We were in Prague Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday so we had quite a bit of time to ourselves to explore the city. Tuesday we went to the Prague castle and walked around and went downtown a bit. Mark and I also went to see Ironman. Only with Mark would I waste 2 hours in Prague on a movie. It was good though. In English with Czech subtitles. Wednesday we had a show. The venue was just a couple of blocks from the main square. Our hosts were a Czech folk dance group that actually do dances from all over the world, not just Czech. Most of these countries folk groups just do native dances. This group has learned Mexican dancing from the Living Legends at BYU. They also brought clogging to Prague about 10 years ago. Now there are about 50 clogging groups in or around Prague. It's a clogging revolution in the Czech republic. Who knew. They actually have really good cloggers. There was an older member of the church at the performance that night that brought a picture of her with the folk dancers when they came to Prague in 1997. She was not a member then but her friend brought her to the show and when she found out that the group had religious ties, she was a little annoyed and left. She later met the missionaries and remembered that they were affiliated with our group and heard the discussions and got baptized. She credits her conversion to the folk dance team. On Thursday we had a fireside with the members and she spent all day at the church preparing a dinner for us. Also on Thursday we had more free time in the morning and afternoon so we went shopping and then went to the old Jewish quarter of the city. The most interesting part of that was the Jewish cemetery where they have thousands of graves packed in together. The oldest grave dates from the 1400's. They ran out of room so they started burying people in some places 10 deep and all of their headstones are crammed in next to each other. They wouldn't let us take pictures of this area unless you bought a pass and we didn't. Here are some other pictures though.
This is the church that is in the center of the castle called St. Vitas. It was a huge church.
This is Mark and our bus driver Rolf. They look a little wet because it was downpouring for a lot of the day on Tuesday. Rolf and Mark have become fast friends because Rolf is from Germany and Mark is the only one who speaks German. I have found myself becoming the 3rd wheel to them and I don't understand most of what they're saying.
The inside of St. Vitas church.
We climbed to the top of the church tower, (which seems to be a trend) There were a 287 spiral stairs to the top.
Outside the church. Mark and I are the little people at the bottom.
This is the Charles Bridge, the oldest bridge in Prague, which connects the castle to the city.
The Tyn Church which is in the main square.
This is the famous astronomical clock which is in the main square. Every hour it dings. We had heard that it did some cool things on the hour so we gathered with the throngs of people to watch. The two little doors at the top open and the 12 apostles circle past the door. It was very anti climactic. But I guess in the 15th century it was way ahead of it's time.
A view from the city looking back at the Prague castle.
This is the church that is in the center of the castle called St. Vitas. It was a huge church.
This is Mark and our bus driver Rolf. They look a little wet because it was downpouring for a lot of the day on Tuesday. Rolf and Mark have become fast friends because Rolf is from Germany and Mark is the only one who speaks German. I have found myself becoming the 3rd wheel to them and I don't understand most of what they're saying.
The inside of St. Vitas church.
We climbed to the top of the church tower, (which seems to be a trend) There were a 287 spiral stairs to the top. 
This is the Charles Bridge, the oldest bridge in Prague, which connects the castle to the city.
The Tyn Church which is in the main square.
This is the famous astronomical clock which is in the main square. Every hour it dings. We had heard that it did some cool things on the hour so we gathered with the throngs of people to watch. The two little doors at the top open and the 12 apostles circle past the door. It was very anti climactic. But I guess in the 15th century it was way ahead of it's time.
1 comment:
I love all your pictures and stories, Marianne! They bring back lots of memories for me--the cathedral, bridges, castles, that same Jewish cemetery, even. I guess the cool thing about historical sites is that someone else is still enjoying them 10 year later! I am really happy you and Mark can go on this adventure--and I am jealous, too.
Cheers!
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