I’m currently sitting here trying to fight a flu (winter in the north of France is THE WORST for this California girl), so excuse me if I sound a little loopier than normal today. I’m dreaming back to some sunnier times, that is, to our trip to Prague.

Ever since I saw the movie Chasing Liberty many, many years ago, I’ve wanted to visit Prague. (See, teeny bopper movies are good for something!) So I was happy to get the chance this past autumn. Prague is the capital of the Czech Republic and fifth most visited city in Europe. The city suffered much less damage than other major cities in the region during World War II, and therefore a lot of its historical architecture remains intact.

One thing we noticed when first making our travel plans is that lodging is very reasonable compared with other major cities in Europe. We chose to stay in the Vinohrady neighborhood in a cute Airbnb with quite a bit of character. (By the way, if you’re not on Airbnb yet, you can click this link here to get up to $38 off your first trip.) The great thing about this neighborhood is that it feels like there are a mixture of locals and expats who live here. It’s close enough to walk to the main attractions in less than 30 minutes (or in even less time if taking the tram or Metro), but you don’t have the mass of tourists that you have in the center of the city. There are so many wonderful restaurants and cafés to eat at in the neighborhood (to be continued in the next post) and the prices are cheaper than in the more touristy places.

Unfortunately I started the trip off with a bad back thanks to a terrible sofa bed at our London Airbnb, but by the second day I was feeling up to walking around. We started by going an architecturally fascinating building, the Dancing House, also known as the Fred and Ginger.

A nice thing about this building is that you can take the elevator to the top for free. You do have to buy a drink to enter the viewing deck, but the cost is relatively minor compared with the beautiful view that you get of Prague.

After the Dancing House, we took a leisurely walk along the Vltava River, taking in the lovely sights along the way…

Finally we came up upon the famous Charles Bridge, also known in Czech as Karlūv Most. This old stone bridge was built at the beginning 15th century and is probably one of the most popular sights of Prague.

Once we got onto the bridge itself, all I could say was “Meh.” There were too many tourists and vendors along the way to appreciate the beauty of the baroque statues. But I tried…

Thankfully we found one place where we could sort-of escape from it all. We found a little respite at the Staromestskà Vez, or its easier name, Old Town Bridge Tower, one of the two towers bookending the Charles Bridge. You enter in through a small nondescript doorway to the side of the tower, climb up many, many stairs, and are greeted with one of the best views of the Charles Bridge. To be honest, there are many tourists at the top as well, but the crowds ebb and flow, so with a little patience, we were able to get our shots of the bridge.

We happened to visit this tower about an hour before sunset, so we waited around a bit and then were treated to some beautiful sunset views…

After quite a bit of walking, we were ready to make our way home. But not before seeing this beautiful building along the way…

We really enjoyed our first day exploring the main sights of the city of Prague. More sights and food recommendations to come in Part Two. Stay tuned…