Love Stumbling Upon

I had made a reservation for breakfast at Fred and Ginger, a restaurant in the Frank Gehry designed Dancing House building. Russ is a big Gehry fan and this was his first opportunity to eat in one. When we woke up Carter opted for sleeping in so Russ and I made the thirty minute walk to breakfast.

Outside of breakfast we had no plans. Amazingly Carter texted us before we were even done eating that she was ready to meet us. I gave her two options and she picked the Charles bridge and a big walk up hill to the Prague Castle.

The day was sunnier than we have had on the whole trip. It was glorious to see the gorgeous bohemian architecture. According to Russ’ phone we climbed the equivalent of 13 flights of stairs up to the castle complex. We arrived just as there was a changing of the guard. Carter and I had flashbacks Of Princess Diaries and Moldovia. Russ did not understand our reference.

After touring the Cathedral we stumbled upon the Lobkowicz Palace. The only private museum and cafe in the castle complex. We had lunch outside on the balcony of the cafe overlooking all of Prague. Two outdoor meals in so many days is more than I have ever eaten outdoors in winter ever, but it was perfect, especially since I had ginger tea and potato soup.

After lunch we went through the Lobkowicz collections. The story of the family who had been Czech nobility for hundreds of years, lost everything, including four castles/palaces and huge amount of art work to the Nazi’s and got it back after the war only to lose it to the communists was heart breaking. They Lobkowicz Family had left Czech and all their possessions when the communists came in, then when the Velvet Revolution took place in 1990 the family came back and found out they had one year to reclaim all that was taken from them as long as they had proof. They had to learn to speak Czech and amazingly most of all their processions were returned. Not always in good condition, but they have done a great job restoring things.

My favorite room in the palace was the smallest one decorated in a Chinese theme I thought would make a perfect Mah Jongg room. It was a fabulous museum and story.

A good day of discovery and so far eight miles of walking.