Prague Day 3 - A castle, a garden, a bridge and a wall

Marrionette store near Charles BridgeSt. Vitus Cathedral

View from Prague CastleReplica of Crown Jewel's

St. Vitus Cathedral

Wallenstein Garden

Me on Charles Bridge

Lennon wall

Today's post by Elaine. Photos by Elaine

It's the beginning of day 3 and it already feels like we've been here a long time and have seen tons of stuff. Today's agenda is Prague Castle, Prague's most popular attraction and according to the Guinness book of world records, the largest ancient castle in the world. After a long hike up many cobblestone steps (with a pit stop for Evelyn to buy art and Teresa to almost buy jewelery..cash only :( ), we reached the castle and bought the short tour ticket which included the Old Palace, Lobkowicz Palace, Basilica of St. George, St. Vitus Cathedral and Rosenberg Palace. Most of the architecture of the castle is Gothic or Baroque.

After spending 5 hours at the castle, we took the tram down to the part of Prague downhill from the castle where we attempted to find Wallenstein Garden. With my trusty navigational skills, I lead us around the narrow, hilly streets of Prague, only to have Evelyn point out that we had just walked in a circle and ended up at the same street corner we had started from. With Teresa and Evelyn at helm, we found the gardens with the help of a policeman man, who we communicated with via pointing and an elementary form of sign language. After being kicked out of the garden (they were closing), we headed to the famous Charles Bridge which you will find in the INXS video "Never Tear Us Apart." There we all rubbed one of the 30 statues that had a golden plaque with a picture of a man being hung upside down off a castle wall. it is apparently good luck. After a hearty Czech supper, we headed down to the Lennon Wall, a wall with graffiti in tribute to John Lennon.

We were pretty exhausted from the days activity. We took the tram back to the hotel, but decided that we would stop at "Banditos," a local mexican restaurant and bar. It was smoky and packed with Czechs watching the Czech world hockey game. Evelyn and Teresa partook in some lime margheritas. Around 12:00am some Russian men starting chatting us up. By 12:30 9 shots magically appeared on the table. Someone once said, "never enter a drinking contest with a Russian." think this is true. They wanted to get friendlier, but Teresa introduced them to the Iron Curtain of Canada. Also at Banditos was a French couple who were staying at the hotel and Evelyn and Teresa earlier mistaken for hotel staff and had gotten help with storing our luggage. With their help, we ditch the russian dudes. We headed to the French couples suite where they kept us entertained with wine and political and cultural conversation until 4:30am. And so ends another day of adventure in Prague.

Disclaimer: Evelyn has not proofread this and is snoring beside me. Hopefully this is okay.