Prague Diaries. How Gerli visited the water park with two criminals

In the morning I had a short walk to the DM and the Dancing House and walked back to the apartment. We packed our things, called the cab and went to airport. It seemed that we went there with plenty of time left, but still the boarding started before all of our group made it out of the toilet. Since we didn't have any time to eat in the airport, we ordered few croissants. In the menu they had those lovely fluffy coissants filled with ham and cheddar. So I shared with you the picture of expectation and of what we got. Otherwise the flight was uneventful, until there was a light sidewind when landing that made the plane flap from side to side like the urban pigeons. While Gerli was getting somewhat pale, Saskia was clapping her hands and voiced her delight verbally. Obviously it's a girl who appreciates the rollercoasters.

We drove to Jurmala and moved into our "two-stories" hotel. Turned out that what I assumed was second floor from pictures, was balcony and the stairs to it. We had quick snack in Lido next to our hotel, called the water park to get it confirmed that they are open and made our way there. We parked in the completely empty parking lot (assumed that everyone else was enjoying the great weather on the beach) and went in. Inside it became clear that yes, they are open, but the outside area and all the slides are closed and for yet the full price (which wasn't cheap at all) we can use all the pools (yep, all three of them), kids area and SPA (saunas and two jacuzzi). Since Gerli had sold the water park to Saskia earlier like the mother of all other waterparks, we clearly couldn't just pick up our bikinis and go to hotel and enjoy sunset on our balcony. We went in and spent the next 1,5 hours there almost alone, besides us there was one Estonian family, one local couple and few life guards. At least there were two little slides on kids area and I started to use one in rotation with Robyn and Saskia. The fun lasted until a lifeguard noticed it and told me that as an adult I'm not allowed to use it. Oh, well. We went to the wave pool that had some railings on the sides and Robyn swam to those to hold on, while the waves are coming out. Again, the lifeguard whistled and Robyn was forced to let go the railings. Gerli wasn't all too happy to share the pool with so many criminals.

We walked some in the beach, watched the sunset and went back to Lido for dinner. We had almost the same amount of food than earlier, but instead of 20 EUR like earlier the bill was 30 EUR. Checking the bill it turned out that the dry steak Robyn took, was 12.90 piece. And they very cleverly had put the price tag further away from all the other price tags.

Back in the room, we smelled that Ajax flower odour again, but since we didn't manage to find any "air-freshener" anywhere, we just assumed that they had cleaned the room with Ajax and went to bed. However, every now and then the smell got stronger. Me and Gerli got out of the beds and smelled basically all the walls and suspicious places until finally found the plugged in "air-freshener" behind my bed. I unplugged it and just to be sure, threw it outside on the balcony.

Prague Diaries. Gestapo

Our Prague apartment is on two floors - on the first one we have bathroom, sleeping area, dining area and kitchen and on the second one attic with 3 beds in different bays. Robyn kindly offered the big bed to me and took a smaller one himself. His was under such a low ceiling, I was sure that when he's turning the side in the night, his gonna hit himself against the ceiling. Anyway, I fully enjoyed my spacious bed until 5am when the rising sun started to shine in from the curtainless round window just above the bed. I felt like the person who were interrogated by Stasi back in the times.

We started our day early again and by 8am were on our way to the cathedral. We enjoyed the views, listened to Robyn telling us how to recognise a Gothic style building and started to walk back down. By that time the hunger has reached the crowd and we planned to head to best bistro in town to have the best fried cheese on global level. The one I've mentioned previously as well, where the melted cheese is so silky and liquid that it slides down the throat like fresh oyster and which' breading is so thin and crunchy like the caramel on creme brulee in cafes in Paris. We marched into Lokal only to find out that there won't be any food served at 10am and we better come back at 11:30am. So we went to a terrace across the street and ordered some scrambled eggs (I could teach the chef how to make good ones), carbonara (best food on table, but I took a bite from Robyn's plate when he was already finishing it, so regretfully I couldn't contribute much into emptying his plate), Cesar salad with shrimps (have to trust Gerli's word that it was very good) and some fish and chips (where the fish apparently spent the better days of his youth a while ago). And then it turned out that in this fancy bistro it's not possible to pay with card. And the ATM in cooperation with Swedbank charged my account with 8 EUR for withdrawing the 40 euros that was the minimum amount to be withdrawn.

We walked to Lego museum. It's a museum, where out of 2,5 million Lego bricks the most famous buildings in Czech Republic have been built (everything with 1:40 scale) alongside with a row of interactive things like amusement park, marble factory etc. We pushed all the buttons, turned on all the lights and carousels and stronger ones also selfies with different buildings.

