Magnificent Prague

Thanks to a competition on the Internet, I win a weekend in a European capital and so I decide to go to Prague with my boyfriend. This is our first trip abroad together and so it seems even more beautiful. I join my boyfriend the evening before departure so that the journey to Fiumicino is shorter for me. We arrived at the airport well in advance. He was very tense, it was his first plane trip, I, on the other hand, watched him with tenderness. During the wait for boarding we also happened to meet the entire Italian national volleyball team, who were heading to Tokyo. Finally, once on the plane, the real journey begins. My love relaxes (about time...) and we enjoy the view until we're too high up. The trip is very short, in a few hours we're in Prague. At the airport the taxi I had booked on the internet waits for us with a sign bearing my name.

It takes us to the Hotel Rott, right in the historic centre of Prague, in Male Namesti, near the clock tower. A stunning hotel, we had a suite with a lovely view. We drop our bags and decide to go out straight away. It's already 7 pm and it's been dark for a while, but Prague at night is wonderful. The most beautiful buildings and monuments are illuminated with spectacular lights that make it even more stunning. We head straight to Charles Bridge, though it took us about 20 minutes to get there because we stopped every two seconds to take photographs; it's impossible not to capture every corner of Prague. From the bridge we had a magnificent view: the Cathedral all lit up, truly a spectacle. We walked the whole bridge, again stopping at every statue of the saints for photos. We carried on past the bridge until hunger made itself felt.

So we turned back and had dinner in a restaurant (very refined) where we ate extremely well (though not cheap). After dinner we strolled as far as the Clock Square and then the Powder Tower. Everything wonderful as always. The cold had started to cut our faces and so around 11 pm we went back to the hotel. A cosy, warm room made our sleep even more pleasant. The following morning, once up, we saw from the window that the city was covered in snow and it was still snowing. After a hearty breakfast at the hotel, we went out. We did some shopping, a few matryoshka dolls, a hat to protect ourselves from the cold and then off to reach the Cathedral up at the top. The snow kept falling and the cold kept being felt but the atmosphere this way was even more romantic.

We reach the top of the Cathedral, a few ritual photos of the magnificent view of the city seen from above and covered in snow, and then we made our way into the Cathedral. A very beautiful church, mammoth from the outside. On the way back we stop to drink some mulled wine (it was really needed in that freezing cold) and then straight into a little restaurant where we eat Goulash. Right at the table where we're sitting, near my seat, there's a photo of Gina Lollobrigida having lunch in that restaurant. On one wall of the place are the signatures of the famous people who have eaten there. After lunch we go back to the hotel for about 1 hour for a short nap. We spend the afternoon visiting the more "commercial" part of Prague: a little look round the shops never hurts. In the evening we have dinner in a little place where we make friends with a Scottish girl, a bit tipsy but nice.

After dinner a stop at the Zanzibar, a bar near Charles Bridge, really very nice and full of young people. The next morning it's snowing again but we set off anyway for our last walk. We buy the last gifts, stop in a place to eat the giros and then unfortunately go back to the hotel because the taxi was waiting to take us to the airport. It was a wonderful trip, it's just a shame we had so little time; I would have loved to visit the Jewish quarter and Kafka's house but that will surely be for the next trip... maybe in summer.