Prague

In mid-March, we visited Prague, part 1 of our 3 week central European tour. (Part 2 was Rolf's Fulbright Seminar in Berlin and Part 3 was Meghan's research lab visit in Zurich.) In Prague, we spent 4 nights at the Golden City Hotel in a residential neighborhood just beyond downtown. It wasn't exactly located in the most "golden" part of town - there was a XXX video store across the street - but it was cheap and safe!

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The first morning, we checked in with our "Best of Prague" walking tour guide in the Old Town Square (see photo above). She was holding a large, orange umbrella, and it wasn't just for show - it was raining. The first sight on our tour was the Astronomical Clock. Last year, it celebrated its 600th year in operation! Every hour on the hour it has an elaborate moving display and a trumpet call from the bell tower. The clock was such a mechanical masterpiece that the town council members blinded the clockmaker once he was finished to prevent him from creating another one anywhere else - or so the legend goes... Then we were off to Prague Castle - a large complex of government buildings overlooking the city. In the center of the complex is St. Vitus Cathedral. It was built over many centuries, beginning in the early 900's as a basilica and morphing slowly into a high Gothic cathedral. It was still raining, so the church was packed with tourists trying to stay dry. St. Vitus is the church peeking over the rooftops in the photo above. From the Castle, we walked down the romantic Old Castle Steps into Lesser Town, a quaint maze of narrow, cobblestone streets lined by shops and restaurants in old 5 story buildings. It was much less chintzy or touristy than the area surrounding Old Town Square. We liked the atmosphere of Lesser Town so much, we spent most of the following day wandering up and down the narrow streets.

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We ended the tour by walking across the Charles Bridge. Built in the 1400's, this stone bridge was historically important as a major trade route in Europe. In modern times, the Charles Bridge is best known as a set for Hollywood movies - Mission Impossible and the Bourne Identity to name a few... During the summer the bridge is packed with tourists, artists, and vendors. Thirty large stone sculptures line the bridge, one of which is shown in the following blog post.

Having eaten out only a few times in Norway, we were ecstatic to eat at a restaurant every night in Prague. Most of the menu items consisted of some variety of meat in a dark gravy sauce served with knedlik (bread dumplings). Where were the green vegetables you say? Nowhere to be found in Prague!