Prague

Prague.....ah....Prague.  Definitely on my list of top 10 cities in the world.

And the reason was simple - it had atmosphere!

Brad and I headed out Friday morning for Prgaue.  It's about a 4-1/2 hour drive from Stuttgart.  We'd made reservations at the Corinthian Hotel Prague, a Wyndham chain hotel, that is two train stops outside of city center.  Since Prague has one of the higher crime rates in Europe, it was important for us to have a hotel with secure parking, which this place had.  Arriving in early afternoon, we checked in.  Our hotel package included daily breakfast, access to the "Spa" (Swimming pool and sauna), and a king bed room with views - this photo is the view from our window.  The best part was a reasonable cost (as long as you didn't plan to use the internet or other services).  And the breakfust was a full buffet with lots of excellent choices.  I'd highly recommend it.

While there are sites to be seen in Prague -- namely the Charles Bridge with vendors set up along the bridge selling jewelry, knick-knacks and paintings:

the Prague Castle at the top of the hill:

with the St Vitus Cathedral located in the center of the palace grounds:

The stained glass windows in the Cathedral were amazing - made of of individual pieces of glass put together vice painted glass, the amount of work and detail was superbly amazing. (the Castle is also known Pražský hrad - the largest castle in the world and the Cathedral is the oldest Gothic cathedral in Europe);

The Astronomical Clock in Old Town Square:

The modern Wenceslas Square:

And the somewhat interesting Jewish Cemetery -- what we loved best was the international feel to the whole city, the countless shops, restaurants, cafes, and beautiful historic buildings that make up this city. 

We ate the first night at an old restaurant across from St Nicholas's Church

 It's always fascinating to me when our restaurants are older than the United States - this one was started in 1665 for example.  The second day, after breakfast at our hotel we had a lunch at another old Czech restaurant and dinner at an Italian restaurant - both of us enjoying good Czech beer.

 I discovered after the first day that the beer was much better than the wine!  The last day we went and walked around the Old Jewish Cemetery (not worth the cost).

This picture of Brad is from on the Charles Bridge - look at the sky behind him!  We were lucky to have beautiful weather during our visit, with rain starting the last day.  It was in the 70's and sunny the whole time.

This was St Nicholas's Church (I think).  A beautiful baroque church at the base of the castle hill.

And then a couple other pictures of the city:

While we didn't partake, there were countless tours offered, including both bus and boat trips.  We truly enjoyed just walking around taking everything in.  Someday we'd both like to go back - definitely a great City of the Month for May!!