Prague Castle
March 16, 2007
I woke up at about 7, looked out the window and saw that we have another gray, cloudy day. Our flight back to Warsaw leaves late in the afternoon, so we have the entire day to do some more exploring. We only have one major attraction left on our list of places to see, so it is decided that we will spend most of the day at Prague Castle which was the residence of the Czech dukes and kings from the end of the ninth century and is the residence of the Czech president today. Before heading up there, we pack up our stuff and check out of the hotel. They're nice enough to let us store our things there all day until we leave for the airport in the afternoon. The gray day remains gray - it even rains a little but not enough to be a problem, even without an umbrella. Breakfast today is a pastry and some coffee at a nearby bakery and then we head to the metro and figure out how to get up to the castle. Not difficult, although once we got out of the metro and connected with a tram I managed to get on heading in the wrong direction! That, too, didn't take long to figure out and soon we were headed in the right direction up the hill.
Prague 
There are a lot of soldiers (The Castle Guard) there, guarding the palace. There's a "changing of the guard" every hour and a ceremonial changing of the guard at noon.
We started with St. Vitus's Cathedral. It is an enormous, lofty Gothic cathedral with some fantastic stained glass windows. The Cathedral wasn't completed until early in the 20th century and some of the stained glass windows are fantastic Art Nouveau designs. We explored the Castle until afternoon. For me, highlights of the visit are the cathedral, the Romanesque Basilica of St. George, the old Royal Palace, an immense art museum at the St. George Convent and the Golden Lane (which is narrow street with a row of tiny houses built into the archways of the fortification wall at the end of the 16th century.
Finally it was getting late. We wanted to have lunch before returning to the hotel for our luggage and heading to the airport. There was a little restaurant close to the Castle called Restaurant Na Karlove. It was a little late and there weren't many people there. We had a nice lunch - great vegetable soup (yes, vegetable soup can actually be great!), Goulash with czech dumplings and a Pilsner Urquell. The service was quick and we were done with plenty of time to get back to the Hilton by metro. We headed from there to the airport, just as we did when we arrived - first metro to the end of the line and then a bus to the airport.
Now it's two weeks later... hard to believe that these trips which I really look forward to are rapidly fading from my memory. The flight back to Warsaw and all of the routine around it was completely uneventful....
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The nice quiet room was fantastic, bright, airy, nicely furnished and perfectly clean, with just about everything you could want in a hotel room including an iron, mineral water, coffee, tea and a well stocked, albeit extremely expensive, mini bar. The bed was very comfortable as well, and the bathroom is divided into two completely separate sections (one with a small sink and toilet) and another with bath / shower and sinks. Also, there was no problem with being too warm or too cold, as you have independent heating and air conditioning.
There’s also a health club that includes a pool, saunas and Jacuzzi. I tried it, it’s nice, but the chlorine level was extreme!
Check in was quick and efficient (although I was surprised that there was no one in the reception when we arrived) and check out was smooth and easy as well.
The only problem I have with this kind of hotel is that you might as well be anywhere on earth... Nothing Czech, I might as well have been in New York or LA. So, I give it great rating for business travelers, but wouldn’t recommend it as highly for those who really want a total experience of the places they are visiting. Also, as far as value for your money goes, we would have had more for our money at other places in equally good (or better) locations.
A final word, I found their web site a little confusing. (And I make this type of arrangements all the time) It seemed clear from the internet information that breakfast was included in the room rate – when we arrived it turned out it was not. Also, the web page says that the gym is included in the room rate, but when we tried, all that was included was use of the swimming pool. Also, like with any hotel, be sure that taxes are included in the room rate they quote!
