In the morning we were bussed to Prague Castle, but unfortunately there was no changing of the guard which is impressive at the castle.

We then walked to St Vitus Cathedral. Then we walked back to Old Town to leisurely stroll the Christmas market. The Czech Republic is known for good beer so naturally we went in search of craft beer.At dinner time we decided to eat at one of the many food stalls in the market. I’ll was cold but we wouldn’t have this opportunity again. The street food is delicious.Finally we returned to the hotel to prepare for another another day of travel to get to Dresden.

We got up early so we could get breakfast and be on the road for another travel day. One problem is none of us can stay awake on the bus. We all nap intermittently. We had a stop just before the Czech border and it was a world of high finance as we pooled our money to spend our last few Polish pennies. It was a success! Onward we went, crossed the border into the Czech Republic and then to Kutna Hors where the bone church is located. I had been here before but it was amazing to see the expressions on everyone face as they entered. For those who don’t know the entire chapel is decorated with human bones. It is beautiful and creepy at the same time.We left Kutna Hora and drove on to Prague. We arrived later than expected so we just waited for dinner. After dinner we decided to go to the Christmas Market. The hotel is in a great location- we can walk to everything. I was disappointed in the Christmas Market. It is mostly good with very few craft booths. We wanted to get some mulled wine so we could collect the cups as souvenirs, but it was served in plain paper cups. However it did snow a little bit while we were there. OlEarly tomorrow there is a tour of Prague then Brian and I are on our own for the rest of the day.

Time is flying by. It is hard to keep track of what the date is let alone the day. Apparently this is common because people we talk to who have been traveling for several weeks have the same problem. Today we traveled about an hour outside if Prague to see kutná hora – the town where the bone church is. It is really creepy – you will see why when you look at the pics. Apparently so many people died during the plague they did not have enough graves for all of them – so they gathered the bones and put them in this church. The chandelier is made of every bone in the human body. As I said creepy but in a way beautiful.

We then went to St Katherine’s church. It was really hot here today so we did not walk for miles. Getting heat stroke is not in the itinerary. We then missed the bus to the next church in town so we took a cab. The church we had to see was St. Barbara- guess why we had to see it. My church is very nice!

I have my more pics on my camera. We then walked to the bus station so we could get the train back to Prague. The bus was hot, but the train was a furnace. Everyone looked beat. We were all sweating and there was very little air flow. When we got to Prague we got some cold drinks and sat in the train station to cool off. Then we decided to find the vegetarian restaurant we wanted to eat at last night. Well, we walked around Old town and couldn’t find it. For all we know it may have gone out of business. We opted for an Indian restaurant. Yes, I know -Indian food in Prague! I had chicken in creamy spinach and Marsha had mushroom and pea curry. Of course the food was great and spicy but delicious. We heard the couple at the next table mention Rick Steve’s ate at this restaurant. So I asked them how they knew about this. They told us Rick Steves was here last week filming for his show. The couple lives in Miami and are originally from London. They have also been traveling for several weeks and get cities confused.

We left the restaurant and headed for the hotel. As we turned the final corner walking to our hotel there was a fireworks display over the Old City. Since the hotel is high on a hill we had a great view.
Thanks for all the comments. Again we love hearing from everyone. It is impossible to answer everyone individually since again it is 11pm when I am writing this and we are usually very tired and I don’t always have access to WIFI. I hope you all are enjoying the trip with us. Oops, I almost forgot – get out your maps – tomorrow we are headed to Bratislava.

Today we took the subway to Prague Castle. It is a large compound with a palace, several churches, museums and historical houses. After we purchased our tickets we went outside to plan how we would see everything. Just by luck we were just in time to see the changing of the guard.

We spent the entire day there and still did not see everything. In some areas we we not allowed to take pics, but I took a lot of pics with my camera when I was allowed to. It was very hot here today. We thought we were in Florida in July. I still think Prague is a most beautiful city. The castle was great and our appreciation of this place could not be diminished by the heat.
When we were walking down the hill (mountain) from the castle we stumbled upon the Oldest Medieval Bar in Prague. We stopped in for a cold beer- we were hot and thirsty- and ordered a cheese plate appetizer. You can see from the pic how much cheese there was on the plate plus pickles and hot peppers and a loaf of bread. We couldn’t even finish the cheese. We met three young men from Australia who are also touring Europe. It is fun and informative to get their impressions of places we haven’t been yet.

We continued down the hill into the Old City. Our plan was to have dinner at an Indian vegetarian restaurant, but neither of us was very hungry. We were just hot and thirsty. We watched the astronomical clock strike on the hour and headed to the subway. On our way we stopped into a Cuban restaurant/bar for a cold drink. I think water with ice was the most expensive item on the menu. See pic of Marsha drinking again. Also our hotel is not air conditioned. We continued to the subway and I took a pic of one of the escalators so you can see how long they are. We have to take three if these from the Old Town to get to our hotel because our hotel is up in the hills. It is only 11pm but we have another busy day tomorrow.

Forgot to add pic of cheese plate.

I took a picture of the departing train schedule in Krakow. We had to figure out which train was ours and what track. We already figured it was not the arrival schedule.

We had a lower bunk on the train and both of us slept like babies. We arrived in Prague (Praha) about 8am. We went to an ATM to get Krona so we could buy subway tickets. We accomplished that and got to our hotel. They were kind enough to let us check in that early and let us eat breakfast there. The had mixed veggies -peas, corn and carrots on the breakfast buffet. We took our luggage to our room and headed for town. We did not know how far the Old City was so we walked-big mistake. It was at least 4-5 km and it was hot. It is supposed to be near 100 degrees tomorrow. At least our walk was all down hill. I have a pic from our hotel at night that us not very clear but should give the general idea of how large Prague is. Prague is also very beautiful-every building is pretty and of course there is a river running thru town. The whole town is just gorgeous. I took a lot of pics on the camera. We attended an organ concert at St Katherine’s church that was excellent. After the concert we walked around some more. There are pics of the Old Town and Astronomical Clock. We think we really have walked across Europe.

Then came time for the menu review and restaurant search. We of course wanted Czech food. My appetizer was “lard with lard cinders”. I had to see what it was and it was good. I had pork with potato and bread dumplings and white cabbage ( sauerkraut ). Marsha had potato pancakes, pickles and a salad with goat cheese. Of course it was way too much food. There are very few American tourists a here and all the Europeans eat all of the food on their plates. We don’t know how they do it. Again it is late and we definitely need our beauty sleep.