Tuesday 1 July 2014 Prague

Cloudy 21C

This morning we took a guided tour of Prague, the tour name was "Grand Tour" and it started with a bus ride departing from the Old Town Square and passing by many points of interest including the main railway station we had arrived at yesterday, the National Museum, Wenceslas Square, and the dancing house (a modern glass building named after Fred Astair and Ginger Rogers). We then saw the National Theatre (currently being refurbished & therefore closed), we crossed the Vltava River and the bus dropped us, our guide and about 20 others at the entry to the Prague Castle. The tour was in 2 languages Spanish and English.

Once again the castle was made up of many buildings (just like Budapest), after passing by the guards at the gate we entered the large courtyard and passed through it to St Vitus Cathedral. It was built in 2 sections which are clearly marked. Construction took some 600 years,the entry (newest) section being completed in 1929. There is a fabulous view of Prague from outside the Cathedral. We walked from here down many steps into Lesser Prague where we passed St Nicolas church (different one from yesterday) then walked onto the Charles Bridge and past the Klementinum which contains the city's archives and library. It was just a short walk back to the Old Town Square where the tour concluded.

As it was now a few minutes to 1pm we waited under the Astronomical Clock to watch it chime. The performance begins with a skeleton ringing a bell and on the opposite side a man tapping his cane, then two windows open at the top and the apostles are paraded past. This all takes about 30 seconds then the bell chimes and it's all over for another hour. The crowds disperse and life returns to normal in the square. One interesting snippet that we picked up on the tour was the Black Light Theater performances that are unique to Prague. Had we known about this we may have booked in advance to go to one.

After lunch we set off by foot to see in more details some of the area the tour had passed by. The first place to visit was the Municipal House and the Powder Tower which are both on the way to the Estates Theatre (where we are going to a concert tomorrow evening) then it was onto Wenceslas Square (150m wide and 750m long) which is the main shopping area with all the lovely shops of Prague. We strolled up and down that discovering lots of beautiful passages hidden in alleyways and arcades. There was one in particular with a statue of an upside down horse with St Wenceslas!

Prague is very crowded and everywhere we go there are crowds of young people, the age group is around16 – 22 years old. There are thousands of them, holidays have begun here so I hope when we set off for the country the crowds don't follow..

I wanted to climb the Astronomical Clock Tower so we returned to the Old Town Square and I went to the top, the views were magnificent, and not too crowded like most other places we seem to have been today. By the time I had descended it was nearly 6pm so we hung around to see the clock chime again.

After dinner we set off to see Prague by night,. At only 9pm, it's still light but sunset is imminent. We walked across the Charles Bridge and the lights came on at the Castle, and some of the buildings in the Old Town. It was very pretty but still very crowded, perhaps tomorrow morning will be less crowded?