Well, even though we've been through parts of Kazakhstan recently, we thought we'd take you back to Prague to finish out our stay there.
We had but one full day left, and we decided to take advantage of the rail system and get out of the city. We had been given a recommendation to hit up one of two Czech castles in the countryside, so we decided to visit Konopiště. This Castle has quite a history, but I think the most interesting was that fact that Franz Ferdinand lived there until his assassination (in Sarajevo) in 1914, which started WWII.
Okay, so we left on the train from one of Prague's train stations. Round-trip tickets for both of us (+/- an hour each way) ran about $12.00. Not bad. Not bad at all. The train was pretty quiet, and the country side was nice.
We got off the train in a small town named Benesov, looked at a map on the wall at the train station (took a picture of it) and started walking towards the castle. After walking through a field, and then finding a walking path, we found this about 45 minutes later:
Really, quite a good looking structure, with well-kept grounds. It is currently owned by the Czech Republic and it sounds like the tourism money that it brings covers the costs of keeping the place looking tip-top. The grounds were a great spot to walk around and eventually have a picnic lunch in the rose garden.
There was a peacock:
Then we took a long walk around the grounds, along a lake, through the woods, through some meadows, and headed back to Benesov to catch a train back in to Prague.
That evening, I couldn't help but go see some more blossoms and then watch the light fade on the city and turn to night.
Alright, time for bed before the airport in the morning... I don' think we'll make a post about our last morning in Prague. Let's just say that a latte in Old Town Square was a great way to bid farewell to our wonderful city, and the only coffee I had while we were there (Katie preferred the more expensive drinks... like water!)
We had but one full day left, and we decided to take advantage of the rail system and get out of the city. We had been given a recommendation to hit up one of two Czech castles in the countryside, so we decided to visit Konopiště. This Castle has quite a history, but I think the most interesting was that fact that Franz Ferdinand lived there until his assassination (in Sarajevo) in 1914, which started WWII.
Okay, so we left on the train from one of Prague's train stations. Round-trip tickets for both of us (+/- an hour each way) ran about $12.00. Not bad. Not bad at all. The train was pretty quiet, and the country side was nice.
We got off the train in a small town named Benesov, looked at a map on the wall at the train station (took a picture of it) and started walking towards the castle. After walking through a field, and then finding a walking path, we found this about 45 minutes later:
Really, quite a good looking structure, with well-kept grounds. It is currently owned by the Czech Republic and it sounds like the tourism money that it brings covers the costs of keeping the place looking tip-top. The grounds were a great spot to walk around and eventually have a picnic lunch in the rose garden.
There was a peacock:
Then we took a long walk around the grounds, along a lake, through the woods, through some meadows, and headed back to Benesov to catch a train back in to Prague.
That evening, I couldn't help but go see some more blossoms and then watch the light fade on the city and turn to night.
Alright, time for bed before the airport in the morning... I don' think we'll make a post about our last morning in Prague. Let's just say that a latte in Old Town Square was a great way to bid farewell to our wonderful city, and the only coffee I had while we were there (Katie preferred the more expensive drinks... like water!)
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