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Published: June 30th 2011
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inside Jacob's church
Jana told us a good story with this one, but I'm not gunna share it with you. Today I did a free walking tour, actually I did 2 free walking tours. Although they are not actually free as you are expected to give a tip. But it was well worth the small fee that I ended up donating. Jana was our guide (me and 2 other Australians in the morning tour) and as expected she was full of interesting information, dates and names that I instantly forgot. But it was good way to see the inner city and it's sights even if I did not remember all the info she spruced the 2 1/2 hours, Jana was also full of funny stories and a few ghost tales as well. Of which I am not going to share with you, go do the tour yourself.
A couple of trivial facts I do remember: Prague or Praha as the locals call it means threshold.
And King Charles IV (pronounced CHARL-LES) was the most popular monarchy hence lots of buildings, schools and bridges are named after him.
There was a 2 hour break between tours and I had lunch with the 2 Aussie ladies at a cafe/restaurant
that Jana recommended. We ate a typical national dish, pork with dumplings washed down with the national beverage beer!!
Halfway through the afternoon tour the sky suddenly became very dark and thunder started to drown out Jana's stories. Smart girl suggested perhaps we stop briefly for a refreshment. A few more people had joined us for the afternoon tour and everyone agreed this was good idea just as it started to spit with rain. Just as I was being served my ice cold glass of beer we looked outside and within seconds the rain had turned into hail and small marble sized ice balls covered the ground. Just as I was sipping the last of my beer the sky had cleared and we continued on with the tour.
We made our way up slowly towards Prague Castle which sits high up overlooking the city. After the rain it was hot and muggy again and the walk up the steep roads went slowly. Reaching the main entrance to the castle we were just in time for the changing of the guards.
Lucky for these guards they change hourly as these current one would have endured blazing sun then 20 minutes of hail storm and the blazing sun again. They have a little hut they can duck into but by the size of it I doubt it offered much in the way of protection from sun or rain.
Jana then walked up through the grounds of the Palace advising what each building was, when it was built buy whom and what it was used for then and now. All too much information to retain and convey back to you. Suffice to say it's a huge complex with some pretty cool assorted architecture.
This was where the tour ended and we were shown the long staircase down that would bring us back to the river and the city center. Anyone who is heading to Prague anytime in the future I would really recommend doing one or both of these tours, and you just pay at the end what you like. The guides are not paid but work only for tips, Jana was not in anyway pushing with regards to requesting tips. I gave her about the equivalent of aud $15 for
Powder Tower
one of the old town gates, used to store gun powder both tours and she seemed happy with that, however I noticed some scabby backpackers (I think they were dirty Spanish) gave her just a few coins which she politely accepted also.
By the end of this day I was pretty shattered, a lot of walking a lot of info and an interesting day of weather changes. I found a supermarket and bought some picnic supplies for my dinner and when down and say by the river. The Aussie ladies had invited me to have dinner with them at an Italian restaurant, but I declined and rather enjoyed my picnic on a bench. Although I was a little concerned with regards to some homeless people who were eying off my assorted supermarket goodies, but they ended up just enjoying the liquid dinner they were having from a brown paper bagged bottle.
Yes Prague is a beautiful place, so glad I came.
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