Prague, Czech Republic
Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Today is our “Free Tour of Prague” day so we awoke, showered and scurried out in time, we hoped, to grab a bite to eat before the start of the tour. We ordered a simple breakfast in an Italian Cafe, but after 20 minutes it still hadn’t arrived, so we abandoned the place and joined the beginnings of the tour. The guide, Ashley, directed us first to the famous Astronomical Clock of Prague, and told us to watch that since it was due to strike at 9:00am and then come back and the tour proper would begin.

Well, this famous clock is reputedly Prague’s #1 attraction and to say we were underwhelmed would be an exaggeration. It was, not to put too finer point on it, pathetic ! Anyway, the tour started properly and the first stop was back at the Clock. Ashley explained how it displayed lots of detailed information and why it was the pride of Prague 600 years ago, but did admit that it has been voted the 2nd most over-rated attraction in Europe, only being beaten by The Little Mermaid!

We moved on, following him around the back street of Prague ( which are nearly all cobbled ) and seeing the important places of interest on this side of the river. He told a good story and was highly entertaining. If you only have a limited time in a city these tours are an excellent way to learn a lot and see a lot in a short space of time. Interestingly, in Berlin the bicycle reigned supreme but in Prague, even though it is basically flat and seemingly perfect cycling country the cobbled streets prove, we think, too much of a barrier to comfortable cycling. The most common method of sightseeing, other than walking, is …wait for it, wait for it…. The Segway. There are dozens of them milling around everywhere, zipping hither and thither and generally looking a lot more fun than plodding along on weary feet !

After the tour we grabbed some lunch in an art gallery cafe and then had a self guided ( that means me and a badly folded map ) tour of some of the other famous parts of Prague. The girls soon tired of my map reading skills and decided that we were to go to the Hard Rock Cafe so Luce could add to her extensive T-shirt collection ( Berlin, London, Rome, Budapest to name just a few ) anyway, she is now the proud owner of a Hard Rock Cafe shot glass, thereby killing two collecting birds with one metaphorical stone.

Note for Robin : The stools in the Jewish Museum were just that, stools, for use in the education rooms. I just liked them because of the very simple design, the varying veneers and the linking mechanism – which cannot be seen from the photos. They were nothing special 🙂

Belinda and Lucia had a 25 minute foot massage curtesy of a thousand little fishes. They sat with their feet in a fish tank and let a myriad of tiny fish nibble at the dry and dead skin. It supposedly cleans and refreshes the feet, so I left them to it and had a beer next door.

We returned, tired, to the apartment having booked another tour tomorrow of the Cathedral and Castle. The meal this evening was Italian in a rather nice, busy place away from the main square. The restaurant next door, which to all intents and purposes looked just as nice as the one we choose, remained steadfastly empty while we were there, only getting their first customers as we left. I wonder why some get full and others stay empty – maybe it is a cascade effect where people follow everyone, assuming that it must be good food if everyone else is there – wish we had gone to the empty restaurant now !

It has clouded over and rain is threatened tonight but for the moment it is still very hot and very humid. We are sitting in our apartment with the windows open listening to the sounds and music from the square. Tomorrow we tour the castle and then return home .. 🙁