Day 0

The train was fast and comfortable in business class. Our family got private cabin seating for the journey and we spent the ride playing games like Coup and Carcassone. After arriving in our Airbnb and getting settled, we took a stroll in a local park Riegrovy Sady to watch the sunset. While our stay at the park was short, it was really easy for us to imagine living near such a wonderful neighborhood park featuring live music, beer gardens, and playful dogs.

Day 1

In our first full day in Prague, we headed straight to the epic Prague Castle by way of the famous Astronomical Clock. The clock itself was very nice but I didn’t care too much for the spectacle of the clock strking noon.

After a quick lunch, we walked over the beautiful Charles Bridge to the castle area and made our ascent towards the top. Given our luck, it wasn’t until we reached the steep stairway that we learned there’s a more accessible route towards the rear of the castle hill. We could turn back and head for that route, losing 45 or more minutes, or proceed up the stairway carrying a baby stroller among other things.

⚠️ Side Note This entire trip was eye-opening for me in terms of how unserious European cities are about accessibility. Our group had several able-bodied adults and a wheeled infant stroller, and we still found it annoying at best, challenging at worst, to deal with areas that have limited or no wheel access combined with awful (or non-existent) signage.

At the top of the hill, we entered the Castle and took a tour of several buildings including cathedrals and living quarters. While this was a nice way to spend time here, the views of and from the castle itself were far more spectacular than any of the building interiors. Not to mention free of charge.

On our way down, we conveniently found the accessible route and rolled the stroller down. Back by the river, we originally planned to check out the Kafkaeque Kafa Museum, but our group was pretty beat from a long, hot day, and instead opted to take a pleasant cruise on the Vltava river.

Day 2

After the previous day’s packed agenda, our second day in Prague was to be a more somber. We took a planned excursion north to Terezin. The town started off as a military fort in medival times, eventually becoming a prison. In recent history, it was used as a Jewish ghetto and most harrowingly, as a concentration camp for Jewish people in the Nazi regime. I have intentionally not included any pictures from this, but am nonetheless glad we saw the memorial. In our current era with nationalism, anti-immigrant sentiment, and state sponsored violence on the rise, it was an apt reminder of how bad things can get if we don’t take action.

Day 3

Following an emotionally heavy day, our final day in Prague was spent at the splendid National Museum. While I have plenty of thoughts on museum’s exterior, I’ll limit my rantings about accessibility to the note above.

Once we got inside the building however, we were greeted with several exhibits of natural history, science, and art, with a focus on the Czech region. All in all, it was a chill way to spend our last full day in Prague.

Day 4

After checking out, we headed back to Prague central station to take the train to our next stop, Berlin.