
March was an especially fun trip since Courtney and Eric were able to join us! We decided to go to Prague while they were visiting us in Den Haag since neither had been and it seemed like a really cool city (and we had heard such great things about it). We were not disappointed!
We arrived in Prague late Wednesday night checked into our awesome apartments - I would recommend to anyone staying in Prague as they were very spacious and affordable! We were able to go to a pub for some delicious grub and beer that night - Prague beer, I must say, is quite delicious. A great way to help us get to sleep that night ;).
On our first day of site seeing we walked over the Charles Bridge on our way to Prague Castle. It was really neat with all of the statues lining the bridge, but unfortunately, like many other famous landmarks in Europe, there was scaffolding all over it in order for the city to do restoration work on the bridge. Either way, each statue on the bridge was really unique and it was interesting to try to figure out the meaning behind each of the statues. After we fought our way through the crowds on the bridge, we headed to our next stop, Loreto Palace.

Entrance to the Charles Bridge

Statues on the Charles Bridge
Loreto Palace is a beautiful religious building quite near the Prague Castle. While I would like to say that we went there to see the history of this Catholic site, we really went there to check out the painting of a bearded woman hanging on a cross. The painting is of St. Starosta, or Vilgefortis, who, after taking a vow of virginity, was forced to marry the king of Sicily. The story is that God, taking pity on the woman, gave her facial hair to make her undesirable. Again, all very fascinating, but we just wanted to see the picture
I must say it was not all that interesting, and unfortunately pictures were not allowed, but we were able to snap a few shots of the inside of the Loreto which was very pretty.

Inside the Loreto Palace
We finally made our way to Prague Castle, home of the Czech government leaders (including the President - who we saw!). It is also the location of the famous St. Vitus Cathedral. The entrance to the castle was much like the architecture of the rest of the city - very ornate with lots of gold mixed into wrought iron. Once inside the castle walls, we were able to get lots of great views of the city along our walk on the grounds. We visited the Golden Lane, which had lots of little shops and historical information on the torture chambers that used to be inside the castle walls, and finally the grand Saint Vitus Cathedral.

Looking out a window on the Golden Lane
Saint Vitus Cathedral was as beautiful as everyone promised. The gothic architecture was incredible and the stained glass windows were stunning inside the church. Matt was able to get some great shots of this!

Outside Saint Vitus Cathedral

Stained glass
After the Castle we went to a great couple of really cool pubs that we found in our guide book - one was like a German beer hall that served its own brewed beer and the other was a local place that we would NEVER have found unless we were given the address. It was really fun to hang out with the local old men at the bar :).
After a long day, our last stop was the Astronomical Clock in the heart of Old Town Square (where our hotel was). We had seen this clock many times, but each hour all of the figures surrounding the clock are animated and accompanied by live trumpets and chiming bells. The clock consists of 3 parts: 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. A huge tourist trap each hour, but very fun to watch.

Astronomical Clock

Courtney and Eric in Old Town Square by the Astronomical CLock

Me and Matt watching the show
That night we went to dinner at Kolkovna, which is the “official” Pilsner Urquel restaurant. It definitely had some great Pilsner, but also had delicious food of cabbage pancakes, goulash, and pork. Fantastic!
The next day we toured the Jewish Quarter in Prague (Josefov). This was very interesting as we were able to see Old Jewish Cemetery. The Jewish Cemetery was in use from the early 15th century (the oldest preserved tombstone, the one of Avigdor Kara, dates back to 1439) until 1787. There are ~100,000 burials on the site, which is incredible as the size of the cemetery is only about the size of one square block.

Gravestones in the Old Jewish Cemetery
We were also able to tour several of the synagogues inside the walled quarter, including the Maisel, Pinkas, and Spanish Synagogues which provided a chronological history of the jews in Prague. I found the area to be fascinating and certainly learned a lot.
Our tour of the Jewish Quarter only took the first half of the day so we were able to relax and enjoy the city in the afternoon. We saw lots of statues and outdoor sites (include a statue of Kafka which Courtney and I naturally had to imitate), Wenceclas Square, and for our final stop, a bar that you can compete against other tables for the number of beers you consume - we said it was an excuse to watch March Madness, but we certainly got into the competitive spirit

At the Kafka Statue

At the bar - blurry picture but someone else took it!
We finished the night at a traditional Czech restaurant with live music for entertainment. A very fun day!
On our last day in Prague we did some more strolling around the city and saw some other interesting sites including Powder Tower, St Agnes of Bohemia Convent, and some other random churches.

Powder Tower and the Municipal House

Inside the convent
It was a nice way to end our trip, but unfortunately it meant we had to go back to the Hague and Courtney and Eric had to go home. We had so much fun with them here and look forward to their next visit (hint, hint
)! Check out the rest of our pictures of Prague here!
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