Ed and Annette's Excellent European Adventure: Old Town Prague, Czech Republic

Today we ventured to Old Town after a hearty breakfast at the hotel. The trains were noticeably more crowded today, not only the regular commuters but we think tourist season has begun. Just off the Metro stop was a great farmer's market filled with crafts and beautiful fruits, veggies and chocolates. We noticed some of the usual souvenirs but enjoyed seeing the pottery, marionettes and paintings from the locals.

In the Old Town square we were surrounded by grand historical buildings. The Astronomical Clock Tower, the Tyn Church and so many other medieval wonders - it was really quite impressive. As in most large public gathering areas there are street performers and food carts. One in particular caught our eye - the "palacinky" food cart. It gave Bill and I great a trip down memory lane. Our grandmother was an immigrant from Slovakia and had taught us to make palacinky pancakes so of course we had to have one here in the homeland. Delicious!!!

We continued our walk to the Jewish Ghetto but could see just the outside; we were too cheap to pay to go in to the walled complex. (we were still stinging from the poor experience at the Jewish museum in Berlin; see prior blog).

We headed to the Charles bridge which is an elaborately decorated structure. The entrance tower and the numerous statues were so impressive. Craft vendors, artists and tourists filled every inch of this incredible bridge. Seeing the sights of Old Town and Lesser Town from the bridge was pretty amazing. The years of effort and design put into the old buildings makes them seem more intriguing; we hardly ever see anything like it in the US.

Very cold and slightly wet from the drastic change in temperature we sought out a coffee shop. Not knowing exactly where to go we walked for blocks until we finally found a bakery for coffee and pastries. More walking and we found a major shopping area, hit a few stores and then circled back to the Old Town area where we finally ended up for dinner. Our waiter spoke very little english and it was pretty entertaining trying to ask questions; "Beer? light, dark"...ask a question about it..."Beer- light, dark". HAHAHA...can you tell me what a bread dumpling is?..."bread dumpling." (It was basically hot white Wonder bread with no crust.) We ordered by pointing and were pleasantly surprised with the local fare of fried cheese and chili goulash.

Another great day in Prague - a city that has captured our hearts.