7th of September 2010
After a comfortable nights rest I decided to explore more of the hotel, the view from my room was beautiful and the weather looked promising so I headed outside to take photos before the hotel got too busy.
Following a lovely breakfast in the Monastery restaurant we headed to the foyer to meet our guides for the trip, Yana from the Czech office, Sylvie from the UK office and Olga our tour guide.
A short presentation about weddings followed where we learnt about the legalities of weddings in Prague and about the traditions of Czech weddings that couples like to add to their destination wedding and some of the most popular wedding and reception venues.
The Augustine
Outdoor seating area at Augustine Hotel
Katarina from the Augustine Hotel then gave us a tour of the hotel. This is one of the newest additions to the Rocco Forte Hotel chain and certainly lives up to its good reputation. Each detail in the five year restoration has been carefully considered, even the room colour schemes of green and deep pink, or orange and grey reflect the clothing of the ancient monks.
We visited two luxury suites, one which was recently used by Pink during her world tour when she stayed in the city.
The Tower suite at 3700euros per night was our next stop, the extravagant suite is for those that want complete luxury in elegant surroundings, this suite has been voted one of the best in the hotel. Its magnificent spiral staircase leads up 2 floors to a 3rd floor bedroom with panoramic views of the city, simply breathtaking!
The Augustine has a pretty outdoor sheltered terrace complete with waterfall where you can enjoy a drinks reception following your wedding and the impressive ballroom can accommodate celebration diners for up to 120 people.
Tom's bar
Next to the outdoor terrace is Tom’s bar, voted one of the most handsome bars in the world. Angels adorn the ceiling in pretty antique pink frescos’ the bar has a self named signature cocktail which must be sampled on a visit here.
A pretty corridor from Tom’s bar leads to a sheltered courtyard which wouldn’t be out of place in Italy. The tree dotted garden is wonderful for civil ceremonies, especially in the afternoon when the sun moves above the terrace and provides a pretty speckled light. The garden is home to the second oldest well in Prague and the water is still used to brew the hotels famous St Thomas beer.
The Courtyard with the second oldest well in Prague
Beautiful St Thomas Church
Continuing around the hotel you’ll find St Thomas’ church which is simply magnificent with generous decoration and beautiful stain glass windows and finished with a grand organ which overlooks the church from a balcony. St Thomas is a Catholic church.
Lesser town
After touring St Augustine we left to discover Lesser town, dominated by the blue dome of St Nicholas’ church in the towns square which is used these days mainly for concerts, the dome is a good base to navigate around the town as it can be seen from almost everywhere.
Lesser Towns architecture is a mish mash of all styles from Georgian to Gothic. The town is a real delight to walk around, every where you look there is something to see that is either unusual, quirky or quite beautiful.
Prague Castle sits high on the skyline and is rather dominating due its size, in the centre is the Cathedral of St Charles a gothic style building that took over 700 years to complete. A must see are the beautiful stain glass windows inside, each one by a different designer and tells a different story in a wonderful array of colours, the effect is stunning.
Aria Hotel
View from the Bridal Suite to the Vrtbovska Gardens
After our tour of the castle we headed back to Lesser town and the Aria Hotel which backs onto the Vrtbovska gardens a popular location for weddings photos and drinks receptions.
The Aria is a music themed hotel, each floor named after a popular music type from Classical to Rock and pop, the hotel even has its own music library and cinema room which can be used by hotel guests. One of its best features is the outdoor terrace which can be used for drinks receptions or for seated dinners up to 20 people, the terrace has some of the best views of Prague Castle.
We were treated to a delicious traditional Czech wedding dinner at the Code restaurant of the Aria hotel, I had
• Crunchy Little Gem Salad with Yellow Fin Tuna Tataki with Wasabi Dressing and Radish
• Crispy oven roasted Vodnany Duck Led with Organic Sauerkraut, Steamed Red Cabbage and South – Bohemian Row Potatoe Dumplings
• Small Wedding cake with Fresh Raspberries and Cram Chantilly
All enjoyed while listening to the lovely sounds of the piano played in the foyer.
Vrtbovska gardens
Vrtbovska gardens
After dinner we went onto to the Vrtbovska gardens which can also host civil or religious weddings in the sheltered ceremony area at the bottom of the garden. Small but beautiful the gardens are a wonderful setting for a pretty wedding and reception which is now possible after 6pm when the gardens are closed to the public.
We then made our way over the famous Charles bridge adorned with a wonderful selection of baroque statues. I made sure I touched the statue of St. John of Nepomuk which is supposed to make your wish come true.
The bridge is scattered with local traders selling everything from photographs of Prague to artists and jewellery makers.
Our boat
Our next treat was a boat ride on the Valta river stopping at a small bar situated under a bridge. Due to the size of our boat we were able to get in the smaller entrances of Prague’s waterways, a great way to enjoy the city and its architecture from the water and a completely different perspective. A lot of couples do this as a treat for their guests following the ceremony for drinks before dinner.
The guides dress in traditional sailor men’s clothing and are incredibly knowledgeable about the city and its history, their enthusiasm is contagious.
After our cruise we headed back to our hotel for a quick change and a meal in the Monastery restaurant, the outside terrace has a wonderful atmosphere at night and due to its sheltered position is used for dinner’s right up to the end of October.
On Day 3 we head into the countryside, come back next week to read about it.
