Easter Monday in Prague

Monday, April 5, 2010 (Part 2):

Our sightseeing in Prague got off to a rather rocky start. It had been our plan to start out by seeing several churches in the area of the Town Square and then to tour the Jewish Quarter. Well, you know what they say about "best laid plans." We were foiled by the fact that Easter Monday is a holiday in much of Europe. Consequently, things were CLOSED. We walked up to four different churches and

could not get in to any one of them. We also found the Jewish Quarter to be closed -- something to do with the Passover holidays being longer than we thought they were.

And so, we started heading for the Castle. To get from Old Town to the Castle (which is an area called Hradcany), we had to walk over the Charles Bridge. This is a great Bridge that is limited to pedestrian traffic and is lined with dozens of really interesting statues. The Bridge is fully of activity, including musicians (usually several different groups), dancers, caricaturists and street vendors. It's a fun place.

Once getting to the other side of the river, and before walking to the Castle, we detoured to the Wallenstein Palace. We were unable to get inside the Palace (built in the 16th century and today used as the home to the Czech Senate, but the gardens were open.

One of the focal points of the Wallenstein gardens is an area call the "grotesquery" which consists of two walls (maybe 40 feet tall) built into a corner that were built to imitate a limestone cave, covered with

stalactites. And tucked into the nooks and crannies of these walls are a wide variety of animals and grotesque faces and other items. The fun of the wall is to try to pick out these "hidden" items.

Also in this garden, we enjoyed walking around a pretty reflecting pool (with a statue of Hercules in the center), and we encountered several peacocks!