Time to settle the pedals

Prague's wet, chilly Autumn weather has caused us to hang our bikes up for the season. And by that I mean lean them against the wall in our abnormally large kitchen.

Every year we admonish ourselves for not riding more, though we did clock a fair amount of kilometers this Summer. Truth be told, we should be on our bikes a lot because 1) we enjoy cycling and 2) Prague has improved lightyears in infrastructure for bikes compared with a decade ago.

Bike trails and road paths have appeared around town, as well as signage to mark them.

The cycling webpage for the city of Prague has a lot of information, including maps. I also like to use the Prague Green map for city bike routes, though it's solely in Czech. Finally, I've been reading Grant's Prague Bike Blog for years. He's not posting as much as he used to, but there's still a wealth of information on places to cycle and see around greater Prague.

We like a leisurely spin around the city, with stops for refreshments now and then. This one is just north of the center of Prague, on the right side of the River Vltava.

 

Our pup rides in a bike bag with us, which can at times elicit surprised looks from motorists and pedestrians.

 

Once in a while, we'll catch a train out of town and cycle back, or vice versa. Tickets are very reasonable and never more than the equivalent of a couple of bucks.

We always see something interesting, like the Okoř Castle ruins on a recent jaunt. The area was full of road construction that day, so it was unusually quiet, but we were able to get there on our bikes.

So, ciao for now, bikes. It's on to snow boots and mittens! 

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55 Czech kilometers = ouch

Our bikes tend to gather dust, as we don't use them a lot in Prague because of bumpy, teeth-chattering cobblestones. So when colleague TheFlyingDutchman organizes a bike ride through the countryside, we try to tag along. This time I went without BW because he had a play rehearsal he couldn't miss. It's challenging getting up at 6:45am on a Saturday when your partner is still nestled under the warm covers, snoozing!

Our group set out from the Rajska Zahrada metro stop, bound for lunch in Poděbrady and then Kutna Hora.  We ended up with 6 teachers and 3 students - and TheFlyingDutchman's wife, TheLibrarian, in a helper car.

Most of the way was paved, though some of the roads were pretty gnarly and I felt like I was competing in the Paris-Roubaix. Lots of rotten apple squishing beneath our tires at times, too.

This particular ride wove through many villages; so quaint.

Our lunch point, Poděbrady, was a pleasant little spa town with a lot of royal Czech history. TheFlyingDutchman said it's famous for inventing tweezers, too. (?!) 

After 55km, we were pretty hungry. The unfortunate restaurant we chose to patronize had insipid soup, undercooked chicken and what tasted like instant coffee- and the waiter grumped at us for not having exact change. 

After lunch, the group set off for Kutna Hora (30km more) and I went looking for the local train station so I could make it back to Prague in time for BW's play. 

Truth be told, my backside was so sore by that point, I don't know if it could've handled bearing my seat weight the rest of the ride! 

Before hopping the train, I dipped into Poděbrady Castle; it was throwing a small wine festival. 

The courtyard inside had a special Euro-themed art display of rotating hearts painted to symbolize the countries in the EU. I paid 50kc ($2.50) for entrance, which included a wine glass to take home and a voucher for a glass of wine! 

George of Poděbrady, King of Bohemia, was born here in 1420. Today, it houses a languages college, a pension and a music club, among other things.

I traded my voucher for a glass of something white and crisp and then walked my bike along a greenway to the train station as the seat now felt like a Medieval torture instrument.  

It was over an hour back to Prague, so I settled into a cushy chair and made sure my bike tire poked out just enough in the entryway so I could keep an eye on it.

I may have been okay with the seat being pilfered, though. 

With Chasing the Donkey, Pack Me To, A Southern Gypsy, The Fairytale Traveler and Ice Cream & Permafrost for the Sunday Traveler linkup.

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Rainy ride

Too bad the kayak-loving Ma R. wasn't in Prague last week; the Canoe Slalom World Championships were north of Prague. We'd intended to cycle to them but ended up running into road construction so opted instead to do some sightseeing by bike in the city.

We started with the gardens of Wallenstein Palace, which now houses the Czech Senate. It was built in the 1600s by the calculating general Albrecht von Wallenstein; he constructed it to rival Prague Castle and was assassinated by Emperor Ferdinand II for being too ambitious.

BW and the bikes

Pretentious peacocks roam the gardens

Yeah, it's pretty nice

Headed toward the Senate

One of 47 dozen statues bedecking the garden

"Senate"

The "Grotesquery," a drippy limestone wall

The construction that blocked our way to slalom supremacy

 Afterwards, we took a drizzly refreshment break in the Mala Strana area and found ourselves next to some sort of a middle-aged group of Scottish punkrocker guys. They were wearing "Good Night White Pride" logos on their clothing, which is a German movement to oppose hardcore punk neo-Nazis.

Love the colors of the part of town

The Scottish punk dudes just kept coming and we kept getting drizzled on

 Finally, we ended our ride in the Havlickovy Sady vineyard area. It really started to rain, so we took the metro partway home.

Tired!

Headed for a hot shower at home

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