We returned to the apartment and had some siesta. In the afternoon we walked in the city and later I tried to convince Robyn to join me to the TV Tower, but he kindly declined the invitation telling me he's too tired. Well, I went to Starbucks to get a mug and some coffee. Bought the coffee, because the mug was too expensive.

Prague Diaries. Slaving my body parts off.

Since I had never needed to think about what to do in Prague with kids, I obviously didn't have any ideas to shake out from my sleeve. Google helped me out and told us that Prague Zoo is among the best ones in the world. So, based on that and on Saskia's request, zoo was our first destination today. As the mentioned animals were sleeping until 9am and the tourists were looking bright eyed at the ceiling by 6am, I made the brilliant suggestion to walk over Charles Bridge and take a cab from there. I also knew a street corner there, where Prague free wifi was available. So, we started our way there, bought few trdelniks on the way and made it to the Staromestska. It turned out that 8:30am is the most popular time there for wedding and all other kind of photo shoots. Within five minutes we saw five of them. We kept walking and on the Charles Bridge watched the apostles and some more photo shoots.

On the other side of the bridge it turned out that Prague has removed their free wifi from there. So, I went to the hostel across the street and asked to use theirs. And already 6 minutes later Anatolii was picking us up.

In the zoo Gerli had that heureka moment and thought it was a great idea to take that wooden carrier for the case should Saskia get tired to walk. We soon found out that Prague Zoo is located on hillier grounds that the country of Norway and I spent most of my energy on pulling the empty carrier up the hill or trying to keep my balance when skidding behind it downhill.

The zoo itself was indeed very interesting - we went to Indonesian jungle, where bats flew freely above our heads, watched elephants, polar bear, giraffes and half of the rest of the animals. We had quick lunch in the local eatery and three hours later were ready to hit the road to get back to the apartment and have a little nap. We again ordered the cab and obviously have left inextinguishable impression on Anatolii, because again he picked up our order and soon also us.

Some napped for an hour, the stronger ones boldly stared at the ceiling. In the afternoon we first went to DM to stock up on some cosmetics and from there to the best vegan ice cream joint in town, so Saskia could choose one she'd like. However, the waiting line around the block was not in our schedule, so we returned to the previous shopping center, where we could get some ice cream also without spending hours in waiting line.

With the ice creams we made our way to the finest toy store in Prague. It turned out to be a full toy center - huge shop, slide, carousel, ice cream stand, mirror labyrinth, butterfly farm and lego museum.

Prague Diaries. Condo with a view.

I had planned to set my alarm for 4:30am, so I would  have plenty of time to get ready and start at 5am as agreed. Last minute I changed my mind and set the alarm for 4:15am. 4:30am a text arrived from Gerli that they are ready and will start any second now. I finished my quick tooth brushing and was out of the door at 4:40am.

In Estonia the situation was calm - first car we saw shortly before the border of Latvia, we saw no people, the roadside fields were covered in fog. The Latvians however know, how to bring the wealth home and in every bus stop there were people waiting. I hope, the long-distance lines are better working there than they are in Estonia.

Ryanair was speeding and already before 12pm we were in Prague. We were supposed to get the keys and get into apartment at 3pm. So, we took a taxi to Palladium to eat and shop. In the finest dining place in the shopping center we waited more than half an hour for our food, being the almost only customers. When the waitress brought the bill, she made a point of saying that tip is not included. Very reasonable of her - I wouldn't add any tip for this kind of service either. When stepping out of the shopping center, it turned out that we should have believed the weather forecast - it was at least 80F outside. Since we still had plenty of time, we took a slow walk to the apartment.

The keys to the condo were supposed to be in a lockbox hanging at the window. We found our lockbox and what wasn't there, was the keys. We tried the main door and as it was open, we decided to keep waiting in the lobby. And then we waited and waited and waited until already 3:15pm we got to enter the condo. In the East we can see Narodny Muzei and in the West the cathedral.

Gerli made the plan that they will have a nap and Gaili will do some grocery shopping. Luckily Robyn decided to join and so we carried two bags of stuff home that should feed a family of eight for a month.

After a little nap and joghurt break the women went out again and the one carrying the heaviest bag earlier stayed home. We did some sightseeing - first sightseeing object was C&A, where we looked thoroughly at all the expositions on four floors. After that we visited ice cream corner and walked back home.