Dobry den, Praha!

We left Budapest yesterday for a 7-hour drive to Prague.  Despite some problems with traffic and a lost driver, the trip was pleasant, with our guide Nora filling us in on additional Hungarian and Czech history and customs.

Canola crops, very big in Hungary, Slovakia, and CR.

Prague is incredibly charming--beautiful architecture and vistas, friendly people, and music everywhere.

 

 

Since we arrived late to our hotel, we had to high-tail it to our evening concert, a mix of Mozart, Bach, and Vivaldi music in a beautiful building called the Klementinum, with a string quartet, organ, and soloist...just wonderful.

 

Then we wandered across the Charles Bridge and found a great outdoor Italian restaurant in Mala Strana (little town), just perfect after a long day of travel.

 

 

Today was an amazing day...we tackled all the major sites on the Castle Hill side (like Budapest, Prague is also divided by a river, the Vltava) and had many lovely experiences. First, we figured out how to take the tram from our hotel to the base of the hill, and then found another to take us to the top, where we toured the Old Palace, St. Vitus Church, and other structures from the Middle Ages on.

Prague Castle, one of the largest in Europe

View from the Palace

St. Vitus Church is an incredible structure, too large to get into one photo, started in 1334 and finished in 1929.

More than a ton of silver is on this tomb of St. John of Nepomuk

A famous stained glass by Czech artist Alfons Mucha

We also saw Golden Lane, where the goldsmiths, servants, and others lived in previous eras, and the St. John Basilica.  We were lucky enough to catch the Palace changing of the guards and the Prague Castle Orchestra playing in Castle Square.

On our way down the hill and back to town, we made a few other stops.  One was the Wallenstein Garden:

We were amazed to see several pure white peacocks on the grounds

Another was Petrin Hill,  a park with gardens, an observatory, and a replica of the Eiffel Tower, best reached by taking the funicular:

 

After a brief respite in our hotel room, we headed out again for a great meal at Cafe Savoy (thanks, Diane, for the recommendation), followed by a walk through the New Town section of Prague until we couldn't walk anymore!

 

We went for the Czech food:  Helen had that scary looking meat sampler platter and Judy had  ham brioche with cheese and egg.  We shared the fruit dumplings for dessert--yum!

 We have another full day in Prague tomorrow and are looking forward to more of this magical place!