Looming over the landscape of old Prague, St. Vitus Cathedral is quite impossible to miss, its gothic spires rising high above the large edifice of Prague Castle.
St. Vitus Cathedral from the north
Incongruously located next to the heavily-touristed “Golden Lane” in Prague Castle is the Toy and Barbie Museum. It’s apparently the second-largest museum of its kind in the world. I cannot imagine that there is too much competition in that area, but one never knows….
April 24, 2010:
For the first time in way too long, Sarah & I went for a short birding walk, my first since breaking my foot mid-March. Since my foot is still tender and rather weak from being off of it for 5 weeks, we decided to check out the Chain of Lakes in Golden Gate Park.
Dragonfly
Near the main entrance to Prague Castle is the intricately-frescoed Schwarzenberg Palace.
Schwarzenberg Palace exterior
Located on Petrin Hill, between Petrin Tower and Prague Castle, Strahov Monastery (official site; prague-wiki) is a lovely place to spend a bit of time.
Illuminated manuscript
For more information about Prague’s charming house signs, see Praguescape’s article on them.
The Red Lamb
We spent a good amount of time in Malá Strana (“Lesser Town”), both because it was where we stayed during the non-business part of the trip, and because it is a pleasant place to spend time, conveniently located between Old Town & Prague Castle.
Malá Strana metro station
Rising above Malá Strana is verdant Petrin Hill, capped by a Eiffel-esque tower. Since it looked to be a nice area to explore, and the tower was recommended for its views in our guidebook, we headed south from Malá Strana to the station for the funny funicular that takes one to the top. Alternately you can walk up, but we were not lacking for walking opportunities and wanted to take the funicular.
Petrin Tower & Hill
