Day 14 - City Tour of Prague

Today was an incredibly full day.   We felt like we saw all of Prague, although I know it was only part of the city.

We started out walking across the Charles Bridge (built in the 14th century) to the other side.  In the middle of the bridge our tour guide, Jana, showed us where St. John of Nepomuk was tossed off the bridge by King Wenceslas IV for not revealing the confession of the queen (according to legend).  Touching the statue and the place where he was tossed over the side are supposed to bring luck.  (There are many tales of people being tossed out of windows, etc. in Czech history.)  His reliquary is found in one of the churches inside Prague Castle, which we visited later in the day.

We walked on Kampas Island, which is before you get to the "Little City".  We saw the "Lennon Wall", which is where people began writing after Lennon's death in 1980.  They wrote words from his lyrics and then also their own messages of Peace and sometimes their own Philosophy.  We then walked to the Church of the Infant Jesus (or something like that.)  There is a wax figure of the baby Jesus displayed.  They dress him up in different elaborate outfits sent from all over the world.  People make pilgrimages to this church to pray to the infant Jesus.  I bought myself a small one to put in our house.  Kate won't let me post a picture.

We then got on our van to drive back across the river to the "New City" (still circa 14th century).  This city was built by King Charles IV.  He is much revered in the Czech republic because he was very progressive and did a lot to improve the city of Prague.  As in other parts of the city, the facades represent various styles of architecture as the buildings were renovated during the years.

(One of the interesting tidbits we learned was that "Budvar" (Budweiser) is a type of beer here.  It is  considered "sweeter" than Pilsner, which is the most prevalent type of beer here, it is called Pilsner Urquell. ) 

Then we drove to the "Old City" which we visited yesterday.  Kate wanted to try a Gyro so we found a stand that sold them.   I had a Falafel and David and Kate had a Gyro.  We continued walking through the Old city looking at the various types of architecture.  The basements of these homes date from the 12th century, but they have facades of various types of architectural styles, dependent upon when they were updated.  We saw a church that represented 6 or 7 different types of architecture.  We also saw the astronomical clock, which is fascinating because it was put in place in the 1400's.  It requires constant upkeep.  David's Garmin watch (which is set by satellite to the world clock) was only a few seconds faster than the astronomical clock.

Then we met the van again to back across the river to visit the Castle and the cathedral which date from the 10th century (but have been rebuilt and repaired many times since).  After a couple of hours touring the castle and the churches, we returned to our hotel.

We watched the end of the Soccer game between Brazil and Portugal.  Ordered a bottle of Czech wine (a Chardonnay Pinot, which is very good).   Right now we are watching "The Rocker" which I wish I could pay more attention to, because it seems pretty funny.

So we went to dinner at the restaurant here in the hotel.  The restaurant is a very nice one complete with amuse bouche and post dessert dessert.  Our appetizer consisted of several tastings of different things such as raw oysters, a small portion of eggplant parmesan, tuna tartar, and octopus, among other things.  Kate and I decided that although there is a saying that bacon or chocolate can make anything better, there is one item that doesn't fit...Octopus.  The texture is such that after trying to chew it for just a few seconds, we both had to do the unthinkable and expel it from our mouths back into the little container it came in.  We decided Octopus is only good in very thin slices.  

We hope everything back home is well.  Love to all....