The Iron Curtin Pulled Back

As I walked around the city of Prague, it continued to impress me that I was traveling in a former Soviet Client State. The last time I was in Europe, these guys were the enemy – but not any more! Everywhere Vicki & I traveled we were met with friendly faces and beautiful sights.

As in most of the cities we traveled to we started the day with a tour after finding our departure train station and stashing our bags in a locker. Tours cost us a few bucks but it’s a great way to find your way around a strange place – and boy, Prague is as different to get around in as they come. Lots of 1 block streets and others that meander around the city changing names every hundred meters! Very interesting but confusing to move around in!

I was shooting from inside a bus again so most of the pictures didn’t come out, but here’s one good one! Here we are riding down Vaclavske Namestri (Wenceslas Square). It is named for Czech ruler and patron St. Wenceslas (Vaclav). He’s the guy on the horse at the end of the square, in front of the banner on the National Museum in the background:

This is really more of a boulevard than a square but it is very significant in Czech history and is where all the major political events have happened for the last century: The 1918 declaration of the new Czechoslovak state, the 1939 invasion of Hitler’s troops, the 1968 arrival of Soviet tanks, the 1969 immolation of Jan Palach in protest of that Soviet occupation and the 1989 “Velvet Revolution” which was part of the overall fall of Communism.

We also stopped at the Charles Bridge, and here’s the entrance:

The building is original, but the light colored statues are replicas – the originals were taken away to prevent any more damage due to pollution. As you cross the bridge there are statues about every 50 ft., most are very discolored due to the pollution.

Below is the church across the street from the Charles bridge. Notice the darker colored statues that are original next to some light colored replicas.

This next picture was taken from the Charles Bridge looking over the Vltava River up toward Prague Castle and St Vitus Cathedral – more about those later!

Now here are a few more shots of this beautiful city that I’m going to include but not try to describe:

Our tour ended up by walking thru Prague castle, which is not really a castle as you would normally expect. This is a walled section of the city where the King resided beginning in the 9th century and now the government of the Czech Republic operates from there. We arrived just in time to see the changing of the guards at the front gate. The guards are changed every hour and similar to the guards in front of Buckingham Palace in London, they cannot move a muscle while standing guard unless a security situation presents itself or if somebody touches them! While we were there several young people tried to get them to react but they were very disciplined and didn’t move a bit!

This is the new front entrance to the St Vitus Cathedral. It was begun in the 14th Century but construction continued until 1929!

Here’s the top half of the picture above:

It really is a grand and imposing structure! Here’s a side view:

Everything to the left of the center tower was part of the new construction that wasn’t completed until 1929. This tower used to be the main entrance. Our guide said it’s still not completed but that the government decided to not work on it any more! ;-)

Here’s Vicki & I at the ramparts of the castle looking over the city skyline:

Vicki was amazed how every house seemed to have the same roof in this picture:

Prague is also called the “City of Spires” and you can see it from this picture:

Also inside the castle is the Chapel of St. George, you know, the guy that slew the dragon to save the damsel in distress. Well here I am in front of a statue of him doing that deed:

Our guide said that back when St. George did this, he presented the head of the dragon to King Charles, the Czech ruler, who at the time was the Holy Roman Emperor. She also said that in modern times scientists examined this artifact and it was actually a crocodile head!

At this point we finally were able to join up with Voita and Marek – here’s Vicki with them in front of the cathedral:

What great hosts! Voita was a tourguide while in college and he took us all over the city and gave us a personal tour of areas that tourists don’t generally get to see. We ended up at this beautiful park overlooking the city from the bank of the Vltava, opposite the castle.

We also went by Marek’s bar in old Prague, Al Capone’s:

At this point Voita had to leave us as he was taking his wife and son on holiday to Spain and they had to fly at 9PM. But Marek invited us to a traditional Czech dinner at his new
restaurant called Sokool Bar and Restaurant. Vicki had a wonderful fish fillet cooked with onions and potatoes over a bed of spinach and I had grilled sirloin steak medallions in cream sauce with potato dumplings. Marek’s partner in this restaurant is an exceptional chef that has run the kitchens in several 5 star establishments before they started this venture. Marek said he does the business end and the chef does the cooking! Here’s a picture of the inside:

Marek decorated SoKool himself and even built all the shelves behind the bar. It was recently selected to be the location for a TV commercial that’s running across the country!

Unfortunately, time grew short and we had to leave Prague before we wanted to. Marek walked with us to the station so we could catch our overnight train to Munich. This really is a city that leaves you wanting to return – and we will!