Prague

My friend Shannon and I decided to take a much needed end-of-term vacation. Well, it's the end of term for her; I still have class but agreed to go along anyway. She came to Berlin for a couple days and then we spent about two and a half days in Prague.

Here are some highlights:

We went ice skating on Bebelplatz.



Of course, when I came up with the brilliant "let's go ice skating" plan, I completely neglected to take into account my inability to ice skate, and this was the result:



We walked around town, visited Christmas markets, drank Glühwein, and had our picture taken with Marx and Engels.



After that it was off to Prague, city of spires.



I spent a day touring the Jewish Quarter. This is the Old Jewish Cemetery:



At sundown (3:42 PM!) we went to Shabbas service at the Old-New Synagogue, built in the 13th century. It was the first day of Hanukkah.



On Saturday I walked the processional route to the castle area and spent the morning there. This is the most recognizable building in the area, St. Vitus Cathedral:



There were beautiful city views from the castle.



Like every good toursit, I spent time on the Charles Bridge.



This is the knight who stands guard at the base of the bridge:



I also walked around the Old Town, with its beautiful Town Hall:



The astronomical clock on the Old Town Hall:



I even braved the masses of people to shoot a video of it chiming the hour:



On Saturday evening we went to the Opera (Carmen).



This was the view from our box:



The highlight of the trip was my visit to the National Gallery (of 19th, 20th, and 21st century art). Don't judge the building by its facade.



Somehow I also managed to find time to just wander around and snap photos of whatever caught my fancy:















How awesome is the Soviet area Metro system?

As you can see, Prague is a beautiful city. It was, unfortunately, overrun with tourists; I can't imagine what it's like in the summer if it's this crowded at Christmas.

If you can believe it, there are even more photos on my flickr page.