Welcome to Prague!

Our travel day to Prague was gorgeous! This is a view from the bus. We were maybe an hour or so outside of Prague when we passed this castle on a cliff.

We get off the bus for a walk, a mini tour of sorts, across the Charles Bridge and to our hotel.

We passed this gorgeous synagogue!

Stopped in Old Town Square to look at the astronomical clock. It goes off every hour and the square fills with people to see it. We saw it... Honestly... It's just a clock. However, it is the third-oldest astronomical clock and the only one still working.

It was about this point when I realized that our Tour Manager has a skewed perception of what would be considered a walkable distance. I also swear that she took us the long way around to get anywhere... More on that when we get to  Rome. :P

That night we went out to this place called the "Beer Factory." So you sit at your table, and there is a tap in the middle. They give you a glass and you pour away! It has a digital display that shows you how much the table drank. Then you pay. :P It was pretty cool not having to 1. wait on a waitress to bring you a beer and 2. not having to get up to go to the bar to get a beer. Unfortunately, I wasn't a fan of the beer in the tap and you don't get a choice of what kind of beer comes out. Our table engaged in a riveting game of "Crowns," which is quarters played with Czech crowns. Poor Al was on the floor all night looking for the crowns that she had bounced off the table.

The next morning we had an 1.5 bike tour of the city. This one was very different from the tour in Edam. Prague is a city full of cobble stoned streets and traffic and narrow streets with traffic. If you're not used to riding a bike, let alone riding one on a busy road, this tour might make you a little panicky. Anyway here are some of the sites we saw. Unfortunately, I don't remember what these buildings are.. They did have some sort of significance since the guide did stop and talk to us about them.

We stopped here... and saw this sculpture by David Cerny. You'll have to look closely because my camera sucks. :P It's a man hanging from the building in the middle. He's made of fiberglass and swings when it's really windy. I can't remember what he symbolizes, but honestly I think it looks like he's just chillin'.

Then, we move onto the Tower Babies by the same artist. These guys are a little freaky. They're babies with USB-like plugs for faces and they symbolize how children in our time are educated by TV and media. These particular ones are bronze, but there are about 12 fiberglass ones crawling up the Žižkov Television Tower in Prague.

A picture of a castle from a distance in the castle district that we didn't get to because it was (insert expletive if you'd like) raining! Ok.. Mom... I didn't actually write it. Is that better? LOL!!

I believe this is the opera house? Damn! I really can't remember.

Then we moved onto the lunch cruise and the point when it started raining. The next group of pictures are just what we saw floating down the river. The buildings were gorgeous! You don't see these kinds of architectural details in the States. There was a tour guide who talked to us about the history of Prague. Unfortunately, I could barely understand anything she was saying. So, I just took pictures.

 I didn't take any pictures after the lunch cruise. It started raining and we spent the rest of the afternoon ducking between bars and souvenir shops. It got quite cold and none of us were prepared for that... So not only were we wet, but we were also freezing. Just a note. The cobblestone streets and sidewalks are very slippery in the rain. Most of us came close to taking quite a spill. The weather cleared up around 7 as we were having drinks in a hole in the wall bar. Unfortunately, all of us were spent by that point. We got dinner and went back to the hotel early. The next morning was our flight to Rome. YAY! We're finally going to get to Italy!