Petřín, the Lookout Tower and The Mirror Maze

While waiting for the delivery of our furniture, we spent a lot of time outside of the house, seeing the sights.  I mean, who wants to spend their days in an echo-y, old, empty house, when history is just outside their door?  On one of our first weekends in the house, we decided to show the kids a spot that B and I had really enjoyed while on our house hunting trip in January.  The bonus this time was that the Cherry Blossoms were in bloom, and so was everything else.  Spring had sprung here in the Czech Republic...

One thing we did not visit the first time we were here was the playground at the base of Petřín Hill.  The kids insisted and it was such a nice day out we let them bounce, spin and climb for a bit before we made them take the trek up the hill...

Because, even though there is one of these, and it will take you straight to the top (which is about 1260 feet up and has been running, except for during the wars, since 1891),

the line was ridiculously long because it too had also just awakened from a winter's nap.  Leg power it would be...

We passed through the tunnel and started our climb...

Some of us even picked up an aide to help us up the long climb...

About half way up, we admired this view and decided it was time for a small break and a snack...

We sat down and someone was pretty impatient and wanted her juice Right. Now.  But I was ok with that because she gave me some great faces...

And this one just sat quietly with her Papa...

Another steep uphill climb and this finally came into view (prompting her to pose, as usual)...

Your eyes are not deceiving you.  It does look like the Eiffel Tower.  But at a height of just 63.5 meters (opposed to the Eiffel Towers 324 meters) it is size-ably smaller.  But, interestingly enough, it stands higher than the original in Paris.  Because it is positioned on top of Petřín Hill (318 meters high), when you are standing on the top platform of the look out tower, you are actually higher above sea level than you are in Paris.  And on a clear day you can see the highest peak in the Czech Republic, Snezka, which is 150 km away.  We, unfortunately, did not have a clear day, but the views were still amazingly breathtaking...

First, we had to get up to the top though.  And with 299 stairs to get there we knew it was just a matter of time before Stinkerbell went from this...

to this...

and MadHatter gave us a face like this...(neither of us can carry her up stairs any longer)

When we made it to the top, we reveled in the city that has become our new home.  It truly is a magnificent site...

And then we became a bit antsy and wanted to see the mirror maze that we were promised.  So, 299 steps down...

Right next door to the Lookout Tower is The Mirror Maze.  Built for the Jubilee exhibition in 1891, the mirror maze is great fun for the kids...

The maze is fun for the kids (though if you are a bit older - all you have to do is look up at the mirrors on the ceiling to find your way through) and we had a lot of fun stumbling through it...

But I think the best part are the 14 distorting mirrors at the end.  Each mirror changes the way you look depending on the way the mirror curves and how far/close you are too it.  I tried to get a few pictures but it was super crowded that day and we needed to walk all the way back down the hill and get some dinner.  I do think the 3 I got were kind of fun though...

All in all, a great day and a place we will plan to get back to this summer.