A glimpse of Prague

Our city sightseeing tour of Prague began from Czech bridge. The weather that morning was lovely, and this was our view of the Vltava river as we approached the bridge...

We could see Prague Castle and St Vitus Cathedral from afar. We walked down 'Parizska trida' (Paris Boulevard) to Josefov, Prague's Jewish Quarter. Some of the interesting buildings there include the Jewish Town Hall and the Old-New Synagogue.

Prague Castle and St Vitus Cathedral

We then made our way past the Rudolfinum, which is home to the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. The roof of the building is highly decorated with statues, and we learnt of a humorous incident played out in the late 1930s. The occupying Nazi authorities demanded that the statue of Jewish composer Felix Mendelssohn be pulled down. The workers were not able to identify which one was Felix Mendelssohn, and they ended up pulling down Hitler's favourite composer- Richard Wagner, instead!

The Rudolfinum; the fine concert hall with excellent acoustics- Dvorak Hall, is inside

We were walking and chatting when the Old Town Bridge Tower of the Charles Bridge sprung unexpectedly into sight! We had arrived at the Square of the Knights of the Cross; the statue of Charles IV, the Church of St Francis and the Church of St Saviour were there. It was rather thrilling to walk on the quaint cobblestoned streets and look up to find amazing buildings all around!

Old Town Bridge Tower of the Charles Bridge

We then moved on to the Old Town Square, dominated by the twin Gothic steeples of Tyn Church and the baroque wedding cake of St Nicholas Church. The famous Astronomical Clock is also there, which springs to life every hour with its parade of apostles and a bell-ringing skeleton. Close to the top of every hour, huge crowds gather near the clock to watch the 'performance'!

Can you spot the skeleton? :)

In the afternoon, we joined an optional excursion to see Prague Castle and St Vitus Cathedral, Prague's most recognisable landmark. Prague Castle is the largest medieval castle complex in Europe and the ancient seat of Czech kings throughout the ages. St Vitus Cathedral is unbelievably huge; I remember turning one particular corner as we walked, and my mouth fell open in disbelief when I saw the height of the cathedral!

Could not capture the special moment when the cathedral first came into view in that magic corner; so this will have to do....

We had dinner in a lovely restaurant called Restaurant Stoleti. Hubby had a rumpsteak with rosti, and I opted for turkey skewers with Prague ham with apple horseradish sauce which was delicious. The apple horseradish sauce took some getting use to but I got the hang of it after a while! Beer was Krusovice this time :)

That's not rice- it's pasta risoni :)

I thought hubby was mad to bring the tripod along for the trip, but on hindsight, I have to agree it was a splendid decision. Check these out...

The Dancing House; or Ginger & Fred (as in Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire)

The left glass tower resembles a gracefully flexed dancer- Ginger, and the right concrete tower with a metal cupola crowning it is Fred :)