Friday, June 11, 2010

Classic


I had a classic day in Prague. Started out in the morning at Prague Castle, the largest castle complex in the world, according to Lonely Planet. I won’t bore you too much with details – I believe I am the last person to get to Prague, which is kind of why I had to do it by myself! Speaking of traveling by oneself, one of the downsides is not having another person tell you when you have dropped something (castle admission ticket), or have something stuck to your clothes (both of which happened to me today).

I found the best part of Prague Castle to be the Royal Gardens, with the huge shade trees, especially the horse chestnut (which we don’t get in California). I got to the castle early, before the crowds - which surprisingly didn’t get that bad, but I think it is still early in the season. After the castle, I wandered the streets to the astronomical clock, and climbed the Old Town clock tower, ate ice cream, and looked in the windows of shops along the pedestrian shopping streets.

Given the large number of tourists in Prague, most people I have run into speak at least a little English, which is a great relief as I have only managed to master “hello” in Czech.

Tomorrow is the famous Charles Bridge, the Franz Kafka museum and seeing Verdi’s Aida at the State Opera.

2 comments:

SPOT et al said...

Okay--you are not the last person to visit Prague--I will be. Please find out what prompted Kafka to write "Investigations of a Dog".
And here's a related factoid: the La Jolla Lodge where we had our first SPOT semi-adoption event is owned by Egon Kafka, K's grandson.
Ha ha
Have FUN we miss you!
Kris and the other Spotties

Elizabeth said...

Hi Kris and the Spotties! One of the things I learned from the museum is that Franz Kafka had no children (one alleged son died at age 6), so Egon is someone else's grandson. Maybe a distant cousin? He had no brothers.