Prague continued

6^th January

Day two in Praha we join the “Ultimate Tour” tour at 9.30am (1000czk / person), which takes us on a walking tour to all the highlights around Old Town, a boat trip on the Elbe, a tram ride to a restaurant for lunch (by this time we are starving) and rounds off with a tour of the Palace district till 4.30pm.  Quite a day - there are a number of “walking tours” to choose from and are well worth doing.  Last time in Prague we did the ‘social awareness’ tour and our guide was a 70 year-old local who had lived through all the invasions of his city and it was incredibly interesting and enlightening.  Prague has an extraordinary history, taken over by the Germans during WW1, you can still see the bullet holes in the town square.  Then by the Russians from 1948 - 1989.  The Velvet Revolution occurred in 1989, marking the end of Communism, following what started as a peaceful student demonstration.  The Velvet Divorce came about in 1993 when Czechoslovakia became the Czech Republic and Slovakia.  

The Old Town Square is the centre of this beautiful city and it's a must to see the striking of the hour on the Astronomical Town Clock.  Many tour leaders gather here in the mornings so it is easy to find just the right experience for you.  We purchase a puppet (4000czk) from the markets and a crystal decanter from one of the many crystal shops which line the streets of Praha. 

After dinner ( we seem to do nothing else but eat and drink!!) we join the “Ghost Tour” which is included in the price of the earlier tour (normally 350czx) The guide takes you on a brief walk around Old Town stopping intermittently to regale you with tales of some ghoulish murder that had taken place years before.  After stopping for hot drinks to warm us up, we head back to the hotel.

Amazing architecture

National Theatre built in 1883, renovated 1993

Cruising the Elbe

When the people destroyed the 30m high statue of Lenin, they couldn't get used to a blank space,
so a symbolic metronome was put in it's place which states "NEVER SAY FOREVER"

A clock in the Jewish quarter

At this church the tale is told that when a woman lost the first of her six children to the
plague she went to the priest and paid for a particular tune to be tolled by the church bells.
She had to repeat this as each of her children died of the same disease.  When she also finally
succumbed there was no money left for bells to be tolled, but, inexplicably, toll they did,
playing each of the tunes of her children. 

Beautiful architecture