Prague Day 2

Caution, this is written under influence of Czech beer.

Today is a big day for our walking legs. Yesterday we walked 14.3km with one walking tour. Today we have two walking tours. The first is the Prague Castle walking tour then the Prague Architecture tour.
We woke at 530am and decided to see the Charles Bridge at sunrise. We were very glad we did as the bridge was not busy around 6am with just 6- 10 people.
We asked a couple to take our photo on the bridge lo and behold, they came from Geraldton. What are the chances.... Another surprise at the bridge was a photoshoot sans coverings. As she was prancing and posing around the best vantage points, and photo bombing us.
We were also treated to a kaleidoscope of colours of the sky as the sun rose against the beautiful architecture of Old Town.
On our way back to the accommodation for muesli breakfast, we chanced on a garden called Vojanovy Sady. Through the gates were a beautiful orchard of pears and apples trees, and other old trees. Felt like the garden of Eden, with an apple tree with the forbidden fruit.

On our way to the first walking tour of Prague Castle, we passed a butcher shop with a window counter to stand at for a quick meal. We decided to buy lunch of rolls with something akin to a meatball and a piece of fried chicken to go in it for lunch at the castle. In the display were some beautiful open sandwiches with invitations which would have been rude to ignore. We had the sandwiches at the counter, and succumbed to soup after. As the day developed, we were very glad for the extra calories.

Prague Castle walking tour provided some information that we don't think we'd have otherwise known. She found the perfect corner for us to watch the elaborate ceremony of the changing of the guard with accompanying band. After the tour and very quick lunch of our rolls with butcher meat, we ran around the castle stupid, like 2 crazy ducks, visiting 4 paid sights of the castle with tickets that we bought from Perth. Note that Prague Castle is the largest complex in the world.
In the photos is the tomb of Saint John of Nepomuk , one of the top saints of the Czech Republic. He was a confessor to the Queen of Bohemia and that he refused to reveal to the King what she told him in confession. The King, enraged, had John tortured and thrown from the Charles Bridge in chains. There are two statues dedicated to St John of Nepomuk on the Charles Bridge.

It was a very quick walk back downhill to Old Town Square to commence a very detailed and full of informative Architecture Tour with only a 10 minute rest. As it was the second tour, my mind was too full to absorb all the information. There was something about Romanesque buildings changing to gothic then baroque, rococo, manarism, art nouveau, cubist, art deco, and functionalist. There was neo, post, pre, as prefixes between some of these architectural eras. Jason our guide tried his best to help us identify and differentiate between each era, and it just blew our minds!
We finished our day with a great meal at Lokal, a pub with a basement where we had our meal in the Romanesque section of the building. We also had a rezané beer which is a kozel black beer floating on top of a pilsner. So exhausted were we that we forgot to say "small" when we ordered the beer. A stein appeared. Karsal was so good, we had another small glass.

Total distance walked was 19.7km.Read more