Prague

We checked the luggage at the train station, got something cold to drink and read a little in the Rick Steves book and then bought a map he recommended.  We caught a taxi to the hotel, the hotel Ventana is right on the Old Town Square  and was very nice.  We are a two minute walk from the best square in town with the most sights to see in one area.  We ate dinner at a sidewalk cafe on the edge of the square.  We had brats, ham, scalloped and mashed potatoes and a couple of beers.  It was pretty good, not great but a good hearty meal.  A short walk through the crowded square and into the hotel where we sat in the lobby, read email and surfed the net to catch up on news.  They had some smooth jazz playing, it was nice.  They also have a library to sit in and do the same.

We spent the morning looking at churches in the Old Town Square.  On our way back to the hotel from the morning walk, we sat at a sidewalk cafe and watched a photo shoot of some wedding pictures and ate lunch.  It was one of several wedding shoots we have seen this week, everybody wants their wedding pictures set against these beautiful churches, squares and buildings.  Later in the day we took a tour to Kutna Hora to see the Bone Church and other sights.  The Bone Church was interesting, many thousands of bones arranged in an old church, a little spooky.  The other churches were nice too.  The tour let us off a good ways away from our hotel, we had to walk back.  Just outside of our hotel at the fountain where the wedding photos were being taken earlier there was another photo shoot taking place.  A very attractive woman was naked splashing water out of the fountain.  After a minute of splashing water she started walking away, everybody around her was taking pictures and movies.  It was odd seeing something like this, especially after living in KSA.  We finished off the day with dinner on the square.

 

We spent the next morning at Prague Castle.  We went into some of the churches we saw yesterday but did not have time to visit.  They were nice, I lit a couple of candles and said a few prayers.  We got through earlier than expected and ended up at the train station very early.  We walked around the station, the old train station is not restored but the old part is pretty grand.  If restored, it would be as nice as any in Europe.  Since we had some time to kill and we were hungry we spent a lot of time in the Burger King, cold drinks and air conditioning.  The first part of the trip to Frankfurt is by bus and at Nuremberg we switch to a train.  The bus is an express and it was pretty nice, a little warmer than I like but not too bad once we got going.  The overall comfort was very good, the trip went quick, we moved from our reserved seats to seats with a table and we sat across from each other.  We talked, looked at pictures and had a good bus ride.  A quick switch to the train and in a couple hours, we arrived in Frankfurt, checked into our hotel and called it a night.





This was the view out of our hotel room, it looks out into the Old Town Square, it was very nice.

















This picture is looking down on the Charles bridge, it was very crowded but quite pretty.







We spent the next evening and night flying back to Saudi Arabia and then the three hour drive to Yanbu from Jeddah.  We arrived back at the Villa at five in the morning.  A great adventure.

TJ & EA