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Pouting around Prague - the next 24 hours

As I wrote in my last post about Prague my time in Prague was a strange time for me.  I was not "present" like I should be when traveling; my mind was elsewhere....as in a place called London.  I just wanted to be back there...I was tired of traveling and needed a break. (Once I got back to London for a week I was happy and I had a wonderful time in Dublin and Belfast a short while later). It made me short-tempered and crabby...not one of my finest moments I must admit.  Prague is a beautiful city and now looking at my pictures I can appreciate it more.

The evening before we decided a boat trip might be a good idea.   The next morning we set off for a kiosk close by and booked a lunch cruise...this was longer than the usual one hour cruise and went through locks as well in order to get further down the river.

So here we go...


 
This is Republic Square - our hotel was just around the corner from this square down the road in between the white building with the red roof and the red building (shopping mall)  You had to have your eyes and ears alert for trams.  There was a good grocery store close by so we could pick up snacks and fruit, yogurt, etc. for breakfast.  


I loved this retro advertisement!!! 


This is the beautiful facade of the Municipal House on Republic Square

Soon it was time to be picked up by the van that would take us to our boat and off we went along the river Vitava.




 A view of the Dancing House from the water...


Going through the lock...a long process...





We had seen these penguins the day before and wondered what the meaning was.  Thanks to the good old internet I found out it's an art installation depicting penguins getting ready to board a ship to the Antarctic....okay!


A market, a market!!! (and we know how I love my markets...)  We never got there however.


Lots of bridges - loved the tram going over the bridge shot and yes it got dark and moody again...


Our boat....would I recommend this trip?  No.  Not the lunch cruise anyway.  The food was so so...chicken and salads and vegetables.  It was okay but I would rather have spent my lunch money on a delicious Czech goulash.  If I had been on my own I would have opted for the one-hour cruise and that's what I would tell people to do.  We spent an awfully long time going through the locks both ways which if you are interested in that sort of thing or have never done it might be interesting.  I've done it enough that to me it was a waste of time.  Just my personal opinion of course. 

We then walked across a nearby bridge to get a view of Prague's Old Town and visit Mala Strana again
.



View towards the St Charles bridge 



We had to walk down to the river to have the token photo taken - I wish I had had something to feed the swans....

Being a hard core (and I mean hard core) Beatles fan I wanted to see the John Lennon peace mural so after asking a few people we found our way there...


 
Of course there had to be a John Lennon pub - and no we didn't stop there.


 
I was trying to imitate John Lennon's famous picture in New York City...




Imagine all the people living life in peace....I miss you John....


Being as this boat had the same name as my home town I had to take a picture - and the background isn't too shabby either...

 
This reminded me of Venice!!!

 

We walked through a park and I couldn't resist walking onto this bridge to see this soothing sight...it was a nice respite from the tourist hordes in other parts of Prague


Then we headed back over the St Charle Bridge again...another statue you touch for good luck...


More crowded this time but there were crafts people selling their wares...and yes I may have bought another pair of earrings....


Another interesting object just hanging around.  it is a piece of art called Man Hanging Out.  Created in 1996 by sculpture David Cerny it depicts Sigmund Freud.... We came upon it totally by accident. There are other sculptures by the artist but we didn't see them...oh well, next time!




We found a nice cafe where we had hot drinks and a pastry before wandering back to our hotel for a quiet evening.  After all when you get to a certain age you are either: 1) out all morning and afternoon or 2) out all afternoon and evening. Staying out all day is beyond my capabilities now...Above are some of the sights we saw on the wander back to our hotel...Prague really is a photographer's paradise. 


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