Friday, November 18, 2011

Prague Castle

For the afternoon tour of Prague Castle, we met in the Old Town square.. then walked to Charles Bridge, a famous and historic bridge that crosses the Vltava river.  The construction of the bridge began in 1357, under King Charles and was the only means for crossing the river until 1841.  It was considered the most important connection between Prague Castle and the city's Old Town.  We took tram #22 up to the Prague Castle - the palace is considered one of the biggest in the world including St. Vitus Cathedral, Old Royal Palace, Basilica of St. George, Courtyard and "the Golden Lane."  


St. Vitus Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral and is said to symbolizes the Czech spirit, containing tombs and relics of the most important saints and kings.  The Cathedral Facade deserves some devoted time to notice the men dressed in 1920s business suits.  The building of this cathedral began in 1344, construction was stalled by wars and plagues.  Fueled by 19th century Czech nationalism, the church was finished in 1929.  For 400 years a temporary wall sealed off the functional and operational cathedral.  

torture towers

St. Vitus Cathedral

1920s businessmen 

The sights of Prague Castle were incredible, unfortunately it was freezing and windy when we were on our tour. I  spent the afternoon doing more picture taking than listening. So without copying some descriptions from a history book I'll let my pictures do the talking :) 
castle guards 

another view of St. Vitus Cathedral

view from the castle

After the Castle tour Christine and I were concentrated on two things: getting warm and getting something to for dinner. Before leaving Italy we set out some goals for the trip, one including trying traditional foods from whatever country we were in. In France we had madame croquet's, Prague we tried goulash soup in a bread bowl and some Czech beer.


next stop: Vienna!

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