Prague August 2010

Clifton and I went to Prague in the Czech Republic this last weekend and had a great time. We heard a lot of great things about Prague from people here and our expectations of this vacation were definitely met. We arrived on Thursday afternoon and decided our first thing to mark off the check list was the Prague Castle. The Prague Castle was most likely founded in around 880. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Prague Castle is the largest coherent castle complex in the world, with an area of almost 70,000 m². Clifton and I had quite the hike getting up to Prague Castle and it was semi-hot the first day we arrived so we had a pretty good workout. Our favorite thing within Prague Castle was St. Vitus Cathedral. Located within Prague Castle and containing the tombs of many Bohemian kings and Holy Roman Emperors, this cathedral is an excellent example of Gothic architecture and is the biggest and most important church in the country.This was the most beautiful cathedral Clifton and I have seen to date. It reminded us a lot of Notre Dame in Paris. It was so gorgeous and we love the Gothic architecture. There were tombs of kings and emperors that lived in the 900's. After we went through the rest of the castle we decided since we were already so high up above the city of Prague we mine as well enjoy the view so we took a seat at a wine bistro and had some wine and cheese. It was a perfect start to the vacation and the views from this bistro were brilliant. After our little break we walked back down to Old Town Square. With its origins in the 12th century, the Old Town Square is the most significant square in the historical centre of Prague. There are tons of shops and restaurants to choose from. On our way back to the hotel we wanted to walk across the Charles bridge. The bridge is decorated by a continuous alley of 30 statues and statuaries, most of them baroque-style, erected around 1700. This bridge is a sight to see. It is very Gothic looking and has painters and artists lining the bridge ready to sell you their pieces. The statues are incredible and if you touch the St. John statue it is said you will get whatever you wish for, for the rest of your life. So as you can imagine their was a long line waiting to touch it and yes Clifton and I waited in that line to have a go at touching the statue. I will let you know if it works.

As we walked through the city there are stores selling Absinthe everywhere so Clifton had this urge to try some. Absinthe originated in Prague and is illegal in the United States because it contained a psychoactive neurotoxin called thujone. Don't worry there is no trace of psychoactive toxins in Absinthe anymore. Absinthe is just a very strong alcohol. Clifton and I are all about trying or experiencing what is native to the countries we visited but I think Clifton will forever regret having a drink of that Absinthe. His throat and chest burned for the remainder of the night and he couldn't get the taste out of his mouth. He said it was horrible and he had this horrible grimace for about an hour after having the drink. I am so glad I did not care about experiencing Absinthe in Prague. I must admit it was pretty funny to watch him try it.

The next day we went on a bus tour that drove us around the city to see all of the beautiful buildings and then we went to another square to have lunch. At lunch I had mussels and we had a nice french couple sitting next to us who did not speak English but they taught me something that day. I was eating my mussels with a fork out of the shell and this french guy leans over and smiles at me and takes an empty shell and then another shell and shows me that you use the empty shell to clamp the mussel and pull it out. Anyway Clifton and I laughed and smiled and said thank you and there was no more conversation. They were very friendly though and thought it was funny I was eating my mussels with a fork. It was a great learning experience and so much easier to eat those mussels with an empty shell. After lunch we headed over to the Jewish quarter. Its torrid history dates back to the 13th century, when the Jewish community in Prague were ordered to vacate their disparate homes and settle in one area. We went through the museum and a couple of the synagogues. The most interesting part of the Jewish quarter was the cemetery. The numbers of grave stones and numbers of people buried there are uncertain, because there are layers of tombs. However, it has been estimated that there are approximately 12,000 tombstones presently visible and there may be as many as 100,000 burials in all. They would bury some people 12 ft deep and the next 8 ft deep and so on. These tombstones are just piled on top of each other. The men are not allowed to walk through the cemetery with their heads uncovered so they lend out Kippah's for the men to wear as they walk through the cemetery. So that is why you will see a picture of Clifton with a Kippah on in the slide show. We then went to see the Orloj which is composed of three main components: the astronomical dial, representing the position of the Sun and Moon in the sky and displaying various astronomical details; "The Walk of the Apostles", a clockwork hourly show of figures of the Apostles and other moving sculptures; and a calendar dial with medallions representing the months. We wanted to see the hourly show of figures of the Apostles so we sat down to eat dinner right in front of the clock. This clock is amazing but the show was actually pretty quick and disappointing. The show was over within 30 seconds. Clifton and I had walked around so much that we decided to pop in to one of the Thai massage places that were everywhere in Prague. We had a 30 minute foot massage and it was incredible. Clifton said his was painful because the lady kept jabbing him with a stick in the bottom of his feet. I loved it and if I had one of those places on every corner in Aberdeen I would spend too much money. Our last day in Prague we unfortunately didn't get to do that much because the weather was so horrible. It was pouring rain and we went out for a couple of hours and got soaked so we headed for the airport a little early. We absolutely loved Prague and had such a good one year anniversary celebration.