Bill and Nancy's Guestbook

tne name of blue mosque
The original name of the mosque is " Sultan Ahmet", not Blue Mosque. Sultan means ruler, padishah and Ahmet is the name of the sultan. So its very normal that you haven't see blue ceramic tiles.

Your photos of Prague
Bill: Your photos of the TV Tower neighborhood and the Jewish cemetery are great as usual. Makes us want to return to Prague for a visit. Freda

Treasures
I went there too as part of an Austria-Germany-Czech Rep. trip. Indeed a wonderful castle. I took the guided tour trough the interior (btw a very informative experience). One of the tours (there are 2 options, if I remember well) took us to a display of part of the treasures of Charles IV. Among the pieces was a curious reptillian skull (according to our guide, now believed to be a crocodile's). Apparently, Charles IV believed it to be the skull of Saint George's dragon. So cool!!!

Cool pix
Very fun scavenger hunt! And I recognize so many of the places . . . though I missed the two guys peeing in the fountain. Hm. Making me miss Prague again! Shalom emrys

yosemite
bill and nancy the picture are great. keep sending them enjoy the blog please keep it up. hope to see you soon. in pray linda

THANK YOU SO MUCH i needed this information for my project at school =D THANK YOU

Reflections from another visitor
We just recently completed a driving vacation of the area. We did not pre-purchase tickets to the castle and did not get to see the famed chapel. Personally, without that portion, I found the castle somewhat plain and boring. Much of the furnishings, artwork, etc are gone. So, if you plan to visit, I would make sure to purchase the chapel tour in advance. Also, we drove, and used a GPS to find the castle. I strongly caution you not to do this. The village of Karlstejn is CLOSED to public traffic during the day AS ARE THE ROADS LEADING TO THE CASTLE AND THE VILLAGE. And unfortunately, if you do not speak Czech as we did not, you may fall prey to a nasty little trap. We were ticked 500 Czech Crown because we drove on the road and parked in what appeared to be open castle parking. In fact, it was UNUSED, but reserved parking for special occasions like weddings. We returned to the car to find a Denver Boot on the car with a note to find the police station or call. Having no cell phone, we were going to walk to try to find the station. Luckily I suppose, the police returned as we were beginning our descent into the village. It was an honest mistake and the parking was unused that day. For such a tourist location, it would have been nice to have a little more clearly marked signs. We studied international signs, but without being able to read Czech, we could not determine the particular signage for this situation. We planned to do quite a bit of shopping that day in the village. I have to say I was so frustrated with the situation that it really put a damper on the day and the castle. As a result we chose not to spend any more money in the village. We would have felt much better if the police had understood and been compassionate because we wanted to learn more about their community and history. They probably cost their village around 3000 Crown because we were looking for Bohemian Crystal and other gifts and souvenirs. Hopefully we will save someone else the same upsetting experience by sharing ours. :-)

Thanks for this article
I was emailed a link to Karlstein Castle by a friend who lives in CZ as a place that I might like to visit when on holiday there in a few days time. Reading your article confirms that I must not miss Karlstein Castle off of the places that I must vistit. Thank you very much for such a lovely blog.

my church group in St Petersburg
As you go to St Petersburg watch for a group from Rome, Ga. My church has a group over there , leaving today , to do work in a day camp. It would be nice if you could see them . Fellowship Baptist Church. (Carolyn)

have a fun
Dear Nancy and Bill, just to say Hi from IBTS. Yesterday there was a night of open museums. Toivo and Einike are here because he is going to defend his dissertation tomorrow. We wish you were here with us. Blessings and greetings to all the friends there. Looking forward to hearing from you. Dejan

Fist Banquet hall
isn't really a banquet hall - it's a chapel. Saint Kinga' s chapel.