13 June, Sunday

Boy, we really messed up by missing breakfast yesterday. Eggs, bacon, ham, croissants, rolls of assorted types, pastries, cereal, three kinds of juice. We will not miss it tomorrow.

Our last day in Prague was spent walking around the old Jewish quarter and a variety of parks and botanical gardens. The weather was about 20 degrees F cooler than it has been, so we hardly broke a sweat.

We climbed up a big hill where they have a giant metronome. We're not sure why it's there, but a 100-ft-tall statue of Stalin was at that spot back in the day. One interesting thing was a sculpture made of keys. Back in the bad-old communist days, a rallying symbol for the opposition people was to jingle their keys to symbolize the unlocking of doors, or maybe, "time to go." Anyway, a series of protests and strikes wore down the ruling powers and the Czech Republic as we know it today is what resulted. Disclaimer: this is a very "I heard" version. Do your own research if you want to really know. But at least it explains the key sculpture.

We sat in one park for over an hour talking to the 14-yr-old daughter of the former acting U.S. ambassador and her friends from the local international school. They were a fun group with which to visit. We tried to find the bakery with the yummy pastries from yesterday, but struck out. Our path back from the botanical gardens took us well out of the tourist areas, and I wanted goulash for supper, just because we really haven't eaten a lot of ethnic food (unless you count pizza in Italy.) We walked up and down and back and forth, but had no luck finding a café with goulash on the menu. Had we been hungry for KFC or a Big Mac, it would have been no problem. We went back to the hotel and got directions from the desk clerk. It was pretty tasty – and VERY filling – but goes into the category along with matzo ball soup in New York as things I don't need to have again.

Final thoughts on Prague: If you get the chance, visit here for a few days. The people are friendly, many speak English, and things are relatively inexpensive. We stayed in a very nice hotel for around $100 US. Especially if you're interested in central European Jewish history, this is a must.

sidewalk parking

Joe on street near hotel

18 Charles Square

Odborový dům

dachshund

rock garden

Old Town Bridge tower

Klementinum

Joe by Sculpture Tree

Girl with Paper Swallow

closer view

Astronomical Tower

Marching Puppets Video (10s, 3.1MB)

New City Hall

Key Sculpture plaque

Key Sculpture

St. Nicholas' Church	Old Town Square
	Jan Hus monument	flock of tourists	Prague ham

south end of square

blacksmith

blacksmith

Old Town Hall

Basilica of St. James	close of relief	Tailor shop, est 1676
Praha Metronome Video (19s, 0.8MB)	Praha Metronome	Praha Metronome
Statue of Moses by František Bílek	writing on a scroll		Synagogue Tour (larger image)
Old-New Synagogue	Ceremonial Hall	Old Jewish Cemetery	Old Jewish Cemetery
	looking W from Jana Palacha Square	Pinkas Synagogue	looking S from Pinkas

view from Letna Park	view from Letna Park	view from Letna Park
view from Letna Park	Prague Metronome	Hřiště u Bašty (playground in Letna Park)
Joe & ambassador's daughter	Ministry of Industry and Trade	looking W from Štefánik's Bridge

Ventilation towers of Letenský tunel

Cow Parade cow

Obecní Dům concert hall

Obecní Dům concert hall

Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia

Svatý Štěpán

Botanická zahrada Přírodovědecké fakulty UK

botanical garden plaque	5:51 pm	5:52 pm
5:53 pm	5:55 pm	conglomerate	pretty rock
foxgloves	silk floss tree?	back wall of garden (Apolinářská street)

Maternity hospital Apolinář

views from hotel room