Day 163, 14 December 2012, Prague - Tour - Free afternoon. Say hello to Mr Happy (and his leetle friend). The reason the gentleman doesn't look happy, is his weapon is real - but they are given no ammunition. We spent the morning on a bus/walking tour and visited the Castle area and the Cathedral of St Vitus. We joined the scrum for photos of the guards at changeover time and were stunned by the 3 part wonder of the Cathedral (4 parts if you count the 11th century foundation stones tucked away under shelter. We were fascinated once more with the Celtic roots of the Czech people - roughly 2000 years ago the same folks who settled Ireland were in this neighbourhood - which is why pale skin, dark hair and blue eyes is still a popular Czech colour scheme. They even have a version of bag pipes (didn't believe this until we saw buskers later in the day - see photo album). There was even an area excavated in the vicinity of the Castle where they found a miniature version of Stonehenge. We were fortunate today to have a tour guide with a brain in her head - she was exceedingly perceptive and realised after 9 days on the go we really were struggling to get excited about ABC (her words "Another Bloody Castle"). I of course was also struggling to get revved up over JAC (Just Another Church). But it was all good. We left the Castle by the back door where there were completely unaccosted guards just waiting to have their photos taken without a tourist in sight (so of course, I obliged). Next stop - the old Jewish Quarter. Fascinating stuff - particularly the tiny cemetery which has roughly 100,000 inhabitants - 12 layers deep with each layer no higher than 6 palm widths. The Jewish quarter was also where we had some architectural oddities pointed out - for instance 3 windows per floor of building - OK. 4 windows? = TAX! So some buildings have their 4th window built over. We also saw 2 buildings side by side - one was handed back to its original owners in 1989. The other was still in State hands. When you have a look at the photo you'll see the difference. We ended up in Old Town Square in front of the gilded and gorgeous Astronomical Clock - complete with a trumpeter tootling away in a courtly fashion. The afternoon had been set aside for a nap - but a coffee with friends at Starbucks called us instead - then another market (non Christmas - just good). Finally lunch and a teeny nap before heading out for dinner and some last minute fur hat shopping with friends. Finally we ended up in bed - precisely where we had been fighting to stay since about 7 am in the morning - but what a day!