21st – 22nd – The long, but comfy, way home

Getting up as usual with a quick breakfast before gathering my things and checking out. I returned to Church of Tyn to see if there was any chance to get in. Something like finding someone and “if I donate so and so much can I get 5 minutes?” or finding an accidentally unlocked door and getting caught “oh? Closed? Sorry, wasn’t aware, I’ll leave now”. But no luck – it looked pretty sealed up. You weren’t even allowed to photograph inside now even if there wasn’t a mass going on. 

I turned around and headed east. There wasn’t much to see; the futuristic radio tower with a viewing platform and Franz Kafka’s grave (I didn’t have much else in my sights so I thought I might as well check them out). When reaching the tower I considered going up but decided not to – the view might be from a different angle than the other views I had seen but I’d be standing up there annoyed not being able to take advantage of the fact that they were open to midnight.

The futuristic Žižkov Television Tower.

I continued to the graveyard and it turned out to be much bigger than expected. In some areas no maintenance had been done so it was all overgrown. Despite it looking like a perfect location for a horror movie it did have a certain beauty to it. Further east the plots must have been more expensive as everything looked much more well maintained and thus looking like what I’d call a “normal” cemetery. Some graves had had no one added for 100 years, others had very recent additions. Some were just a normal tombstone, others had huge intricate statues, and some had their own small mausoleums. Franz Kafka was in the Jewish part of the cemetery and with my luck that part was closed off today due to the Jewish holiday. Walking through the area I noticed that there was a lot of families with the name of Rodina. It wasn’t until much later I realized that Rodina was the Czech word for Family.

Overgrown.

More well kept, but you don't get a lot of room.

Some get their own small mausoleums, though.

And some get one a bit larger...

I circled around and returned to the city centre, had a quick lunch and went north and saw the metronome, an art installation which is exactly what you’d think it is: a massive metronome. Walked through the park where it had been built, and then received a text informing me that my flight had been cancelled.

BEHOLD! The metronome.

No, I don't get it, either.

View from the metronome.

I decided to go to the airport immediately despite it was an hour before I had planned to leave, mostly in a naïve hope that I’d be able to get out there early to be prepared for any new departure time I’d be presented with.

On the way to the airport I received a message with my new departure details – I had been put on a flight early tomorrow morning instead. A quick call to the airline later I learnt that there were no other earlier flights, not even with layovers, but he did confirm they’d cover any expenses for an extra night and meals. I checked into the hotel just across from the departure terminal at ordinary airport rates, 3-course dinner and wine. No worries, it’s covered. I’ll admit it was quite a satisfactory evening, despite it all.

It was an unexpected extra night due to a cancelled flight, and the view was to an interior part of the hotel, and yet it was my best view from any hotelroom in a very long time.

Only issue was that I had to get up early; the flight was at 0710, but at least it would let me get to work directly after arriving in Copenhagen.

The morning felt as early as it was, I checked in, visited the lounge, got onto the plane and without further ado I made it to Copenhagen. Despite my previous plans I ended up going home for a quick shower and getting my mind in order before returning and getting into work.

Despite bad timing and an unfortunate trip home I really enjoyed Prague and I actually feel that I could have spent a few more days there. It’s a beautiful city which I would recommend everyone to spend a few days in and while the prices might not be as low as they have been due to the large number of tourists you are still able to get a good meal for a fair price as long as you stay away from the most congested areas. And talking about tourists – there are a lot of them. Like – really many. I did notice, though, that some of the tour groups had the guide walking around with a small microphone and all the clients had a small headset. Made it much easier for people around not part of the group compared to the groups where the guide was yelling and trying to keep everyone’s attention. In any case – visit if you can, it is quite memorable and not quite like other places.

Full album can be seen here.

20th – Stained glass

After getting up and having had breakfast – once again cutting it close to closing time – I checked up on the opening hours for the cathedral at the castle. According to what I read it would close at 1500 so I decided to start the day there to be sure I’d make it before it would be too late.

