Sunday, May 9, 2010

European Trip 34

Okay, here are my first set of photos from Prague, starting with the view from our hotel room window. The street below is Jecna (with a couple diacritics I can't make on my keyboard).

After settling in, Ivan took us on a quick evening walk around the neighborhood. This is Wenceslas Square; the big domed building at the south end of the square is a history museum (which I unfortunately did not get a chance to visit-- too many other things to do).

Wenceslas Square was busy every time we passed through (it was kind of the crossroads for our various tours and teh main rendezvous for when we divided up). It is a very commercial place with lots of stores, hotels and restaurants.

This is the "new" town hall (dating from the 14th Century AD), which has a really cool clock (pictures of that later). It was Easter week when we were there, and there was a festival, so this square was packed too, with lots of stalls and merchants selling crafts and snacks (though for all I know, they are there year round).

Here you can see how busy it was-- a Monday night yet everyone was out and about, which is one of the things I like best about big cities. There's something to do all the time, even if it's just people-watching.

Here's the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn at the other end of the square from the new town hall. I think a big part of the positive impression I had of Prague was shaped by wandering around a bit this first night. Something about the lights, the architecture, and the crowds really made it seem quite special.

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