Prague

Oh dear, I had virtually no sleep and a migraine all night, my head and neck were killing me. It was all I could do to get up in the morning, and I felt a little nauseous too. I could barely open my eyes with the light. I forced myself to get up, and went downstairs with David to breakfast where I promptly burst into tears when Jan and Steve looked at me. I managed to eat some slices of melon. But, a miracle...! All I really fancied was a cup of coffee, which perked me up (pardon the pun) no end. I took a few steps out on the street in the fresh air and I couldn't believe it - my headache completely disappeared within 15 minutes. I have no idea how that worked, but I sure was relieved!

So, we were ready for Tereza at 9 am when she met us outside our hotel. She was very charming and spoke excellent English. She took us down through the Little Quarter, pointing out one or two sights we had walked past previously but not taken much notice of. She lead us back across Charles Bridge and told us some very interesting historical stories and background about the city, the country, and its people. One of the statues on the bridge is of Saint John of Nepomuk, who was a 14th century priest to whom the Queen confessed all her sins. According to 17th century legend, the king believed his wife was having an affair, and wanted to know what she had told Father John. He refused to tell, so he was tortured and then killed by being tossed off the bridge.

Tereza guided us through the courtyard of the Klementium (a Jesuit monastery and school, now the Czech National Library, holding many very old books) and then to one part of the Jewish Quarter, where we saw the outside of the Maisel museum we had missed the day before. Maisel, the wealthy Jewish financier of a 16th century Habsburg King, and built this as a private Synagogue. In WWII, it served as a warehouse for the accumulated treasures of decimated Jewish communities, a collection that Hitler planned to use for his "Museum of the Extinct Human Race".

Then we found ourselves in Old Town. Tereza showed us one building that had housed Hitler's SS. They discovered that the statues of musicians on their roof included one of the musician, Mendelson - a Jew. But they didn't know which was the one that needed to be removed. Someone thought they knew, and a statue was removed. Well, it turns out they had removed the statue of Hitler's favourite German composer, Wagner!

Soon we arrived in Old Town Square with its 13th century Town Hall and amazing Astronomical Clock. With revolving discs, celestial symbols and sweeping hands, I don't think anyone would be able to understand how to use this clock. However, 500 years ago, one very clever man created it. Sadly for this man, Tereza told us that the town was worried he would leave and build a similar clock elsewhere, even though he was old, so they blinded him! I hate to think how they would have done such a thing in those days, to the man who had made them so proud. But he got back at them by feeling his way to the mechanism and breaking it so it wouldn't work... until someone else was able to work it out 500 years later. We were there to see the clock chime on the hour, which is heralded by Death (a skeleton) pulling a cord and ringing the bell. Then the windows at the top open and the 12 apostles parade by, then the rooster crows and a man plays the bugle from the top of the tower. The crowd was huge to watch this. And, we were on the alert for pick-pockets in this area...

In front of the Hall, 27 white crosses are painted on the paving. These mark the spot where the 27 Protestant nobles who had defrenestrated the two Catholics and their Scribe, were beheaded in 1622. The execution ended Czech independence for 300 years, until 1918.


As we walked towards New Town (which is also very old, but just newer than Old Town), Tereza explained and showed the many different architectural styles represented in the Old Town Square, and along the streets where we were walking. She took us past Tyn Church and through the Ungelt Courtyard behind it, where foreign merchants used to have to stay in quarantine for three weeks, and pay their taxes before they could sell goods in the markets. On we walked, past the Powder Tower towards New Town's famous Wenceslas Square.

Wenceslas Square is more of a boulevard than a square. It is lined with a mix of old and new buildings, and lots of modern shops and restaurants, ending at the top with the National Museum and the grand St Wenceslas Statue. In November 1989 this huge square was filled every evening with over 300,000 people hoping for the end of communist rule, and jingling their keys in solidarity. Instead of being violently crushed, this peaceful demonstration became known as the "Velvet Revolution", and indeed the end of communist rule, resulting in the election of a president of free Czechosolavkia.

At this point, our excellent 3 hour tour with Tereza was over, and we needed to find some lunch. With me being the awkward one to feed, we settled on McDonalds (fries for me)! After which Jan and Steve continued browsing the shops, and David and I strolled back via a different route and over the Most Legh Bridge next to the Charles Bridge. It was a very pleasant walk on a lovely, hot, sunny day.

Back in the Little Town Quarter, we popped into a music shop that Tereza had earlier pointed out, then stopped for a coffee/beers in a small cafe's tiny beer garden near our hotel.

A couple of hours later, after a good rest, we caught up with the Barrows and decided to have dinner in another different restaurant. Remembering the gorgeous pork knuckle meal I'd had in Budapest, Steve and I ordered the same here, thinking it would be nice to have a last traditional Czech meal. Well, what a mistake! YUCK! We were both shocked by the HUGE, whatever it was cut of pork delivered to our table - one each. All the other customers were watching too. It was DISGUSTING to look at (a complete mass of gelatinized pork fat covering it) and I could only eat about a third of the meat, and Steve about 60% of his. We both felt sick. I finished my mashed potato and veges and that was it, the worst meal in our lives! I got a couple of scoops of icecream on the way back, to try and cleanse the taste and the thought of it from my mouth and mind. For once I didn't have my camera with me, and decided not to take a photo with my iPhone either, as I'd probably feel sick if I looked at such a graphic photo of it in the future. It certainly gave Steve and I a horror story to laugh about in future!