Prague

As noted in the previous post, we drove to Prague yesterday. Today we did a whirlwind tour of the city, walking somewhere between 5 and 10 miles (one of us estimated 5 miles, another 10...). The weather was chilly, but at least the sun peeked out for awhile. Here are some pictures (out of order) of some of the things we did and saw:

Mom and Dad on the Vltava River with the old town in the back:


At the Old Jewish Cemetery. I don't think you are supposed to take pictures here, but Dad was able to snap a few "under the jacket" type shots. I think that this is probably the most fascinating place in Prague--I remembered it well from my last visit 7 years ago. You can't get a ticket to just see the cemetery, but you have to buy the combination ticket to see all the synagogues and museums in the Jewish Quarter, but it is well worth it to be able to see the cemetery (and I'll note that the ticketing system is quite the smart and profitable business scheme, since most people just want to see the graves!). The cemetery is really old and the quintessential (I think that is the 2nd time I've used that word on my blog this week) idea of an "old and creepy cemetery." Apparently between the mid-1300s and the mid 1700s, this cemetery was the only land given to the Jews in Prague to bury their dead. Since they believe that the dead should not be moved from their resting place, they just kept burying people on top of the old graves until it became this overcrowded mound seen today.


With Mom in the main square in the old town. Behind us is the Tyn Church--I think it looks like it belongs in Gotham City:


Mom and Dad in Wenceslas Square:

This was a common site as Mom and I took turns throughout the day in reading the guide book out loud. We were working out of Mom and Dad's "Steve Ricks' Best of Eastern Europe" and my collosal "Let's Go Europe." Steve Ricks has proved to be pretty reliable, so we mostly used that.

With Dad on the Charles Bridge:

Hiking up the hill in the Castle District:

This is a picture from the top of the church tower on the Castle Hill--to get there you had to climb 287 narrow, poorly lit, winding steps with traffic going both ways, no handrail, and tons of people, at least half of whom where presumably suffering from fatigue, vertigo, clautrophobia, or some combination. I couldn't help but picture the domino effect that would be caused from one person slipping! I also wondered how the paramedics would ever get to some of the less fit people who were huffing after the first 50 steps! Anyway, the view was worth it and we got this really cool picture of a cloudy day in Prague :)