Czech Republic
Praha
Click on the pictures below for a larger view.
(35mm pictures courtesy of Deenie)
Dasa and Deenie
We arrived at Prague Airport, Ruzyne, shortly after 6 AM. On the flight we had met a friend, Dasa, (with Deenie above at left), who was visiting home to attend Vanda and Fred's wedding the following Saturday - to which we were also invited. Karel & Adriana, and Karel's father, were to pick us up here. Not seeing them, we had some time to sit and collect ourselves. Dasa kindly offered to let Deenie use her phone card to call Adriana, and see if everything was alright. She let us know they were only a few minutes away. Shortly after that, Karel Sr. arrived. Deenie spotted him right away, even though this would be their first meeting. She presented him with a nice bottle of Apple Rum. After everyone had a good laugh at the size of my luggage, (huge - compared to Deenie's), Karel and Adriana showed up. We said goodbye to Dasa, who's friend wouldn't be there until 8AM, and loaded our bags into Karel Sr.'s small car, which had an absolutely huge storage capacity for it's size. He was to take the luggage on to Podebrady for us - a great favour.
Adriana, Karel Sr., (Charlie), Deenie, Karel, and me
We proceeded on to Prague where Karel & Adriana were going to give us a quick tour of the city, starting just outside Prague Castle.
After Adriana parked the car, we walked to the castle entrance.
Miss Aldine
.
Adriana and Karel
Karel and Adriana
Adriana and Deenie
Me
World famous lamp posts
Arriving at the Palace grounds, (and after numerous trips to the WC), we worked our way through the castle and past the cathedral. Deenie tried working her magic on the Palace guard, but he was oblivious.......probably thinking about his EU pension......
There were many interesting sights....
Back in the courtyard
View from the castle
After a great walk down to the old city, we met with Edward, Vera, and their children Simon and Anna, who were here from Wisconsin to visit their parents/grandparents.
Deenie, Simon, Adriana, Vera, Edward, Anna, and stranger, (with Karel at the bank machine).
Crossing the
Charles Bridge, we discovered an Arts & Crafts market where Deenie bought a neat piece of pottery.
Crossing the Bridge
Adriana, Simon, Edward, Anna, Vera, me, and Deenie
Arts and Crafts Market
Deenie tries one of her pick-up lines to no avail
Prague cares very much about it's tourists and since so many of them are German and Russian, who think thay can walk on water, (or at least act like it), they installed special crossing signals on the Vltava River so they wouldn't get hit by boats.....
Adriana, Simon, Eda, and Anna
Simon
.
Having had our lunch by the river, we headed out to take the Funicular tram up to Prague's version of the Eiffel Tower, parting with Edward and his family.
.
There we entered what Karel called the
Maze, that had a crazy 'Hall of Mirrors'.