Once again I entered the queue to get into the castle around 1100 and half an hour later I was let through. I walked over to the cathedral and stepped into another queue, this one very short. And waited. And nothing happened. Looking around I saw a sign and realized that I had been planning based on info for the wrong day. It wouldn’t open until 1300 so I left and instead decided to spend my time to go into the tower.

The 286 steps up the narrow spiral staircase took one right past the space where the bells were mounted and being there at 1200 we got to see – and hear! – them in full action. The view from the top was great, especially because there wasn’t much of a haze today.

As mentioned; really close to the bells.

View from the tower.

Beautiful window spotted on the way down.

I returned down and exited at around 1310 and saw a line of people pass by the door. I quickly realized it was the queue of people waiting to get into the cathedral and having nothing else planned here I added myself to the rear of the queue. The entry was in the front to the left and I queued up near the front to the right – but the queue went all the way around the rear of the cathedral. There was no standstill, though, we were always moving, and half an hour later I was the next to walk through the entrance. It was also half an hour of keeping an eye on people who “totally know those people in front of you!” or “oh, I thought this was the end of the line and I totally didn’t see the hundreds behind you!”. People’s complete lack of respect for others still surprise me. Fuckers.

After all that waiting one could worry that it would be a huge anti-climax seeing the cathedral from the inside, but I’ll admit I thought it was very impressive. Beautifully stained glass and generally very impressive word done with the construction made the wait and return to the castle worth it. More than an hour later I exited and went for a short stroll in the castle’s gardens before leaving the castle grounds for good.

Entering the cathedral.

Stained glass! 

More stained glass!

MORE!

I love the fact that there was enough sun that the stained glass colored the walls. 

I started walking south following the river until I reached castle Vyšehrad where I had a short walk around. Nothing remotely as magnificent or impressive as the other place but still quite nice. When leaving I realized that a recommended restaurant was just around the corner so I decided to chance it despite not having a booking. I went down there and only had to wait a few minutes before being seated. Goat’s cheese in filo salad, port ribs and coconut cake with chocolate was a nice end to the day.

A small canal.

Inside the basilica at Vyšehrad Castle.

  

Leaving I walked back north towards the Old Town again. I had found out that the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe is buried in Church for our Lady Tyn located just next to the town square. The church is open 3+2 hours every day – and I obviously arrived too late to get in today. The door was open, though, so I snuck in to have a look; it was only moments before a mass started and all photography was banned. Every day except Mondays (tomorrow) – in that case it would be closed. My disappointment was real.

Sunset at the river.

The astronomical clock was being renovated so a meager digital replacement was all I got to see.

I went back down to the river trying to get some more night shot of the castle cathedral and Charles bridge before returning to my hotel around 2300.

19th – Knees and castles

Vacationing is hard work so it took a while getting out of bed which meant I only had 10 minutes for breakfast before they closed. Probably a good thing. The breakfast restaurant at the hotel has a weird layout; There are two rooms connected, in one rooms’ corner is the juice and in the middle the cereal, and in the other room around the corner is the rest. It wasn’t until a couple left their table I saw the juice table that had been hiding behind until then.

I decided to walk towards Prague castle when leaving the hotel around 1030 and on the way there I passed the city hall and its tower. I opted to go up into It and get a view of the city. I’ll admit that Prague is bigger than I had expected, unfortunately the building heat resulted in a haze ruining an otherwise potentially amazing view. And what is it with people not being able to follow simple orders? Coming outside at the top of the tower there’s a big arrow pointing you to go clockwise around the observation platform, yet I met numerous people pushing their way the wrong way around in an already limited space. Morons.

View from the city hall tower. 

Other direction, you can see St. Vitus’ Cathedral at Prague Castle in the distance to the right.

Main square with church of Our Lady before Týn

From there I went to the castle, went through security and got a ticket for the Old Palace, Golden Lane, Basilica of St. George and St. Vitus’ Cathedral. Unfortunately the cathedral was closed today due to religious stuff – fortunately the tickets are valid for two days so I’ll be returning tomorrow.

