After my run, I showered and ate breakfast and headed over to my tour to Terezín. My ticket was for 9:45 so I got there around 9:30. When I arrived the girl looked at the ticket booth told me there was an error on my ticket and the tour was actually at 9:15 and had left already. I was so mad because I easily could have been there at 9:15 if I needed to be. She rescheduled me for 9:15 tomorrow morning and I am just lucky I had tomorrow free. If today was my last day and I would have missed this I would have been very upset. I was just annoyed at the mistake and hope to get a refund or something for this error.
Since I now had the whole day free I decided to do my afternoon activity in the morning and would take the day from there. I headed across the bridge by my hotel (I have zero idea what the name of it is) to the funicular to take me up to Petrín View Tower and to the mirror maze. On the way there, I did something I haven't done in about ten years, I got a diet coke (or shall I say coca-cola light). After a ton of water and Nuun earlier today, I was still super thirsty so was hoping this would do the trick to quench my thirst. There of course are absolutely no zero calorie drinks here besides diet coke and I can't fathom drinking my calories (unless I'm getting drunk) so I went for it. I literally haven't had a sip of real pop in years and it felt so weird going down (that's what she said), but actually tasted great. I will certainly not make a habit of this by any means, but this truly hit the spot and I may have to do it again while here (it's like how I do McDonalds in airports, I'll do pop in Europe and that's it).
Anyway, when I got to funicular, I had to buy a ticket like I would for any other public transportation and I was kind of confused but luckily some girls around me spoke English and helped me buy my ticket and explain the system to me. And before you knew it, I was heading up the mountain and entered Petrín Park. There were some run-down looking gardens there that I walked around a bit and then made my way to the Eiffel tower-inspired and wasn't going to climb it because I've had so many awesome aerial views of the city, but it was only 120 Czech dollars (under $5 US) so I said "what the heck" and climbed stair after stair after stair to the top. And let me tell you: totally worth it. This was by far the best view of the city I've had and was sooooo amazing. I could see the look out point from the castle yesterday and it looked so low compared to this. I totally made the right decision to go up! My money paid for a great stair workout (I was dripping in sweat by the time I got to the top) and an spectacular view. I may hate what my body looks (and cry about it all the time) like but I am so grateful it is in fantastic shape and so strong that it allows me to do these things effortlessly. I need to keep reminding myself of that.
Then it was on to the Mirror Maze. The cost of admission here was 90 Czech dollars so I went for it again. I really haven't spent that much money at all this trip so don't mind paying these admission prices for stuff I actually want to see. There was an actual mirror maze and then a bunch of fun house mirrors. There was a mirror that made me look like a little person (ew. OMG, not a cute look on me. At all.), supermodel skinny (I'll take it!), obese (had to look away), and one with me having super long legs (a girl can dream).
After I was done at the park, I took the funicular back down the mountain, walked back across the bridge and got lunch at the same spot I did yesterday but got more veggies on it this time and it was just so good (and filling) again. Yum.
After lunch, I walked to Old Town Square with the hopes of finding the Kinsky Palace which apparently is right there and I missed it the other day and was on my list of things to see. On the way there I passed a market where I got some gifts for people and then went back to Jewish Quarter to see if there was anything I missed yesterday. I ended up passing one, the Maiselova synagogue, which was beautiful from the outside. Then I headed back to the square to meet up with my AP. Her husband is Czech and has family here so their family comes every summer. She made sure her trip overlapped with mine at least a day or two so we could see each other here and she could show me around. I was really looking forward to it and getting to walk around with someone who is familiar and knowledgable with the area.
We planned to meet up at the Astronomical Clock and then walk around from there. She took me around and gave me a ton of historical info about the buildings that I don't think even a guide would give. Then we got on the metro and went a few stops to get famous spring rolls at a place her and her kids love in Zizkov. We walked around that area a bit and went up another tower to get a super aerial view of the city and the surrounding areas. It was pretty cool but not as great as the Petrín Tower I had climbed earlier. We then took the train back into the city and she took me to Vajonovy Sady Park. It's a hidden gem near the Lesser Quarter side of the bridge that is so quiet and off the beaten path. There were apple and pear trees where you could literally eat the fruit off the tree (I didn't). What I found so awesome at this park was there were peacocks just roaming around. Like native-to-the-area peacocks. I have never seen them in the wild before; just in the zoo. It was actually pretty awesome to see. I was mesmerized by them and just kept following them and watching.
Then she took me around some more and showed me one of the more famous churches in Prague, the Church of Our Lady Victorious. In the church, the Child of Prague aka Infant Jesus of Prague, which many people bow down to everyday, has never repeated an outfit. For the last 500 years, he has never worn the same thing twice. Wow! What a stud. I wonder whose job it is to dress him every day? Or design the outfits? I found this so fascinating. Beside Baby Jesus (who I kept just hearing Will Ferrell repeat over and over in my head from Talledega Nights), the church was a beautiful church, but quite small. Then we just walked around some more and parted ways. It was great seeing a familiar face. After almost three weeks solo, it was refreshing and fun!
I headed home back over the Charles bridge for the millionth time in the last two and a half days and couldn't decide what I wanted for dinner. I stopped for ice cream on the way back and then decided to try the Czech fried cheese. It came on a bun which is totally unnecessary carbs with the fried cheese. I tossed that bun out so fast and inhaled the cheese. Obviously it was delicious. How could it not be? Then I got some French fries. I might as well get them in before I head back home because no dice on them there. Not happening. Ugh.
The last thing I wanted to do tonight was head back to the river again to see the sunset. There are some beautiful sunsets here and I wanted to see it yet again but when I left my hotel it was raining. Boo. Hopefully I'll be able to get one last sunset in tomorrow night in my last night in Europe for this summer. Fingers crossed.
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