Aug. 26 2013 Prague

We caught a bus from our hotel and the transferred to a tram and finally got off and walked up the Prague Castle or "Hrad" which overlooks the city.    Hrad was started the 870s and would serve as the house for kings, emperors and presidents for centuries to come.   In its lifetime it has 4 major reconstructions beginning in the 12th cen. to 1740-80.  Both gates have these guards who stand at attention for an hour at a time and then are relieved with a "changing of guard" ceremony.  This would probably be considered the back gate.

Johanna walking thru the gate towards the Lobkowicz Palace which inside the grounds of the Hrad.  Oddly enough some of the Lobkowicz were refugees in Bad Kissingen after WW2 and were acquainted with J's relatives.

St Vitus Cathedral from St George Square.  The cornerstone for St Vitus was laid in 1344 but was not completed till 1929.  It now houses the Bohemian crown jewels and the tombs of various Bohemian Saints.

The front of St Vitus.  For the palace and the whole of Prague it would be better to go to Google Earth and view more of the pics of the castle and Prague itself. 

The changing of the guard at the Main Gate.  This was at 11AM and the busses had arrived and tourists were everywhere. 

This is inside Daliborka Tower.  This is the torture chamber and that is a rack. I'm sure it's been cleaned up for the tourists.  The knight Dalibor was imprisoned here and would play the violin that could be heard throughout the castle.  He was executed for his troubles.  An 1868 opera "Dalibor" was composed from the tale. 

This is the history of "The Golden Lane".  Hopefully this can be read.  This alley along the north wall housed the sharpshooters in the 16th century, later the goldsmiths and in the late 1800s artists and writers such as Franz Kafka. 

Along Golden Lane. The apts were 5 to 10 square meters.  Again there were 100s of tourists joustling to see into the renovated apts. 

This the Charles Bridge from the Hrad.  It was completed in 1390 and had wheled traffic on it for 500+ yrs, till it was made foot traffic only after WW2.    There are 30 statutes of various saints on the bridges. 

The west gate onto the Charles Bridge or the Mala Strana Bridge tower.

One of the most famous statutes on the Charles Bridge is St John of Nepomuk.  According to legend, Wenceslas IV had him trussed up in armor and thrown off the bridge for not telling of the Queens confessions(he was her priest).  The stars in his halo allegedly followed his corpse to the bottom.  There is a bronze plaque on the base of the statute.  Tradition says if you rub it you will return to Prague.  Johanna rubbed it but I didn't so I guess I'll be left behind.

The East gate of the bridge or the Old town gate.  This is the entrance to Old town of Prague.

Tyn Church in the old town square.  Construction of the present church was from 1350 to 1511.  Originally the gable had a statute of George of Podebrady and a golden cup.  In 1626 that was replaced by Our Lady and the cup was used for an aureole. 

The Municipal House.  On each side of the entrance there were elegant restaurants which looked out of our price range.  We wondered inside for a bit and found there was going to be a concert tonight which J wanted to see.  We must have passed stands selling tickets to 10 different concerts at various palces during the day and J wanted to be at every one.  Somehow I distracted her from it until it was too late. 

We were walking in the old square and there was a photo shoot going on.  I don't know if it was for an actual wedding or just some dress company getting some ads togetherer.  It did draw a crowd and there were several pro photographers doing the shooting.   

 

At the end of the day we walked thru this gate, out of Old Town  and caught a tram back to the bus station and then to our hotel.  There is so much to see and do in Prague that it would take a month to really do it justice.  J posted the pics of our meal some time back.  The beer we drank here was Pilsner Urquell.  It was a lot better the  swill they export to the US.  It had been a very long day and lots of walking and we were beat.  Tomorrow we catch a train to Cheb and then start riding across the Czech border into Germany again.   This is the end of my blogging career except for maybe some final thoughts about the trips we have taken.