Bill&Theresa: Day 4—Czech'ing things off the List

One of many Trams.

This morning we began by heading back to the Prague Castle to finish up. Opted for public transportation, so headed for the tram. Well, on this little street, the tram tracks and the road lane had to share space. So, when a delivery truck stopped in the road/tracks 100 feet before our stop, and then the tram came up, he stopped behind the truck. A bunch of us (15 or so) hurried down the walk as we saw people getting off there. The truck driver came back, and drove off, and the tram started too. We all turned as he drove past us, and then past the stop. Everyone was something between miffed and ticked! So, Theresa and I headed to the subway. We took that pretty close and then caught another tram the rest of the way to the castle. But the tram was packed, so we barely had standing room.

Packed!!! (Like most trams!)

The "Golden Lane", named for the goldsmith(s) that were here.

At the castle, we picked up where we left off. We visited the “Golden Lane”, which was once (medieval times) a line of small shops with tiny living quarters in the back, and now are small shops with tiny who knows what in the back, and a few tiny museums. Actually, there was a “tower” in which they had assorted weapons and such. That was VERY cool! They had swords, just like you’d see in the movies, but these were real! They ranged from about the 7^th Century BC up to the 16^th Century AD. They also had dozens of full suits of armor, and hundreds of helmets.

Many weapons!

Swords and more Swords!

NOT theraputic!!

Oh yeah, did we mention there was a torture chamber?
(It looked nothing like Coach on an airplane!)

Every one of these sets were unique.

There were many displays like this!

OK, so maybe not everyone is enamored with armor and swords!

Rosenberg Palace Chapel

We moved on to Rosenberg Palace that basically just housed the single (widowed or unmarried) aristocrats. So, sort of like a house for old maids. It was…nice. Then we visited the Castle History Museum, which was a collection of historic tidbits from 3500 BC through modern times. It included a lot of history of the various significant figures in Czech history including Saints, Kings, and Dukes. We also visited the St. George Church, which was initially built in the 850s, but was rebuilt in about 950 to 1000 due to a fire. There were a few kings and Saints buried there too! Finally, Bill climbed the tower for some nice overlooks of the area. It was 285 steps in a single spiral staircase. There were 13 steps for each level, and one step was double the tread—not really a landing, but the only space to stop. Every time someone was coming down, those of us going up hugged the center pillar and stood on a bit of step inches in depth!

One of the "defenestration" windows.
(we stayed back...just to be sure!)

Main Nave of St George.

We're guessing it's the throne. No signs!

You thought we were done with St. Vitus pix?

Another view from the Tower next to St. Vitus.

Vertigo anyone?

The tile on the roof is pretty intricate!

St. George is the "red" church in the background.

A panoramic from the tower.

520 years of beer and drinking!

After the Castle, we decided to head to Pivovar U Flecku, the oldest brewery and beer pub in Prague. It has been in constant operation since 1499, so we figured we’d party like it was 1499!! Well, not be a downer, but they didn’t have two of the things we asked for, refused to give us tap water, and then offered us “samples” of digestives, which then turned out to be neither samples nor free. But, we ate in a 500 year old establishment, and it probably won’t make it to 600 years, so Czech please!!

Church of Our Lady Victorious.

We then headed to the Church of Our Lady Victorious. Short background. My Grandma had a picture that I associated with her, so when asked, I said I’d like it after she, uh, no longer needed it! It was a picture of the “Infant of Prague”, or the Child Jesus. The actual Infant of Prague is a statue, which was given to the Sisters of that convent, and long story short, they fell on hard times and then asked Jesus for help, and venerated the statue. Their prayers were answered and all of their financial needs were met. Well, Grandma told me if I placed the picture to face the door, our house would never be in want of money (not quite the same story, but we’ll go with it)! So, the Infant of Prague has been a family favorite for us for a couple of decades. Anyway, the ACTUAL statue is on an altar at this church. So, we went. While there, we noticed they were setting up for Mass, and we stayed. To our pleasure, it was in ENGLISH!! Afterwards, we made it to the gift shop and bought a few items. We noticed other people had gotten their gifts blessed, so we headed back to try. They had started another Mass (in another language) but we checked the Sacristy and sure enough we were waved in and the Priest gave us a blessing, and blessed our gifts, and even took our picture with a replica of the statue!