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On March 25, we headed back to Prague Castle. This time we were pros so we didn't need directions from cute little old ladies. By the way, approaching the castle from the side which brings you in closed to St. Vitus Cathedral is best as you don't have to go up as steep of a hill. We went to the Powder Tower - not much to see here except for some old and current military uniforms. After wandering around the huge courtyards, we found our way to Golden Lane. I was most looking forward to this little area as the pictures of the houses that I had seen looked so cute. We showed our ticket and we were in - along with about a 80 other people or so. Despite the crowds, I had fun peeking into the little shops in the old houses. Got some nice little souvenirs for family here, too. We then went back towards the Cathedral and visited the Prague Castle picture gallery which houses some stunning huge paintings from the 1600s-1800s. After leaving the Castle, we looked for a spot for food. The Lonely Planet had suggested the Bohemian Bagel, so we tried it. The food
was okay and the service terribly slow. It was packed, but nonetheless service was so slow.
We then headed over Charles Bridge to the Klementinum. We had prebooked by Internet a concert here for 5 pm. We also booked ourselves a tour. After some more shopping near here (I love the shops in Prague), we went to the Klementinum for our tour and concert. The tour was great - we started where our concert would be held, the Mirror Chapel. The guide pointed out the neat paintings on the ceiling that represented a number of continents (Europe, Africa, North America and somthing else?). There are many mirrors to make the chapel appear larger. There was also an old pipe organ (we weren't here for the organ concert). My FAVOURITE part of the tour was when we arrived in the Library - WOW WOW! It was like everything I ever imagined about old libraries - two levels, all open, old ladders on wheels, hundreds and hundreds of old books, and beautiful paintings on the ceilings. It was like stepping into a movie or something. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to wander the library - we kept to one end only -
The Powder Tower
We went in here - mostly just miltary uniforms and such. but I was still happy! What a cool place. Next we climbed the Astronomical Tower (NOT the famous clock tower - we were still in the Klementinum). We got to see the old instruments that they used to measure the distance of stars and planets and such. Then we climbed up a rickety wooden staircase to get to the top of the tower. This was cool - I was kind of happy that we didn't climb the Astronomical Clock tower since this other climb was part of our tour, and you got essentially the same view. We even waved to the Astro. Clock tower tourists from afar. After making our way down many stairs to the Mirror Chapel again, we had our classical and jazz music concert. It was a string quartet. The accoustics in the chapel were magical and the quartet played very, very well! I loved it. Ahmed was a bit confused at first because for some reason he thought we were there to see a puppet show which was something we had looked at online, but I must have forgotten to tell him about the change in plans. :-)
March 26 we spent shopping - clothes,
Golden Lane
Apparently, everyone else wanted to visit here, too, like me. souvenirs, lovely bath stuff - the works. We checked out the inside of Tyn Church and got a little something for my brother from the CD shop at the church. For our last full day, we had an overpriced dinner at Old Town Square, but we wanted to sit for at least one meal in the splendor of the night scenery there. March 27 was spent shopping some more before heading to the airport and back to Egypt. My new favourite hang-out cites in order are now Edinburgh, Prague, Luxor and Venice! Sorry - I just still love Scotland!
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