My final day in Prague (and beyond) centered on transit, including Metro trains, buses, airplanes, and vans.
Day Three In Prague
I woke up early to get some work done before heading downstairs around 10:30 am for breakfast the Andaz Prague. The breakfast spread included a buffet and a la carte menu. To eat, I had fresh fruit, avocado toast, and Turkish-style eggs. To drink, I had freshly-squeezed orange juice, a green smoothie, and a couple of flat whites.
After getting a bit more work done, I headed out for a tour of the Soviet-era Metro system in Prague. It was a beautiful morning.
Whenever I am in a former Soviet or Eastern Bloc country, I like to visit the Metro. These transit systems often incorporate unique architecture or artwork and Prague was not an exception. Along the way, I stopped at stations, including Andel station, which included a Moscow – Prague friendship sign (which controversially has remained up during the Ukraine War) and artwork on train platforms praising Soviet advancements and solidarity, such as the launch of Sputnik.
This turned out to be a lot more time-consuming that I thought and and I was unable to finish my tour before heading back to the Andaz.
There, I worked out and sat in the sauna and steam room ahead of checkout time and my 6:30 pm flight to Amsterdam.
Since I had enough time, rather than take Uber or Bolt to the airport, I took the bus…the station was a short walk from the hotel.
The bus was an excellent, inexpensive, and easy option for reaching the airport.
At Václav Havel Airport Prague, I checked in for my flight and visited two lounges, first the generic “Business Class Lounge” which had nice goulash (I was hungry by now…).
Next, I checked out the nearby Erste Premier Lounge, which was much more crowded.
Boarding for my KLM 737-800 flight began at 6:00 pm. I was seated in business class and found my seat in 1A.
We took off on time, with a 439-mile flight in the air for only about an hour. A boxed meal was served in business class…I wrote more about that here.
> Read More: KLM’s “Deluxe Meal Box” In Intra-European Business Class
We landed on-time at Schiphol Airport, where I had a fairly long walk to the curb, though thankfully only had to wait a few minutes for my shuttle to the Hyatt Place.
At this point in the year, I thought I still had a chance ot make Globalist status…that won’t happen and part of me wishes I had just walked across the street and stayed at the Sheraton, though on the other hand it was 3x the price…
The Hyatt Place was just fine and Globalist ride free to the airport.
It was time to rest.
Looking back, part of me feels like I did not accomplish much, but it was still a very full day.
No full reviews of the lounges?
I lole how the updated the menu with a sticker for the changes.
Will do full lounge reviews. Just trying to cover the journey day by day before doing the detailed reviews. Hopefully this report will be done by the end of next week.
The Moscow-Prague sculpture is very much controversial, but the prevailing consensus is that there’s no point in rewriting the station’s history. Unlike any other station in Prague, this one was actually designed by Soviet architects as part of an exchange program. Accordingly, Czechoslovak architects designed one metro station for Moscow at the same time.
The original name of this station was Moskevská. In 1990, it got swiftly renamed to Anděl, which better represents the neighborhood anyway. Its Moscow counterpart is still called Prazhskaya to this day. During a recent renovation of the southern entry hall, a plaque was added to the sculpture, explaining the historical context. Sadly, it’s only in Czech.
I’ll publish a photo essay on the Prague Metro on Monday and did snap a picture of the sign under the Moscow-Prague sign. I’m glad this stuff is left up…it’s an important reminder.
would love to go to prague and live out my czech hunter fantasies! isn’t it like discounted germany?