Picturesque Prague

OK, I confess.

I took way too many photos today as this city just keeps delivering stunning views. But, I will severely limit myself to a few to tell you about our day’s adventures.

We made the decision to take a 6 hour tour today, and were joined by about 18 others. It ended up being 7 hours and we walked 12 Km.

Mick was not too sure about our guide, the woman in the maroon jacket in the middle. But, he warmed to her by the end.

She kept ‘bagging’ the Czechs. Particularly about how long it takes, and has taken, to decide on something and then to do it.

We learnt that possibly the two most important figures / people from Prague’s history were St Wenceslas and Charles IV. I’ll have more about Wenceslas tomorrow as the 28 September is a very important day for the Czech Republic.

The first photo on this post depicts Charles Bridge as does this one. Our tour guide has removed her jacket as it was the sunniest day we have had since we left Bavaria.

It is a pedestrian bridge and has lots of tourists crossing it. Therefore, there were also lots of artists and store owners trying to sell something.

The most common tourists today were Asian, and mostly Chinese. And if you’ve ever seen them take photos you will understand Mick’s pose in this photo on the bridge.

Part of our tour included a one hour cruise on the Vlatava River, which included a drink. We enjoyed this very much as it gave us a chance to rest our feet and to chat to some of the tour group. We met Greg and Paul (not their real names) from Canberra, who were on their way home from the Munich Beer Festival. Greg was sporting 6 stitches and a black eye after a fall at the end of a long day in one of the Munich beer tents. Later he was skiting that he could travel for free on public transport here as he was over 70!

We stopped here for a three course lunch and another drink. Despite the name of the restaurant, the meal was OK. We sat with a couple originally from Wroclaw in Poland who were able to tell us of their experiences under the Communist rule. They liked us because they overheard us saying to Greg and Paul how fantastic Poland is, and particularly Wroclaw. 😌

We also caught one of those red trams I included in yesterday’s post up the hill to the Prague Castle. Now home to the President. The security was pretty impressive. But what was great was we were there to witness the Changing of the Guard.

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k a video of this if you’re interested. It does go for 1 minute. It was impressive and we had front row foot path space.

Inside was a large conglomeration of important and large buildings, plus this Church.

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ust before we walked home, we were able to take in this breathtaking view of Prague.

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mportant fact we learnt today was that cinnamon twisted cones sold here either filled with ice cream or cream are NOT from the Czech Republic. Our guide told us they just "appeared" on the streets about 6 years ago and they've continued to sell like "hot cakes / trdlo" since then.

They are now off my "must do" list as a result.

Prague was not damaged very much in WWII. It was bombed by accident, apparently by US planes on 14/2/1945.

We were also told that Hitler loved Prague and did not want it destroyed.

Off for Vietnamese for dinner – sick of Czech cuisine 😞

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