Prague - the First Trip May 13, 2013

Pretty cool Panorama, huh?  Eventually I'll get rid of the uneven borders.

Prague - 
Everyone I know, who has seen Prague, has been captivated by its charm.  Between our two trips, we spent almost a week in Prague or the surrounding area.   I am sure we only scratched the surface, but we did see all the usual tourist spots.  We marveled at the views from Prague Castle, we sampled Trdelnik, twice.  [It's essentially a cinnamon roll in granulated sugar, not icing.  Very, very good.]
We walked all over Old Town, taking photos of the beautiful picture-perfect scenes from every angle imaginable.  We spent an hour on the Charles Bridge alone! We also crossed the lovely but less well known Czech Bridge, the next bridge north of the Charles Bridge.

Our first trip, Essence of the Elbe, began in Prague.  After arrival day, we had another day and a half in Prague.  In the morning of Day 1, we had a bit of a bus drive around town, then took a walking tour not repeated in our next visit to Prague!  We started on the west bank of the Vitava River, walked up through a nice park to an outdoor exhibit at the Kampa Museum.  It was odd, to say the least.




We continued walking north through the Mala Strana, and finally arrived at the west end of the Charles Bridge.   We took our time on the bridge, since the weather was mostly sunny and there were so many great photo spots.    We wound up near Old Town.  From this point on, we saw the same stuff on both trips.  Both times we had a walking tour into the Stare Mesto, during which a local guide gave us a lot of information, I'm sure, but my senses were in full overload from the sights around me, I don't think I heard a word she said.  I certainly don''t remember anything.  We were dismissed for "free time" (including finding our own lunch), at the Astronomical Clock.

The afternoon was "at leisure"in Prague.  This means Grand Circle was running an optional tour, and those not participating got an afternoon "at leisure'.  Today's Optional was a tour of the Jewish places of note in Prague.  We didn't do it.

My husband, ever frugal, pointed out the old Jewish cemetery on the map and said "we can walk there ourselves" and so we did.  Took a couple of pictures on the street, peeked in at the cemetery itself, with caskets and headstones all askew.  We did the Great Rivers of Europe tour last year, and we got sort of Nazi-Jewish'd out.  Having just come from Auschwitz we were looking for something more upbeat! 

So we spent an enjoyable afternoon on our own, wandering about Prague.  Prague Castle was on tap for the morning, before we departed for Dresden and our riverboat, the MS Allegro.

Next Up:  Prague Castle