Prague

A sunny start to the day but a little cooler than anywhere on the trip so far... still quite comfortable even though it was the first time I have worn a jacket for warmth. Began with a stroll on Charles Bridge (about 300m from here) as the stall owners were setting up for the day. Plenty of opportunity to obtain local artist's impressions of Prague or sift through jewellery. Entertainment included a good old-fashioned organ grinder although his monkey was a somewhat ragged looking stuffed toy. A number of musicians (individual and groups) were playing either on the bridge or in the square in the old town.

We went to watch he "Astronomical Clock" strike 11 along with a thousand or so other people. The clock has windows which open and the Apostles file past the window as the clock is striking, then a trumpeter (human variety) plays a short sequence to mark the hour from the top of the tower. We followed this with a walking tour. Like many other places not one tour group but 20 or so were on the go at once. Our guide had a small voice, and poor amplification, along with a quite difficult to understand accent. Within the first few minutes we had defected to an alternative free tour which was led by an enthusiastic American, now living in Prague, who did a great job of bringing Prague's history to life. We followed him for the next 2.5 hours and enjoyed the personal down-to-earth view of Czech history covering the Old Town, Wenceslas Square (where significant events in the overthrow of communist rule took place) the Jewish Quarter and the beginnings of the Prague Philharmonic.

Prague is an interesting mixture of old and new. Plenty of historic buildings but also new ones where old ones were destroyed either in conflict or development. The sense of national pride was apparent despite the fact that the country has a history of being ruled or dominated by other nations for much of its past. There is a strong influence (in advertising) from English speaking products and services which makes the signage reasonably easy to follow. We thought that service was generally okay as many of the locals (at least those working with customers} had a workable level of the English language and it was definitely better than our Czech!

We are hoping to get to Kutna Hora (where the "Bone Church" is) tomorrow but there is still plenty to see in Prague itself so the trip out of town may not happen

The last few photos are a couple taken from the hotel - a view from the hotel window at night compared with one during the day. and one of a statue in the courtyard garden of the hotel .

Another sculpture that we found interesting was this one, near the Old Town Square, that made of keys spelling the word "revolution" in Czech. It was done to commerate the event where over 200,000 protestors collectively shook their keys in Wenchelas Square to demonstrate their desire to break free from the restrictions placed on them by communism and which contributed to a change in style of government.