The day started out perfectly with a delicious breakfast made by Dee. She snuck out early in the morning to the store before I woke up and came back with a feast of crepes with strawberry’s and melted dark chocolate (a substitute for our long lost friend maple syrup), European breads and cheeses, yogurt and juice.

With a full stomach and only a day to explore Prague before we went to Amsterdam, we started to explore the city. Close to our hostel was a monument to remind people of recent times and strife. Titled “The memorial to the victims of communism is dedicated to all victims, not only those who were jailed or executed but also those whose lives were ruined by totalitarian.”

Just past this was a huge hill with fruit trees all over it, and while Dee was trying to decide if the fruit was safe to eat (by tasting it) I saw halfway up the hill what looked like a large clearing with an American flag flying. Figuring it was a viewpoint of the whole city and maybe something cool, and after much debate with Dee on if we should head up or not, I won and we made our way up the hundreds of steps of the mountain. After we climbed for half an hour with many breathing stops along the way, we unfortunately found out it was just a large area with barbed wire looking very unfriendly. Perhaps it was an embassy, or just someone trying to keep the best view of the city all to their selves.

Victory shot that we made it up this high so far

Our friends Vanessa and Mike had traveled through Europe the previous summer and told us about monasteries and the beer they served. Our map indicated there was a monastery at the top of the mountain we were on, and having nowhere else to go we started our ascent. This time there was much less debate as Dee turned into quite the trooper even with her hurt foot and with a steady pace we made it the summit and enjoyed the view of beautiful Prague. The only way it could get any better was with a beer and luckily the universe answered as we soon noticed a nice restaurant attached to the monastery. They had seats right on the edge of the mountain and we enjoyed a fabulous dinner of steak, vegetables and of course… beer!

On our way up we found Fall in the middle of July!

View from just below the monastery

Prague castle and church off in the distance

I’m a bit bummed that we only had 1 day in Prague and a dying camera battery for our mountain climb, but this is defiantly a city that I would come back to again. It has a great vibe to it, and it feels like an old town with the city walls, huge castle, baroque churches and small shops.