Prague Blog

Services in the Basilica of St. George:

The window through which some Protestants threw some Catholics, leading to the 30 Years War.
The inside of St. Vitus Cathedral:
Highly colourful and evocative stained glass in the cathedral:
He didn't move:
The guards stand watch over the entrance to the castle, with some rather violent statues above them:
On the Charles Bridge, with the gigantic Prague Castle complex in the background.
One of the 38 statues that line the Charles Bridge:
Olga gives us some insights into the Jewish, Nazi, and Communist history of her city. Warren is fascinated:
Josh tries to explain Kafka's complex writings through an interpretive dance in front of the Franz Kafka statue in the Jewish Quarter. We still don't get it.

Prague is one of the "new to me" places on this year's tour. There's always at least one. It is a BIG city, and I'm thankful that I found us accomodations right off of the Old Town square. We walked everywhere today while Rens took his required and well deserved day off (hey, when's my day off? I've gotta talk to my tour guides' union about this). I didn't once get the group lost, not even half a block's worth of lost! Not bad.
We started the day with a guided tour centred in the Jewish Quarter and ending in the Old Town Square. The synagogue with the names of the 80 000 Prague Jewish victims of the holocaust painted on the walls was powerful. Prague was at one time 1/3 Jewish. Today in this city of 1.8 million there are approximately 1500 Jewish people.
We spent some time in Old Town Square, and then after lunch headed over the Charles Bridge and up the hill to the Prague Castle, largest in the world. Among other things, we visited St. Vitus Cathedral and the Basilica of St. George, both located in the castle. I enjoyed the grand hall where they had a special wide staircase for the horses to enter when they had indoor jousting in this huge room. Connected to it is the room where the Thirty Years War got its start. Some Protestant Czechs upset with some Catholic Hapsburgs (Austrians) threw them out the window. This is a special Czech way of solving political disputes, so special that they have a name for it - defenestration. The conflicts between Protestants and Catholics heated up and a lot of central Europe was thrown into a bloody war.
Our visit to Prague was sunny (again!), but quite cold. I'm glad most of the kids heeded my advice and brought toques, gloves, and warm clothes. The kids are great though - they aren't complaining about the temperature - they are just enjoying their adventure.
One of the unique things about going to Prague is that they don't use the Euro. On the first night, when I was paying the bill for dinner, it was a bit disconcerting to be paying 17 000 of anything (in this case Koruna) for dinner. I better get used to it - in Budapest the same dinner would cost 170 000 in the local currency (Forints)!