Day 11: Prague
Today was the final day of the cruise itinerary and we had two excursions - a morning walking tour of Prague and an evening "Prague After Dark" excursion. For Gary & Claudia this marks the end of their adventure as they will be picked up tomorrow morning around 4:30am for their 6:45am flight back to California. For Bob, Pam, Kim & I we will be boarding a bus for the trek to Krakow, Poland for the post extension of five days in Poland (three in Krakow, two in Warsaw) before our adventure concludes on March 27 when the four of us will fly home. One of the perks to our "deviation" of the itinerary is that Viking is giving each of us a voucher towards a future cruise in the amount of 25% of our cruise fare; and with that the six of us have planned another joint adventure for 2028! We will receive the voucher within weeks of our return home and we'll be booking sometime soon there after. But back to today....... we met in the lobby after breakfast and set out on a walking tour around Prague. We walked through the old city gate and then along the narrow, medieval streets of Old Prague. We arrived at the central market square where they were about to open the Easter Markets - nearly identical to the Christmas Markets we visited here just three months ago, but with an Easter theme. And yes.....they did have mulled wine, and of course I had a mug of it :) That came after our excursion. We paused in the square to note the site of the 27 beheadings of the Protestant leaders and then moved on to the iconic Charles Bridge (an ideal photo op!). As we began crossing the bridge the six of us opted to conclude the tour as we were told that the group would continue to the bus which had originally planned to take the group to the Prague Castle for a walk around before bussing back to the hotel. But TODAY ONLY there is construction at the castle and it would be a little over a mile walk to and from the castle - and you can't actually go inside. So we opted to bow out and headed back to the Easter Markets. Much like at Christmas time when we found a small market very close to the hotel, we saw one on the walk back and we had a sausage lunch there....... scroll down for journal/pics from our evening excursion!
At 7:40 we met in the hotel lobby for "Prague After Dark," our final joint excursion with the six of us. We met for dinner at the same restaurant as last night and then had just a short time before we departed about 7:45 pm. We drove to the Charles Bridge and explored underneath on both sides and got a great panoramic view from the riverbank of the bridge lit up at night. After exploring through several allies the bus picked us up and took us high above the city to a monastery where Viking treated everyone to a nightcap beverage in the restaurant there. We capped the evening by going to the overlook for a panoramic view of the city (see banner above). It's been a wonderful two weeks with the six of us and we already know that we will be together next February for Viking's "In Search Of The Northern Lights" as we begin in London, travel through Scotland and northward through Norway for two weeks. Meanwhile, Bob & Pam and Kim and I have a long travel day tomorrow to Poland!
(was surprised we didn't see this morning, but even better after dark)
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