Laughs in London: September 2015

Just looking up at the vineyard on the hill...lovely!

This is the John Lennon Wall. Mark informed us that Lennon had never been to Prague and didn't really have anything to do with it, but he was popular there. This wall is a place where it is legal to display your artistic talents. It was recently painted white and is now almost covered again.

A new trend in Prague(and many European cities, I found) is to put padlocks on bridges. It is said that lovers put a padlock on the bridge to seal their love. The city removes them and then it fills back up again.

Preston and I didn't bring a padlock, hopefully our love will be okay :)

More John Lennon

Just a picturesque street

Love the window boxes and the buildings

A street market- we bought some treats

The Charles Bridge- construction on this stone bridge started in 1357...that's old!

For many years, it was the only bridge across the Vltava River in Prague.
A beautiful bridge with great views of the city.

Snakes!! There were guys with snakes everywhere! I guess one could pay money to pet or hold a snake. I saw a young boy holding one....YUCK!! Shannon and I quickly walked by these guys!

Old Town Hall in Old Town Square houses this astronomical clock. It dates from the 15th century. It is the oldest working astronomical clock. It does all kinds of things. I can't even explain it to you. Google it :) Mark said not to try to tell the time with it tough, that's what the small clock on the left hand side of the tower is for!

On the hour we watched the windows open and the 12 Apostles peek out as they rotate by the windows. There are also other animated figures that move on the hour.

Church of Our Lady. The two towers represent Adam and Eve.

Old Town Square. It was beautiful and busy!

The square's center is home to a statue of religious reformer Jan Hus, who for his beliefs was burned at the stake in Constance, this led to the Hussite Wars. The statue known as the Jan Hus Memorial was erected on July 6, 1915 to mark the 500th anniversary of his death. (from Wikipedia)

Street and Cafe named after the famous author, Franz Kafka, who was born in Prague.

I'm not even finished with our first day there! To be continued...

With the Bragues in Prague!

We met our wonderful friends, Steve and Shannon Brague, in Prague. We planned this trip before we moved and I've been looking forward to it! It was fabulous to be in a beautiful city with gorgeous weather and such good friends! If you ever get the chance to go to Prague...go!

It's what I picture European cities to be like. Prague was preserved through wars, so I know that it is very different compared to other cities in Europe that didn't bode so well.

We saw so much, I have to do a few posts about this adventure!

On the side of the Castle hill next to a vineyard.

On our first day we started with a 4 hour tour of the main sights in Prague.

Mark was our tour guide. This post is only going to cover the castle. It is set on a hill over looking Prague. Isn't that where every castle should be?

This is the Schwarzenbersky Palace. It is on the castle hill. I love how they decorated the outside. See below:

The artist paints the walls twice and then carves away the top layer of paint to make the design. Wow! That takes patience! We saw a few other buildings in Prague that had the same type of designs.

The Castle doesn't really look like a castle one might imagine. It has inner courtyards with a cathedral(see the spires?) The courtyards are surrounded by palaces and offices.

Have you ever seen a street lamp like this one?

This is a statue of one of the past Presidents of Prague. He came from humble roots and worked hard to become the president. (Mark told us that he had the look of a wealthy man who his mom was a maid for. He was sponsored by this man to study in America and he became very educated and knew important people).

I don't know what these were called but they were yummy fried dough with sugar on them. You can see them in the picture above. They would wind dough around the cylinders to get the shape. They were everywhere. Mark said they were not traditional, oh well :)

Looking out at Prague from this side of the hill. See the Starbucks flag?
Yep, they are everywhere here too!

A lovely back garden with a fountain.

The front gates into the Castle. The statues are giants overcoming their enemies.
This is a sign of power.

The Castle guards. They are very much like the Queen's guards in England. They are from the military and they have to stand at attention for 1 hour before their replacement comes.
That's a Looooooong hour!

Just past the gates is the first courtyard.

The original gate into the Castle. It leads into the second courtyard.

A chapel for the royalty and their families.

The well of the castle. It's no longer in use. They do have running water now, phew! :)

St. Vitus Cathedral

These cathedrals always amaze me. This one was built in 3 stages. It took 600 years to complete! I love the carvings, stained glass, mosaics, paintings, doors... I'll just let you enjoy these:

Aren't they a cute couple? We adore them!

A clock tower on the outside of the cathedral

This was built as a miniature of the Washington monument in D.C., just at the back of the cathedral.

This is where the President's offices are.

It's hard to see, but the far right of the cathdral is really blackened. That is the oldest part. It gets newer as it moves to the left. The clock tower is in the middle.

Statue of St. George defeating the dragon.

Love the flying buttresses.

Exterior golden mosaic that was funded mostly by the U.S.

Just a cool door at the back of the cathedral. Where does it lead?

Very short door! Were people that small then? :)

These was basically a very posh shelter for the royalty that were poor. That was really interesting to me! (With my hubby's cute head in the center :)

Walking down a lovely street in the castle. Mark is wearing the red sweater.
I think he did that so we could find him:) It helped me!

Love looking at the cobblestone streets. My feet didn't like walking on them so much!

There was a short wall around parts of the castle. There were many holes like this. In other castles they were what the archers hid behind. Just enough of a hole to shoot out of and be protected at the same time. I'm assuming that's what they were for here as well.