sun in a bar, having a couple of beers. From there it was a short walk back to the hotel in evening light (third extra of the national gallery). Quite a trek, and I think we got value from our ticket :-)

Once again, we're having snacks in the room. After a large, and late-ish, lunch, neither of us is very hungry.