Prague

From southern Germany, it was off to Prague. Everyone I talked to who had been there raved about it. I'm not sure if I would go so far as to rave, but I certainly did enjoy our time there, particularly the Lobkowicz Palace museum and music at Dvorak Hall.

Here we have our best view photograph. The River Vltava flows right through Prague's center and, as you can see, is crossed by a number of bridges, Charles Bridge (second from the bottom) being the most important.

Here's a closeup of Charles Bridge. It was important to Prague for many years as the connection between Old Town and Prague Castle, now it's an important tourist destination. You can see the vendors and pedestrians being watched over by a number of statues.

Here's another perspective of Charles Bridge, this time with Prague Castle in the background. It's crowned by St Vitus Cathedral (follow the link for lots of nice pictures of the cathedral).

Inside St Vitus Cathedral is the grave of Saint (good king) Wenceslas.

One surprising highlight of our time in Prague was a visit to the Lobkowicz Palace. It was a relatively new musuem that followed the history of the Lobkowicz family, a prominent family in Prague since the 16th century that lost all their possessions in 1948 when the communist regime came to power. After the fall of the communist regime, they regained almost everything and created a museum in the palace. The most amazing part of our visit was the music room, where we learned that the Lobkowicz family had been a primary benefactor of Beethoven, with three of his symphonies dedicated to the 7th Prince Lobkowicz. The museum had on hand original copies of a number of his works, many signed by Beethoven. It was astounding to be able to see such an amazing set of artifacts.

Still today Prague is known as a center for classical music and especially for its most famous composer Antonin Dvorak. We attended a concert at Dvorak Hall that featured an outstanding harpist, which was definitely a highlight of our stay. Below is a picture of my parents with the statue of Dvorak that stands outside the hall.
This is Old Town sqaure. It's a popular tourist destination partly because there's a clock that everyone likes to take a picture of when the hour changes (not pictured), but I think mostly because it's a good place for hanging out. There are a number of cafes to choose from and beautiful old buildings to look at.

One other place to visit that's nearby Old Town square is a house that Franz Kafka once lived in. Below is the obligatory picture. I confess to only ever having read The Metamorphosis.