Charles bridge with the castle in the background.

Golden Lane is a small street that has gone through several iterations of being small shops or service places to being small residences. Originally the gold artisans moved here, hence the name, escaping the rule-heavy guilds in town, but later other industries started trickling in.

The front of the cathedral.

The side of the cathedral also showing the Golden Gate.

St. George's Basilica.

Inside the basilica.

The Golden Lane.

I left the castle through the rear entrance and came through a small wine yard before returning to the old town. There I walked back past the main square at town hall and continued onwards and came past the national museum before circling around and ending up at the hotel for a break.

A small local wine yard. 

A classic Czech dish is apparently pork knee and after a few attempts I found a restaurant that had a table available. I ordered a small starter and the pork knee and my waiter looked at me and said “sir, it is a big piece”. Yes, yes, sounds like a challenge, bring it on. The food was good but the knee was a bit disappointing – I had expected something special taste-wise like you get with something like pork cheeks, but it honestly could just as well have been a ham served a bit inconveniently. Was it big? Well, firstly, I had expected the bones to take up more volume than they did. Secondly, for the first time ever during these city visits I didn’t order dessert. I’ll admit; it was a fair chunk of meat in the end but it was all gone (except for the fat layer) when I was done.

After letting it all fall into place for 15-20 minutes I left and went down towards Charles bridge in an attempt to get some photos of the castle during sunset and darkness. I spent close to two hours seeing the progress – together with a lot of other people – before returning to the hotel around 2300.

18th of May – Warm pets

As this Friday was a normal work day I brought my bag to the office with the plan to go directly to the airport after work. As there was no need to stay longer than necessary I left at the normal time knowing I had access to the lounge. Arriving at the airport in the late afternoon on a busy day there were quite a few in the lounge (that did ease off within the first hour or so, though) but to my pleasant surprise they had filled the buffet with salmon and hotdogs among other things. Great start of the trip!

Across from me a Japanese father and son (who was about my age, maybe a bit more) sat down and the father looked quite old and fragile and had a normal old-man-slowness (as in physically slow; being behind them in the fast track security turned it into a not-so-fast track) about him. When they sat down I had just gotten a hotdog, the father looked at me and almost invigorated he started talking to his son. I understood nothing except for a very firm “hotdog” halfway through. The son returned with a hotdog and the dad grabbed it and started munching happily away.

I left for the gate and didn’t see the flight was 40 minutes delayed until actually standing at the gate. If only I had known this before leaving the lounge. We eventually were allowed to board and despite the plane being quite full I had an empty seat next to me. The guy sitting behind me was a “let me put my feet on his armrest” type of guy. Very pleasant, especially because it could usually smell them before seeing/feeling them. There was a single Czech who was denied boarding; he had approached the desk twice and both times he had been turned away, told to wait. He seemed confused, maybe not quite there, but when he returned the third time with a half empty bottle of wine (which was immediately confiscated) I realized that there might be another reason why he didn’t seem quite there than what I originally assumed. After this the ground crew decided he wasn’t welcome on the plane.

A slight delay later we were off and arrived safely in Prague. Getting the bus followed by the metro to get to the centre was easy – and cheap – enough and after orienting myself when coming up on street level I quickly located my hotel where I checked in around 2330.

13th – Conclusions

I had nothing planned today other than maybe wander a bit before returning to the airport in the afternoon. This resulted in me taking full advantage of the fact that breakfast was served until 1100 and checkout was at 1200. And a quick and easy online checkout meant that I didn’t have to queue up behind everyone else when I left the hotel for the last time just before deadline.

Inside the Uspenski Cathedral, just after service.

From there I walked north until I reached Linnanmäki, Helsinki’s amusement park. There were some rocks just outside and I realised that it was probably the only place where I could get a slightly elevated view of the city when not behind glass. I realized that there was no entry fee to get into the park so lacking any plans I took as stroll inside. While it did seem busy it did not look like many people were queueing up for the amusements. I got the impression that people came here to enjoy themselves, meet friends and maybe get something to eat. Had I gotten a wristband that would get me unlimited fun the amount of waiting would have been quite limited.

