On to Prague

Monday, April 5 (Part 1):

After two days in and around Copenhagen, on Monday morning, we got up very early and took a taxi to the airport where we boarded a plane and traveled to Prague, in the Czech Republic. Since we had such an early flight, we arrived in Prague relatively early and were at our hotel by about 11:00 a.m. That meant that we had much of the day left to begin our sightseeing in this beautiful old city.

Prague is a large city, and it is relatively unique within eastern Europe because it escaped much damage during World War II. Consequently, many of the old, old buildings in this city have been preserved. As we drove from the airport

into the city, it struck me as very modern and cosmopolitan, and I began to wonder where the old parts of the city really were. And then I saw it. The Castle rose up on the landscape. It sits on a hill and looks down on the Vltava River, on the opposite of which is the "Old Town" and "Jewish Quarter."

The Castle complex is really something. It's so old!!! And it's huge. And it looks just the way you would expect it to look. But the way it dominants the landscape is what is perhaps most remarkable about it.

Our taxi drove us to within about two blocks of our hotel -- which was in "Old Town." We only got that far because Old Town is a no-driving zone, which is kind of nice. So we set out from our taxi with our suitcases in town and started to make our way to find our hotel. When we found it, we were delighted. I booked this hotel on the internet, and I knew very

little about it except that it was in Old Town and near the town square. Well, it wasn't just near the town square. It was directly ON the town square. The picture here shows our hotel as seen from the very top of the Town Hall. It's the yellow building in the center, and our room was the one with the two windows on the top floor.

We were staying at the Grand Prague Hotel. It was very nice. And it was located directly across from the Old Town Hall. And then it got even better. Our room was on the third floor (the top floor), in the front (facing the town square) and directly across from the astronomical clock! What a coup! We were very pleased.