Yesterday was the anniversary of the death of Václav Havel - the last president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of Czech Republic - who passed away on 18/12/2011. He was very much loved by the Czechs and there were little services on the street side in commemoration of his death - people speaking about him and lighting candles in the shape of a heart - a symbol that he often added to his signature. Today was the anniversary of Calvin's birthday - born on 19/12/1988. Kate got him a Christmas sweater. We had a late breakfast of herb sausage in a bun from the Christmas markets. The weather was nicer today - not so cloudy and no rain but it felt colder. Perhaps it was because we joined a free walking tour of Prague and stood outside for a long time.  The free walking tour (tip tour) was led by a quirky, strange and awkward local, Jana, who appeared to be maybe in her mid 40s. 4 Dutch, 2 Irish and 2 English (who actually abandoned the tour after half an hour) and Kate and Calvin were on the tour. It started at 11 am in Old Town Square and we basically walked around in an outer circle looking at synagogues, old buildings, towers and churches. Jana was the strangest walking tour guide we've ever met. She spoke about irrelevant random (boring) things, kept pointing out where to get cheap water from, told us we should walk at a good pace but spent 5 minutes explaining why, brought us to the wax museum to use the free toilets there and gave us some chocolates from an opened packet, had many an awkward pauses, and didn't quite get the punchlines right, at all.  The worst thing though, was when it came to the tipping. As it customary for free walking tours, you give a tip at the end. Jana, at the end of the tour, gave a little spiel about other tour companies that are a scam and get you to tip more than you should and said that she doesn't do that. So after this spiel, while everyone was trying to silently figure out in their heads what they should tip, Calvin got out CZK 200 (about $10) and gave it to her. Jana was not a happy lady - she basically insisted that we should give her more because CZK 200 was not enough and the minimum should be CZK 250 per person. Well after that little rant, the Irish couple also gave CZK 200 which she continued to complain about. The Dutch gave altogether CZK 600 between the 4 of them (and awkwardly as well as they gave a CZK 1000 note and needed the CZK 400 change from her!).  After the tour finished, we had a small late lunch at Zebra's Noodle Bar before heading out to Charles Bridge for some photos before dinner. On the way, Kate felt her scarf wasn't warm enough and so we bought her a nice woolly one. Continuing on, we came across a Rockpoint Outdoor store where they sold Buffs (multifunctional headwear) - Kate already has one but thought it would be useful to have another one - so Kate's second present today was a Buff (Calvin also got one too). Then we came across Hudy, another outdoor store just a few metres down where they sold the newer version of Kate's boots. As Kate's current boots were pretty much held together by glue and string, she bought herself a third present - new boots. We finally got to Portfolio Restaurant where we had booked Calvin's birthday dinner. The restaurant is, according to TripAdvisor, the best restaurant in Prague. It's modern and has a nice relaxed atmosphere. The food was incredible - best restaurant experience ever and it was cheap for Australian standards. We had: - complimentary amuse-bouche; - delicious bread (lots of it because it was also complimentary); - mains: Calvin had the North Atlantic wild cod, carrot, artichokes, potato fondant and fennel sauce and Kate had the duck breast, turnip, plums, plum sauce with slivovitz; - a complimentary refresher of cranberry sorbet and parsley foam; - a special scoop of Mandarin Sorbet (with a candle!) for Calvin's birthday, also complimentary; - and a desert of pineapple with chilli, chocolate mousse with ginger, coconut and salty caramel. The service was faultless, the food was the amazing (Kate thought the duck was the best she's ever had) and the amount of free food was great bonus! All for a total of $52!  We then went to an outdoor ice-skating rink which Calvin found by accident while strolling around. It was free entry and skate hire was only $5 for an hour. Ice-skating is Kate's worst nightmare but because it was Calvin's birthday, she gave it go (with a lot of encouragement from her husband). It was a fun evening - no one fell over and it made Prague feel even more special.  To finish off the night, a walk to Charles Bridge for some night photos of the castle. It was about 9:30 pm so there weren't too many people around and it was a clear night with spectacular views of the city.