Cities of light Prague to Paris Our first exciting day

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Prague is a very old town built back in the 800's as a fortified city on the Vltava River. The old castle sits on a hill overlooking the city that grew up around it. Today our plan was to walk around the city, get our bearings, see some sites, eat some local cuisine, and just enjoy. The only thing on our schedule was a Ghost and Legends Tour we booked through Viator at 8:30 this evening, so the day was ours.

Our first order of business was to find the Old Town Center. We left the hotel turned left and walked through a tunnel into an alley and there, in front of us, was the Old City Center. Now this is a wide open space filled with restaurants, shops of every description, bars, and so much more. It was just about noon and time for one of the city's main features to perform, the Astronomical Clock.

Built in 1410, this Medieval clock was first built to enhance the Town Hall and features, not only a time piece, but an astronomical dial that shows the position of the sun and the moon as well as the astronimical signs of the zodiac. There are many legends concerning the clock and the most famous features its maker Hanus Ruze. It was said that when Hanus made the clock in 1410 it was the most famous clock in the land. Prague was famous for this clock, and the founding fathers wanted to protect this fame, so they came up with a scheme to prevent Hanus from making another or perhaps better clock. One day they captured poor Hanus and blinded him with hot pokers! Miraculously he survived. He swore that he would destroy the clock. So he climbed the high tower and threw himself into the clock works, fouling the gears. It took more that 100 years for the clock to be repaired. There are many more legends surrounding the clock, all of which are facinating.

The highlight of the clock is that each hour there is a show performed by the mechanism. The doors of the tower open and a parade of the 12 apostles is seen through the windows while a skeleton, representing death, rings a bell! The sight is facinating and each hour crowds gather to see the spectacle.

After the noon show, we found a really interesting market where they were selling all sorts of kitch and souvineers. I had no money so I stopped at an ATM and withdrew 1000 Czech Crowns or about 48 bucks! The CK is worth about 22 cents. We walked around the market and saw some of the most amazing fruit and vegatables, hugh strawberries, cherries, and so much more. We bought some fridge magnets of the clock; of course, right? We toured the market and at 1 PM we were famished so we decided food was next.

We chose an open air restaurant just below the clock. I ordered the Farmer's Basket which consisted of pork neck, pork loin, pork sausage,and sliced ham. It also featured red and white cabbage, a potato, and some warm bread. Delicious and filling for sure. This I washed down with the local Czech Lager. Cathy enjoyed the Wienerschnitzel, which was a large, lightly breaded slice of veal, a potato pancake, and come cabbage, which was also delicious.

After lunch we walked around the city and discoverd some amazing architecture, learned some history, and throughly enjoyed exploring this beautiful historic city. One really cool place was the Charles Bridge. This no cars pedestrian bridge over the Vltava river was beautiful with amazing sculputres and stonework. The walk featured various artists selling their paintings and other hand made items. We walked across the bridge and I wanted to get a photo from below so I found some steps and took the shot. While down there, I saw there was a dinner cruise on the river. Well, we knew we did not have time for a dinner cruise but I wanted to learn more and soon learnd that they also do a lunch buffet cruise. So tomorrow we will dine on the river!

We were getting a bit tired. Cathy's watch told us we were approaching 12,000 steps so we thought a rest would be in order. We headed back to the hotel.

While Cathy rested, I tried to follow the directions supplied by the airlines to get Cathy a new suitcase. After many attempts to negotiate the website, calls to the airlines, and calls to the insurance company, I gave up! I called Viking and told them the story and they said not to worry. Buy a new suitcase. When you get home, send us the bill, and the trip insurance will cover it. Great, problem solved, except we still need a suitcase! We were sent to the Paladium Mall, which we never did find, but we found a store selling suitcases with something that would do for now. Problem actually solved!

By 7 PM Cathy was suitably rested and it was time for our Ghosts and Legends Tour. We met our tour guide at a wooden door number 7 behind the old church and we began our tour. For nearly 2 hours we walked all over Prague to various sites and were treated to the stories of legend, ghosts and blood!. Our tour Guide, Evzenie, was one of the best tourguides we have ever had. her clear voice told us tales of the macabre and taught us much history of Prague from the time of the plague to the history of their most famous executioner. The stories were real, the evening pleasant, and the time enjoyable. We all had a great time.

The tour ended by 10:20 PM in the town square and we were hungry. (We had neglected to eat dinner before the tour because we had had a large and later lunch.) There were a few open air bars open so we stopped at Pizza Pasta and Salads and sat down to enjoy a pizza before bed. Unfortunately the sign advertizing pizza was out of date; they no longer sold pizza. The kind waiter pointed us to another pizza restaurant across the plaza so we apologozed and headed to spot number 2. We arrived only to be told the kitchen was closed. We were now famished so we tried a different restaurant and were rewarded with an excellent, light crust, stone cooked, delicious Italian pie which I washed dowen with more local Czech beer. We were offered a dessert and could not resist so we shared a delightful plate of ice cream, sweet cream and lava cake. The hot, cold, and room temperature experience of the palate was just wonderful.

Exhauted we returned to our hotel and took a much needed rest.

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Photos

Ghost and Legends Tours of Prague
Evzenie our excellent guide for the evening