A slightly creepy abandoned-looking building I passed by on the way back from the amusement park.

Afterwards I realized it was inhabited - they were outside in the garden opposite from where I took the photo...

Returning back to the centre around 1600 I realised I couldn’t come up with anything else to do so I, a fair bit early, took the train back to the airport. I arrived, had a walk around and entered the lounge area. I might have had 4 hours to wait but in that time, I had free WiFi and food so time wasn’t completely wasted.

The flight home went as planned, no extra layovers in Stockholm this time, and returned home in one piece.

The weather forecasts seemed quite unreliable when I went to Helsinki. Every single one I read said 10-15 degrees, overcast and occasional rain. Instead I got 20-25 degrees (Sunday at times more), not a single cloud and no rain. I was not prepared for that and while I appreciated the very nice weather I wish I had brought a pair of shorts. But due to the weather it was really nice walking through the city, especially when on Suomenlinna and it had clearly brought people out onto the islands. Spending time out there during overcast and bad weather would have made the entire day much less enjoyable. 3 nights there might have hit the limit for how long you can justify being there but the ease of getting to the centre from the airport makes it easy to recommend going there even if it’s only during a layover.

As usual the full album can be seen here.

12th – Slithering about

The alarm went off as yesterday at 0800. Snoozed it once and then turned if off and the woke up an hour later. Woops.

I got myself ready, had breakfast and then left the hotel to take the boat to Suomenlinna 15 minutes away, the main island of four that are connected with bridges to each other, with a large defensive installation built by the Swedes, taken by the Russians and in the end given back to the Finns.

The island furthest south, i.e. the one furthest towards the sea, has the majority of the walls and cannon placements. Despite the fortification having been converted to a tourist destination it is still being actively maintained as it has been given the rank of UNESCO Heritage Site. You walk around and get some great views of the installation and people come over here when the weather is nice to do picnics, visit the 10m long sand beach or soak up rays on some of the many patches of grass or rocks. Another thing that reflects its attraction to tourists is the relatively large number of restaurants and cafes. In addition to that they also have a church, brewery, prison, school, day care and library.

Some of the many buildings now re-purposed to normal apartments.

Submarine Vesikko.

One of the other islands, Pikku-Musta, has a navy school which means there are plenty of uniformed personnel (conscripts, officers etc.) walking about, and it’s fairly common to see groups marching the pathways on the islands. While this is a very touristy area this is a serious training facility and there are parts of the islands that are strictly off limits.

The main barracks square, had the regular drill just moments earlier.

Finland's "special" lion.

King's Gate.

Due to the many garrison buildings and living quarters for military members and their families that are no longer in use they have been converted into ordinary housing. There are quite a few people living on these islands and you regularly see signs reminding guests that you are walking in or entering a residential area.

At one point I found a secluded spot where there were plenty of birds to spot (had I brought my long lens I could have spent most my day here!) and trying to get a better angle to two birds I took a few steps from a rock onto soft ground. This resulted to my surprise in a snake suddenly quickly slithering out and away. Of all the things I had expected to see when visiting Helsinki, a snake was not on the list.

I would never have expected that I was to come to Finland if I wanted to see snakes in the wild.

The cathedral towering over the buildings when returning to the mainland.

After spending up towards 6 hours walking around I returned to the main land where I had a short break back in my room before going out for dinner. Sushi buffet for 14 euros, and while it wasn’t on the same level as the stuff I got in Singapore (I didn’t have any expectations of that, either!) it was – at least – as good as the mainstream stuff back home in Denmark. And for just a fraction of the price? Yes please!

I returned to the hotel, almost rolling, I’d admit, and had a few drinks at the bar while seeing Finland beating Canada 5-1 at hockey. They must feel a bit better now after we beat them – to everyone’s surprise – 3-2 just a few days ago.