Saturday, November 1st, Prague

Our first day in Prague we walked around the Old Town area, and then Josefov, which is the Jewish Quarter. Josefov was really really quiet since it was Sabbath, but otherwise there were people every where. It was actually bright and sunny out, although still cold. By the afternoon we made our way over to Charles Bridge, which is really pretty and leads towards the Prague castle. We stopped to look at the John Lennon Memorial Wall, and had coffee and cake at the John & George cafe.

That night we went to the Spanish Synagogue for traditional Yiddish songs, which was really festive and the lead singer was really great to watch. The Spanish Synagogues is really beautiful and ornate, certainly one of the most beautiful synagogues I've been to.

This is the street leading up to our hotel, which is on the left side at the end of the street. The hotel was really nice, the Cloister Inn.




I honestly don't know the name of this church, but we stopped inside it on our walk through Old Town.


This is the Old Town Square. At the far end is the Tyn Cathedral, which we all felt looked like the Disney castle. Closer to us is the Astronomical Clock, and every hour when it rings the twelve Apostles rotate through it. At each hour there were massive crowds of people, so it was really hard to get close to it.






This statue is at the center of Old Town Square, a memorial to Jan Hus.



Powder Tower


My dad pointed out the reflection on this building, and I think it's just fantastic.




In walking towards Josefov, we walked across a bridge several up from Charles Bridge.




This Kafka statue is right by the Spanish Synagogue.
We finally made it to Josefov, but like I said it was really quiet since it was Saturday. This is the Old New Synagogue, and some of the area around it.





We walked back to Old Town Square for lunch, so here are some more photos if it - in the bright afternoon sun. It was nice enough to sit outside, by heat lamps, with our coats on, to eat lunch.

After lunch we finally headed down to Charles Bridge.





Charles Bridge is adorned with thirty statues of saints and patron saints. There are also many people selling hand made art work, jewelry, and other souvenirs. We went as the sun was setting, so there weren't as many people there, and my photos of the statues didn't turn out as good. I really love how there are pigeons hanging out on top of nearly every statue.









From here we went down a set of stairs towards the John Lennon Memorial Wall.











As we walked back across the bridge the moon was out and the sky started to get dark.