Prague

Charles Bridge over Vltava River

Prague, city of never ending rain. It was either about to rain, sprinkling or raining the entire time that we visited. The evening that we arrived was late and way past dinner time. All the fun touring started the next day.

Astronomical clock

Prague has many interesting sights to see. However, I was most looking forward to the astronomical clock. It was my first stop on our first full day in Prague. It was originally built in 1410. While it may just look like two dials, it is actually quite complex. Bohemia (a state in Czech Republic) has it's own time keeping system with the hours starting to count at sun down each night. The clock's outer dial shows Bohemian time, which rotates around the next dial with 24 Roman numerals that correspond to that hours we follow today. The clock's innermost cycle shows the cycle of the moon. In between these three rings, the clock displays sunrise and sunset, changing throughout the year to match shorter and longer days. Quite an amazing feat for a clock in 1410! Between the hours of 9 am and 9 pm, the figures around and above the clock do a little dance on each hour. It's fun but not as amazing as the ingenious time keeping of the clock.

Cathedral inside castle complex

The Prague castle complex has it's origins in the 9th century. Did you know that Good King Wenceslas of Christmas carol fame was actually one of the first Czech royalty? Even though he was killed in the 10th century, there is a chapel honoring him in the large St. Vitus Cathedral in the center of the Prague Castle complex. The Cathedral is the dominating feature of the castle. The palace portions are now used by various governmental offices. None are as impressive as the Cathedral. There is still a street with original old houses in the castle complex. There are lots of souvenir shops squeezed in there as well as an upstairs armor display. While you can walk through the general castle grounds for free, there are charges to see the gardens, the cathedral, the little side street. We went through Sandmann's castle tour and were able to enter all except the gardens. One more interesting note about the castle -- the guards' uniforms were designed by the Czech costume designer who did the costumes for the movie Amadeus.

Schwarzenberg Palace decorated in scraffito

For a good overview of Prague, I highly recommend the free walking tour. (Tour guides work for tips and/or for you to sign up for one of their paid tours.) We really enjoyed our tour with the guide. He told us about the history of different buildings of monuments. For example, did you know that Mozart's "Don Giovanni" premiered in Prague? Or that there is still a golem in the attic of a Jewish synagogue? Or that Jan Hus translated the Bible from Latin into the local language and preached in the local language long before Martin Luther and his Reformation? Or, have you ever seen buildings covered in the decorative art of sgraffito?