What a great start to the day! Yesterday sent towels and sheets 'out' to be washed. Back this morning washed and dried - luxury!

Set off for the city . Started with Wenceslas Square, site of so much history over years. Actually a very long rectangle. Sat over coffee and watched folk go by. (It is Prague's equivalent to Times Square or Leicester Square.) Then walked up to the giant statue of Wenceslas on a horse, flanked by the other patron saints of Bohemia, and admired the National Museum from outside.

Walked to the Old Town -Stare Mesto- and looked at so many beautiful buildings including the Baroque Kinsky Palace, the House At The Stone Bell, the Church of Our Lady before Tyn, a house once lived in by writer Frank Kafka, and finally the Old Town Hall. Thousands watch the hourly show of the Astronomical Clock. We just missed it but looked at it instead! Went into the "wedding cake" St Nicholas Church. Now a Hussite church, after Jan Hus, pro-Protestant reformer burned at the stake in 1415, and very ornate with lots of gold. There is a magnificent Art Nouveau statue of Hus in the Square, which itself is a lovely place to wander and just look .

Next the Jewish Museum. In fact, a group of buildings - New-Old Synagogue, built in 13th century; Klaus Synagogue; Ceremonial Hall and Pinkas Synagogue. The latter has the names of more than 77,000 Jews who were victims of the Nazis inscribed on the walls. Then the Old Cemetery, last used in 1787, where thousands of tomb stones lean on each other with an estimated 100,000 more piled in layers beneath.
The whole experience was amazing- so well put together, we both came out a lot more educated in Jewish religious life and ritual burial practices we had no idea about before. (never been in a synagogue before either - John had to wear a small blue skull cap.)

Lunch next - I had typical goulash and dumplings; John smoked pork and dumplings- delicious.

Then we walked to the river, saw a statue of one of Prague's musical sons, Dvorak (other one was Smetana) the along the river to Charles Bridge . Pedestrian bridge, thousands of people, lots of great street musicians and statuary on the balustrades - another Gothic Frenzy of Karel IVth. Supposed to touch the statue of St John of Nepomuk, as thousand have done, to ensure we come back to Prague (but we didn't).

Reached the opposite bank - Mala Strana. Old narrow streets, Mala Strana Square, and great views of the castle we saw up close yesterday. Went into two churches - the amazing baroque extravaganza of Church of St Nicholas (two churches with same name) with a beautiful ceiling fresco. Second one was the Church of Our Lady Victorious. I had heard of the Infant Jesus of Prague. It is a 47 cm wood and cloth statue, coated with wax, brought from Spain in1628 and said to have protected Prague from the plague and destruction in the Thirty Year's War. The statue has 300 different costumes, that are changed regularly by the Carmelite nuns who are its custodians. John and I wondered how they had not damaged or broken it with all that dressing and undressing!

Stopped for coffee in the square before a tram and bus home, in a cloud burst just as we hit camp. Soaked but agreed we had done our best to see as much as possible of a beautiful city. We did note, however, less central areas looked neglected - years of no money so no maintenance, I guess.