Sweet Money之喜欢就写: My Honeymoon Diary : In search of Bohemian History

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8 hours on the comfortable Orange Way (the bus company) ...right before the sun rise, we had reach Florenc, the city's central bus station of Prague, Czech Republic.

Ughhhh ahhh....stretching our body and leg...Wait...there is a very important things to do.......Eat? No lah! No money yet how to buy eat?!!!

So the first thing to do when we reach Prague is find an ATM machines with PLUS symbol then using our credit card and withdraw some Czech Koruna.

You must be wonder why we do have this approach instead of going to the money changer. Travelling at Czech is not really popular among our country, therefore the local money changer do not sell the Czech Koruna which doesnt make them any profit.

Btw....There's a lot of money changer at Czech Republic ready in service for the tourist. Ya...they are truly prepared to "Service" you~! As per our research, the exchange rate offered by the Czech money changer is superbly low, and yet they will charge the commissions also!!! Not worthy at all~!

Our first meal at Prague, the Burger King

Prague is always famous with pretty girls especially producing models...

you never thought that even the girl on the servicing counter of Burger King also very 'sok'

Burger King outlet at Florenc Bus Station

this bus stations look much proper than the budapest

a heavy breakfast

all time favorite whopper ~ taste as good as it used to be ~ yum

Next: Checking in Hotel

Its such convenient to travel in Europe. Just a stone throw away of the bus stations there is a metro station ...we have to take Metro C from Florenc to Praha Hlavní nádraží.......then interchange tram 9 or 91 at Jindřišská stop at Újezd to reach the hotel.

Guess it was the heavy whopper side effect, we got up to the correct tram but only realize we are on the wrong direction after few stops~!!! Aiks...immediately we stop at the next stations and wait for the turn back tram.

at the middle of nowhere with my luggage and looks bleary

Riding on the next tram towards the city, we had then successfully reach our hotel and checked-in. Kept the luggage at the luggage room temporarily, put on the necessary warm clothing, i even got time to do some painting work (make-up). Ok..I'm ready~!

Next: Prague Castle

Prague Castle is a castle in Prague where the Kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman Emperors and presidents of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic have had their offices. Its one of the biggest castles in the world at about 570 meters in length and an average of about 130 meters wide and according to Guinness Book of Records, its even the biggest ancient castle.

Common senses...the castle will never built on the ground. Guess what....its another hike up journey again...

look at that slope...ughh

hu ha hu ha hu ha....we had trek up so much...

but there are still stair case to continue....=.="

till the last few steps of the staircase.....we heard the ding ding dong ding ding dong

oh..are we going to miss something up there???

there's a parade

with a lot of police around...and the castle district is all fenced-up

we have no idea what's the occasion....at first just thought its the changing of guard ceremony

but its seems not

while waiting for what's to go on next...we browse around and took some pictures

buildings roof of castle district

surrounding building

entrance to the castle district

Waited for about 30 minutes...finally we see there're rows of luxury cars arriving...and the Italy National Anthems lead in.

Apparently....the President of Italy is visiting to Czech Republic.

There's a group of Italian students stands right besides us sing so proudly together their national songs.

I wonder if our "beloved" sh*t is coming...will i be so the same proud to cheer for him~~

After the presidents is warmly welcomed, the castle district is again open for public visit.

The Prague Castle complex includes a few major attractions ~ the Royal Palace, St. Vitus Cathedral, St. George Basilica, Golden Lane and also the Prague Castle Picture Gallery. There were 2 types of tickets available depends on the amount of time we have and our level of interest.

Next: St. Vitus Cathedral

St. Vitus Cathedral is an excellent example of Gothic architecture and is the biggest and most important church in the country. Its been constructed since 1344 but still not finished until 1929.

magnificently built St.Vitus Cathedral

south view of the cathedral

It is extremely cold today...the wind is so strong at the peak of the castle ....we immediately rush in to the cathedral after a few quick snap shot on the exterior.

entrance to the cathedral is free

but we bought the basic tickets to fully explore the major attractions
which covered the Royal Palace, St. Vitus Cathedral, St. George's Basilica and another forgot which name

interior of St. Vitus Cathedral

beautiful rose window

stained glass window

sculptures

antique chandelier

the tomb of John of Nepomuk

18th century organ

Next: St. George's Basilica

St. George Basilica is the oldest surviving church building within Prague Castle. It is now houses the 19th century Bohemian Art Collection of National Gallery in Prague. It also serves as a concert hall.

After the St. George's Basilica...there's a few more sights around...we suppose to visit the Royal Palace also, but now the Mr. Italy is here today...perhaps its not open for public. So we decided to head down to the old town now and come back for the Royal Palace tomorrow.

While on the way down, we pass by the Toy Museum and the Golden Lane which is currently under constructions.

We walk up the tower ...i think there is abt 3 -4 floor

reaching at the entrance only we realize it needs to purchase another set of tickets to visit the toy museum.

The tickets is kinda pricey and we think its a tourist trap!

Their banner is not introducing any interesting toy in the museum, instead it advertise that from the toy museum window we can look out for the Golden Lane.

so we turned away and left

another 3- 4 floor staircase going down........

some toys displayed at the entrance

Golden Lane which next to the Toy Museum, needs the full priced ticket which our basic ticket is not eligible for it. Now i knew why the Toy Museum is having such approach....

Golden Lane - The ramshackle houses here on this street are impossibly tiny - usually simple one- or two- room abodes, without anything like a kitchen or a bathroom to make them livable. Nonetheless, they housed the castle guards in the 16th century and continued to function as more or less normal dwellings up until the 20th century. Franz Kafka was perhaps the most famous resident, living for a short time at no. 22. Now the lane looks like nothing more than a film set. The houses have been converted to gift shops, selling the usual collection of glass, books and T-shirt.

Next: Charles Bridge

The Charles Bridge is a famous historic bridge that crosses the Vltava river in Prague. Its construction started in 1357, finished in the beginning of the 15th century was considered one of the wonders of the known world.

The bridge is decorated by a continuous alley of 30 statues and statuaries, most of them baroque-style, originally erected around 1700 but now all replaced by replicas.

Charles Bridge connecting the city's old town

and the Prague Castle

The Old Town Bridge Tower

The status of St. John Nepomuk is the most popular. He was allegedly tossed from this bridge and drowned.

Touching his relief on the status is said to bring good luck
i touched many many times...hopefully to 'buang sui' inherited from the 1st day

We was never expect Prague to be that cold. As per our observation on the weather forecast earlier, it suppose to be just about 16'C to 17'C. But the street temperature display is showing currently it is at 10'C.

Oh my gosh, both our body is shaking crazily....already wrap ourself with 4 layers of cloth still im freezing.

We can't stay much longer on the bridge, and its raining that time... after a few quick shot around we head to hunt for our lunch.

Strolling around Lesser Town, there was a lot of restaurant offering set lunch. But we find its kinda pricey, possible because its in the tourist attraction area...

Finally we walk out of the ancient area and found this tempting pizza house.