Vaclav Leads the Way

NOTE: We seem to have fixed the bugs that were effecting our comments section and picture galleries at the end of each entry. Thanks go out to our son Steven, who figured it out. We will pay him twice as much as we did to set up our site. So if you previously were unable to comment or did over the last few weeks, we may not have received them. We love to hear from people so comment away. Now back to today’s entry.

Carol and Vaclav

Last night when we checked in,they told us there was a free walking tour provided by the hotel. One of the desk clerks is a licensed guide and the hotel provides this tour once a week. We decided to try it. The only down side is we had to get up a little earlier for breakfast then we had planned. The breakfast was very nice and after freshening up, we head down to the lobby for the tour.
Vaclav is our guide and seems very personal and his English is very good. He spent three years in Australia and has also traveled to Asia and other places at the young age of 30. The group builds up to 16 people from all over the world. Ones we ended up friendly with are from England, Australia, Israel, and Tasmania. We all take the tram to old town and start our tour there. The tour is supposed to be about three hours. Vaclav gives us some history of Prague and the area we are in. Walking around we see a Sigmund Freud statue hanging off a building way up high. We learn about Svejk, a local army cartoon character and are told if you see his caricature in a restaurant, don’t eat there, it is a tourist trap.

Astronomical Clock

The town square is awesome and we get some more detailed history before heading to the famous astronomical clock. Vaclav explains all the different symbols and the way to read the clock. Then the brief 30 second or so figure show goes off on the hour. As promised, it is not all that great, but we saw it. As Vaclav said, we now know more about the clock than most Czechs. The clock is over 500 years old, although some of it has been restored after it was damaged in WWII.
From the square, we see the Church of St James. It has a beautiful interior but the attraction here is the shriveled up arm with clenched fingers hanging high above near the entry. Rumor has it that a thief tried to steal the jeweled Madonna Pietatis from the alter but his hand was stuck to it the moment he touched the statue. The monks had to cut off the arm in order for it to let go. Now the arm is a warning.
From here we walk over toward the Jewish Quarter. Along the way Vaclav tells us bits of local history and some personal stories. We see the little cartoon mole that is the most popular Czech cartoon character. As Vaclav put it, Walt Disney had taken up all the other animals. I like his sense of humor. We head from the Jewish Quarter towards the Charles Bridge. Along the way we stop at a small bust of Jan Palach. He was a young student that protested during then1968 crack down by the Soviets. One day he walked onto the popular Wenceslas Square and set himself on fire. He died a few days later. This day is honored in Czech today. We cross my Bridge (Charles Bridge) with its many statues. It is very hot and the crowds have found us so our history lessons and legends are still told but we do not linger.
Once off the bridge, we walk through the Little Quarter. We learn about and see the little green man who is a legend that was meant to keep kids from swimming alone. The man lives in the water and would pull you down. Kind of like our bogey man only with water. Next up the John Lennon Wall. Instead of the Lenin ideas preached by the communists, John Lennons ideas gave people hope and a possible vision.

CNC at the Lennon Wall

When he died a graffiti wall appeared in this spot with ” imagine and all you need is love” type slogans on it. Every night the police would white wash it and day after day, it would reappear. Now the wall is constantly changing as graffiti is allowed to continue on it. Waclav told us that one night, some students expressed themselves by covering it up in white paint and the authorities did not know what to do. They found the students but since painting the wall was allowed, let them go. The graffiti process started all over again.
We leave the Little Quarter on a tram up to the castle. The castle area, high above the city was used by Czech leaders for over a thousand years. Parts of it are still in use today by the current leaders. We get a short history of the area and St Vitus Cathedral and a group picture, before the tour ends. We spent about 5 hours walking around because we were all having a good time listening to the stories. Vaclav was an amazing guide.

Since we are up here, we decide to see the cathedral, old palace, and St George Basilica. The cathedral contains tombs that include the first three Hapsburg Kings. Construction started in 1344 and was stalled many times by wars and plagues. It was finished in 1929 fueled by the rise of Czech nationalism, and to celebrate the 1000 year anniversary of St Wenceslas’s death. There is a stained glass window designed by Alfons Mucha, a famous Czech artist. There is also a chapel that holds the tomb of St Wenceslas where Czech Kings were crowned in front of the coffin.
The old royal palace is actually just some large rooms, not much decor, and a bit of a let down. Same goes for the Basilica of St George. Maybe we are just getting tired.
Realizing that we are about done in for the day, we brave the heat and walk across town to a restaurant I had researched. Along the way we get away from the tourists and notice some cool architecture, which is actually everywhere in this city. Signs of the communist style are also to be found for those who look. We always look up when we walk in European cities because that is where much of the old architectural elements are preserved. Often modern street fronts are under ancient building facades.
We reach Restaurace U Kroka and get a seat outside. We learned our hot restaurant lesson yesterday.

Dark and Light Beer

This is much better. We order a beer that is half dark and half light and when it comes the dark is floating on top of the light. It stays that way while we drink it which is quite interesting. I get ribs which quite honestly are a bit on the fatty side and Carol gets roasted pork knee with potato gnocchi which is good.
When we finish our meal we cross the river and walk back to the hotel. We stop at the restaurant we ate at last night for a beer and some dessert. Beer is cold and our dessert arrives. We ordered apple strudel with ice cream and a traditional honey cake with some ice cream on the side. The strudel is very good but the honey cake is incredible. We know we will be having it again. We would love to sit longer but also know that we need some rest so we walk around the block to our hotel. We are pretty wiped after almost 13 miles of walking in the heat of the day. Time to crank up the air conditioning and get some sleep.
Expenses
Tram Tickets 2 Trips 96 CZK
Cathedral, old palace, st George Basilica 500 CZK
Dinner and Beer at U Kroka 428 CZK
Beer and Dessert at Vidlicky A Noze 214 CZK
Hotel Julian 79.5E
Walked 12.75 Miles