With the apartment’s private parking only available from 1pm, the best way to still enjoy the morning after landing at Prague Airport around 8.30am is to drive your rental car to the Palladium shopping mall’s giant underground car park.
Then you take the elevator up, go out and this is what you see...
A short walk takes you from the Powder Tower to the art nouveau façades around the Mucha Museum (well worth a visit) and a bridge of sighs that no tourist seems to care about.
Then it’s onwards to the Wenceslas Square and the market at Havelská.
If you’re into art nouveau, then this is a great place for lunch. Never mind the grumpy service and the lack of vibrant young people around you - instead simply enjoy the place’s history and art.
A great idea for escaping the summer heat is to go up to the top of Petrin hill using the funicular train.
The miniature Eiffel Tower there is the main attraction, along with the astronomical observatory, but you will find a hidden treasure behind a gate that is hard to find - the Kvetnice rose garden.
After a beer on a terrace overlooking the city you go back down to finish the afternoon along the banks of the Vltava river, with Gehry’s famous Dancing House as the coda in the midst of frantic evening rush-hour traffic.
Because of its undisputed beauty, Prague as a tourist attraction has become almost as popular as Amsterdam and Venice. So how do you avoid the crowds when visiting the city’s hotspots?
At 4.30am, a meditative slow walk crossing the bridge to celebrate summer solstice gets underway. An hour later, the pagan ritual is still only halfway.
Other bridge dwellers include partygoers who had stayed up all night, and Asian brides and grooms getting their pictures taken.
Then it’s back down to earth, and into Prague’s underground with its wonderful station architecture.
You sleep well into the afternoon before walking down to the Vysegrad castle with the cemetery where all the famous Czechs are buried before taking the tram back up to Prague’s big castle where you visit its terraced gardens - another hidden gem.