last day in PRAGUE ..big finish!

Can't believe that we only have one more adventurous day!   We ate a healthy breakfast and had plans to hike all the way up to the castle complex!   Winded our way through cobblestone alleys heading West to find the Charles Bridge.
Here it is :

The Old Bridge Tower was built in the late 14th century.  The bridge itself started its construction in 1357.  This stone bridge is 1700 feet long and was the only link across the Vltava River between Prague Castle and Old Town until 1741.   Here's a few more pics :

looking at the West end tower and entrance

so much for the easy part of the hike!  .. now we start going .. up, up, up

another St.Nicholas Church

an interesting building

neat pub we passed as we crawled up the hill

a look back down the hill during a 'breather' break .. whew!

yahoooo .. we made it to the TOP, the castle complex

We first went into St.Vitus Cathedral  .. construction began in 1344 ,, stained-glass windows - EVERYWHERE !

and, of course, everything else about this building is breathtaking...

We bought the Class B ticket which allowed us to enter .. St.Vitus Cathedral, the Basilica of St.George, the Old Royal Palace, and the 'Golden Lane' - which was a street of houses for the defenders of the castle, servants, goldsmiths, and craftsmen.

looking down before we started hiking back to our hotel

stopped at a gingerbread bakery for some goodies

a few MORE people on the bridge as we headed back across

Arrived back to the room and started to pack and get ready for the long flight home on Wednesday ..and.. to get a little rest before the concert at St.Nicholas.
Got a bite to eat in the rapidly filling Old Town Square and watched another kids group singing.   Here's a few pics :

time to say good-bye to the astronomical clock and the square..

We walked around the square before queuing up for the concert.   Here's the poster description :

It was a great concert.   Organ music was thunderstruck!, brass was pure and loud, just excellent overall.   We've enjoyed some very special music at concerts in Vienna and Prague!   Especially suitable for this Christmas season.

What a special trip!   A big Thank You to Jan for inviting me.   A Danube river cruise during Christmas Markets season was very neat.    Touring some of the very grand (old & new) capitals of Europe in Budapest, Vienna, Salzburg, and Prague was sensational.   What extensive history!   Also touring some neat medieval towns like Durnstein, Passau, and Regensburg was very interesting.

Eating the local foods of Hungary, Austria, Germany, and the Czech Republic was .. yummy, yummy, and YUMMY !

My first river cruise was a very neat experience.   Want to do more.    The rivers of Europe were some of the original highways.    Lots of history and still-standing buildings to appreciate.    Castles, ruins, fortresses, and cathedrals!!

I hope you enjoyed viewing my blog posts.   I hope I gave you a good sense of our travels and sights and experiences.   It was fun composing them every night.   Thank goodness for the excellent quality of smartphone cameras!

Take care.   I hope to regale you with in-person stories and recollections.
Joe

discovering .. PRAGUE .. just one word - WOW !!

Cobblestones and tiny streets.   What do you expect from a very old city?   When you walk around .. you look UP!    The architecture and varied designs is awesome.   We arrived in the dark and discovered a beautiful city all lit up.   Walked through the famous Old Town Square and the Christmas Market.

After breakfast we prepared for an exploratory walk.   Here's the view from our room this morning :

here I am in front of the famous .. Astronomical Clock

on our way to visit .. St.Nicholas Church

We discovered that they're having a concert tomorrow night featuring .. The Prague Brass Ensemble with trumpets, french horn, trombones, and organ .. playing J.S.Bach and M.A.Charpentier.   We bought tickets.    (Later in the day we came across another concert playing tonight .. and we went!  ..more later)

St.Nicholas Church

We headed East out of the square to discover new building gems.

These types of buildings are .. E V E R Y W H E R E   !!
and, you can take tours in many different conveyances :

Interesting marionette store we passed by.

More buildings :

here I am .. in front of the .. Powder Gate  (1475)

This is one of the original 13 gates in old town Prague.
After lunch we continued to explore and found .. St.Giles Church.
Very ornate inside.   Started 1238, changed to rich Baroque style .. 1731.

We found out that they were having a concert today at 4:30.  We bought tickets.
This was the program :

It was EXCELLENT !    The soprano was excellent .. and the organ music sent chills through my body!   

After the concert we strolled through the square and ate some street food and enjoyed another cute concert by 6-8 year old kids.

Another fun and glorious exploration day!    My senses are filled with new sights, sounds, smells, and .. bone-chilling cold!   Tomorrow -  we'll hike across the Charles Bridge and take a tram up to the Prague Castle and St.Vitus Cathedral.   Should be another fun day!

Regensburg ..then on to unbelievable PRAGUE !

It was time to say goodbye to the beautiful new ship .. AmaMagna.  Wow!  What a vessel.   biggest of the AmaWaterways fleet.   It was a real treat to sail the Danube and see so much history!    We loaded onto several buses for our trip to Prague.   Bur first .. a very neat stop in Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany.

While on the road to Regensburg, our guide gave us a couple of interesting facts.   If a German citizen wants to get a driving license, he or she goes through 20-40 hours of theoretical and actual driving instruction, then .. pays over $2000 to obtain a license!  Yikes!    Also, as we were driving on the autobahn, someone mentioned that there seemed to be no trucks/semi's on the road.   It turns out that trucks/semi's are prohibited from driving on Sundays.   At every rest stop there were hundreds of trucks .. just pausing for a day.   Whoa!

Off the bus .. walking towards the 'old town' of Regensburg.   Over 2000 years old, of course.   Important Roman town during the reign of Charlemagne.    St. Peter's Cathedral in the background.   Oh, by the way .. it's freeeeezing!

walking over the old stone bridge (built in 1135-1146 !!)

this bridge opened major trade routes between No.Europe and Venice

here's looking at it from the 'old town' side (from the West)

It played an important role in the Napoleanic War in 1809, in which the Austrians slowed down Napolean's French army on their march to Vienna.

the main gate and watchtower into town

as you can see .. this building is .. ollllld !

city hall building's entrance

on to the grand .. St.Peter's Cathedral, built from 1273 - 1538 ...   wow!

all of the windows are .. stain glass!   they're spectacular !!    enjoy :

A very neat medieval town, similar to .. Durnstein, Passau, and Vilshofen.
Now it's time to drive another several hours to the grandest of them all .. Prague.   We arrived in the dark.   Both buses offloaded people and luggage at the Hilton.   Tour organizer arranged for taxis to take us to about four different hotels.   Our's was the U Prince.   Our taxi couldn't get very close due to it's proximity to the old town square.   We hauled our luggage over cobblestones.
Squeezed through throngs of people descending on the square for the Christmas Tree lighting and the Christmas Market.   Jan found our hotel and an old fashioned very helpful gentleman fawned over us and took us to our room on the fourth floor.   What a neat room!   Look at the view from our window :

can you believe it?

look at the wall-to-wall people!

We paused and headed out to the square.   What a neat scene to be part of!

Can't wait to see it in the daylight.   We have two full days to explore!   After walking around the square we found a neat subterranean restaurant to eat dinner,
with a band playing Czech music ..  U zlate konvice   (restaurant name)

here's my plate :

It seems that each day opens a whole new window into my perception of the world and an appreciation of the history of the area.   After reading about it and watching TV shows about an area .. nothing compares to seeing it in person.   So to you, my friends, who may have put me to sleep with your endless showcase of travel slides, I apologize, for I must not have known or appreciated how excited you were to share your experiences!   Now .. I have a better understanding and appreciation!   Viva! la TRAVEL!    Prague .. get ready!