How will I ever decide what to do...too many options

We arrived in Prague in the early afternoon. We dropped off our backpacks at our apts. We had 2 hours to kill before we had to meet George, our tour guide. I just took off wandering around...trying to get a feel for the place. Prague is a big place. Lots of winding streets and alleyways to meander. One has to be carefeul as since communism had ended, Prague has become a place for pickpocketers. Even the subway system has signs warning about the pickpocketers. I kept my money seucre. if someone was going to take my money, then they have to take my pants as well. I always tie my money wallet to my belt loop. As I've said before, either someone is going to get my money and/or I"m having a good time. Hee.

We met George, from Prague, at 4:00 p.m. on our first day for a 2 hour tour. He gave us great background informaiton, that I shared in my last journal entry. He also gave us a good introduction of what is located where. After our tour, we went to a restaurant that Ashley (tour guide) knew about. It was fabulous. I had th espeicality, pork knee. It came out on a little hanging grill. It looked huge. It was so good. Pork, cabbage and saukerkraut are th especialities in eastern europe and it tastes so good. That plus a large beer only cost me $7.00 or something. crazy. We then walked Ashley back to her apt as she is housed on the opposite side of Prague than us. It gave Stephen, Freda and I a chance to see other parts of prague. stephen and i went out for a beer. we practically walked up to the prague castle before we found a cute little pub. beer cost 50 cents. how cheap is that?

I laughed and laughed and laughed at the marionette show

The second day, Freda, Ashley and I took a train to Kunta Hora. What a cute little village about 1 hour from Prague. We first went to the bone church. wild....i've never seen anything like it. years ago, the cemetery around the bone church was only for familes. Often, 5-6 familey members were buired in one burial plot. when the cemetery ran out of room, they begin to stack the bodies outside the church. anyways, some little man decided that he's take the bones, disinfect them and use them to decorateh the insie of the church. today, there are over 40,000 people and their bones used inside. bones stacked in pryamids, making shields and family crest, and the most interesting, a chandelier made out of every bone of the body plus lots of skulls. i can't decsribe the church. it really freaks out some folks....but hey..i'm all aobut new adventures. i took some photos so i'll have to show them to you.

we tthen walked to town, about a 20 minute walk, and had a hot chocolate. we wandered around th little town, it's a unesco world heritiage site. then headed up to st. barbara's cathedra. unfortunately, it' closed on mondays. too bad. the outside reminded me of the notre dame cathedral in paris. took train back to prague in the early afternoon.

that afternoon, freda and i walked up to the prague castle. good little hike to get up there. the place is huge. the presidetn's office is located there. saw the changing of the guards. meandered around all nooks and crannies of the catsle for about 2 hours, including th egardens. we didnt' pay to go inside any of the castle..but you can see plenty for free, including the cathedral, without paying.the castle is the largest in czech republic. frank kafka once lived and/or worked at part of the castle.

after the castle, we meandered the quaint streets among the different embassies and worked our way to petrin, a smaller version of the eiffel tower. it was quite a hike jsut to get to it. then, we plannned to take the funicular (angela, that's the f train) back down to the main part of town. wouldn't you know, that day, they shut it down for 4 months for renovation. so, we wandered down many little paths until eventually we came back to the river.we crossed the bridge (one of many in prague) and walked by the national theatre. beautiful building. then, down to the fred and ginger building. it looks like the 2 buildings are dancing. back across town to the embassy district to find a restaurant that ashely recommended. i had goulash. it was ok...nothing like we'd think of goulash...but at this point, i was glad to be off my feet after walking around prague for 5 hours. walked freda back to the apt as she was lost and couldnt' figure out how to get the 4 blocks back home. i then headed back to town and and ended up buying a ticket to a marionette theater (puppet show) featuirng don giovanni (by mozart). it was awesome. they did a great job with the puppets and put quite a bit of humor in it. i laughed and luaghed and laughed. as i headed back to the apt, i ran into stephen. we went to a bar and surprise, had a beer. back to the apt around 11:30 p.m.

on our 3rd and final day, i took advantage of the opportunity to sleep in a bit. took a bath (most hotels we stay in only have baths) and then hand washed my clothes and hung them up to dry. then, i repacked my bags a bit and reorganized them. headed out to do some exploring.

went to a sigmund freud exhibition. then, waited to hear the astronomical clock tick on the hour. visited the main cathedrals. headed to the jewish district to meander around. wanted to go into the pinkas synogauge (documents from young children who were in some concentration camps) but couldn't since I had to buy a ticket for all jewish sites and i wasn't interested in that. did go by the jewish cemetry that is just packed full of people. walked around the old square and old town and then headed to wenceleas square and new town. went to the communism musuem (see previous journal entry). then, down to the national theatre (closed) and the opera. the most beautiful building was the municipal building. gorgeous art deco. poked around in some shops. didn't really buy  much...but it was interesting to see all of these mall stores and mcdonalds and tgi fridays restaurants.

early evening, i purchased a ticket to go to a concert in a baroque libaray hall. a czech lady singing top songs from broadway shows. she sang some in english and others in czech. a little guy played a saxophone in the background. beautiful. i found myself singing along.

one could go to so many concerts in prague....every place has a concert of some sort. i just missed a free concert in one of the cathedrals by a college group from south carolina. can't recall the college name but they were from irmo, sc. not sure where that is. the choir director was a graduate from wingate university though. bought a kebap and a czech pasty (baked dough rolled in cinnamon and sugar...yummy) for dinner.

that night, i went back to the apt about 10:30 p.m. i knew we'd have an early morning the next day so needed to get to bed early.

prague..a great place. would love to bring some moc students and/or others to show it off to. it's an amazing place.

well...check out my next trip journal entry about hiking the aldsrapch rocks in telipce, czech republic.

adventure on,

julie