After a lazy start this morning (well, it is Christmas Day!) we headed out for another day of exploring Prague. As we walked into Old Town Square the church bells were ringing again. I just love the sound of church bells ringing so I nudged Bernie into action with the Sony camera to record some of the activity in the square to the accompaniment of the church bells. After standing around in the square for a while, just absorbing the atmosphere, we walked over the river to visit Prague Castle. We've been in town since Saturday, but we are only just getting around to visiting Prague's premier tourist attraction. It has been a case of juggling our sightseeing schedule with the Christmas timetables of the various places that we have wanted to visit. According to some ... read more

This morning we took a guided tour of the Jewish Museum which is divided between several buildings around the area of Prague's old Jewish ghetto. The walls that used to separate the Jewish ghetto from the rest of the city were taken down at the end of the 19th century as enlightened attitudes permeated the Czech lands. When we arrived at the Maisel Synagogue, in what we thought was good time for the 11.00am tour, we were told that the guide didn't have any takers for the tour - at 10.00am - and had left the building. There was another English-speaking volunteer at the Maisel Synagogue who very generously agreed to take us on the guided tour of the buildings that make up the Jewish Museum. Jerry (he told us the English version of his name ... read more

This morning after breakfast we finished our introductory walking tour with Pasquale. A couple had just arrived from Washington via New York and Amsterdam so Pasquale took us back to the Old Town Square with them which was handy for us because everything looked a bit different by daylight! Then we headed over to Wenceslas Square with Pasquale pointing out the supermarket along the way. Pasquale had recommended the 'free' walking tours that depart from the Cartier corner of the Old Town Square for a more in-depth introduction to Prague's Old Town. Although the walks are touted as 'free' you are expected to tip the guides for their services. Hmmn, why not just charge a set fee and be done with it?? Anyway, we headed over to Cartier corner and took a walking tour with Jana ... read more

This morning we started at the Uspenski Eastern Orthodox Cathedral that we walked around below yesterday morning on our way to the harbour. From up on the rocky outcrop that the cathedral sits on we could see across to the other big, white cathedral. From not knowing where it was now we can see it from everywhere! After photographing the cathedral in disappointingly dull conditions we wandered down to the Market Square where we purchased some reindeer antler souvenirs and a birch wood 'puzzle' trivet that has been jigsawed into four pieces so that it can be used as one trivet or four coasters. Very nifty indeed. From down near the harbour we walked back to Mannerheimintie to catch the tram to Kansallimuseo, the Finnish National Museum. Before gaining its independence in 1918 Finland had a ... read more

With our Lapland adventure drawing to a close we re-packed our bags after breakfast before putting all of our gear on for one last foray out onto the lake on the cross-country skis. We headed downstairs to put on some ski boots and then off outside to collect the skis and poles. Once we had clicked our boots into the bindings we shooshed off to see how Sophia's igloo was standing up to the weather. It was still there ... I wonder how much longer it will last? There were only patches of cloud today which meant that the sunlight from below the horizon was reflecting off the patchy clouds resulting in spectacular pink cloud formations. We took heaps of photos without really knowing whether or not the compact cameras could do justice to the show ... read more