Good Ole' Prague

The morning after we arrived in Prague we headed out to catch the free walking tour offered by the same company as all the other tours we have taken. This tour was led by Ben, this is the third city that he has been a guide in.

 

Our first stop was the Astronomical Clock in the Old Town Square. The clock is famous not only because it chimes every hour but also because it has moving statues. When this clock was built the moving parts were very advanced, although now it’s pretty lame. There was a huge crowd around it so Ben had a plan for all of us to start cheering and clapping as soon as the clock stopped moving to try and get the whole crowd to cheer with us. This was funny because the clock really wasn’t that cool so everyone was confused to why we were cheering.

Our next stop was St. James Church where legend goes a thief tried to steal a necklace on the statue of the Virgin Mary. The statue came to life and grabbed the thief’s hand. The clergymen found him the next day, they decided that this was a miracle and could not damage the statue so they cut off his arm instead. To this day the arm of the thief hangs from the ceiling of the church.

To illustrate the story, Ben picked two people from the tour to play the Virgin and the thief, Stasia was picked to play the thief and had to reenact the story in front of everyone.

 

We also saw the Charles Bridge, the oldest bridge in Prague, was built by King Charles to withstand the floods.

After the tour we headed up to the Prague Castle, the oldest castle in the world! The view of the city from the Castle was so beautiful.

The next day we planned to visit the Old Jewish Cemetery and the Powder Tower. The cemetery contains almost 12,000 tombstones within a square block although the number of people buried there is believed to be much greater. The cemetery dates between 1439- 1786, during this time this was the only land the Jewish people were given to bury their dead. Walking through the crowded piles of tombstones was eerie and disturbing.

The Powder Tour was built 1475 to replace the old gate of Prague. The tower earned its name because it was used to store gunpowder. To get to the top of the tower we had to climb a steep spiral staircase. Today the upper gallery offers a beautiful view of the city center and Prague Castle.

Jessy’s wheel broke on her bag on the way to find our hotel. The streets are all cobblestone and very bumpy. We went back to find the wheel and she tried to reattach it but it was still loose. So on our long journey to the train station to leave Prague Jessy had to carry her forty pound backpack on her back.