As we were walking back across the Charles bridge the girls got interested in getting their portraits done. EV and MV really wanted their profiles done by a man wielding some impressive scissor skills. They turned out really well and we were all very satisfied as we found dinner on the way back to our accommodation. Although there was a little bit of controversy along the way with some spelling.
We started heading back to the hotel but ended up making a few stops along the way. How could we not with such cool places to see and stop at. Praha really is a vibrant city full of all sorts of things for tourists and locals alike, plus all of that wonderful history too.
We took advantage of Praha's shopping to pick up a few things although not everyone was super excited about the process. We walked to Vaclav Square which has been home to many protests including those which led to the soviet occupation in 1969 with tanks rolling down the very same streets where we stood. Currently the biggest thing rumbling down the street is the light rail which suited us fine as we took some photographs and looked at the photography exhibit on display. We also stopped in the Lego store before the girls very excitedly went into the candy mine, why? Well because, of course.
We went to visit the communist museum which has moved from the previous location where KT and TV visited it back in 2003. The museum is much more sophisticated compared to that earlier time and is really well laid out. TV was really happy to show the girls some of the history of Ceskoslovensko, some of which he experienced growing up. It gave them a bit of context and understanding of the country and the people with their habits. There were some really nice parts like the Spartakiada which involved hundreds of thousands of people moving and dancing in coordinated fashion in front of 280,000 spectators at the Strahov Stadium. The museum also pointed out a lot of the very negative aspects of communism including the brutal invasion of Ceskoslovensko by the soviet army. It was certainly important to visit and see the museum.
We walked to see the medieval astronomical clock Orloj perform with it's moving figurines at the top of the hour. The clock dates back to 1410 and has been repaired and restored many times since then, it is still quite an amazing sight to see and this was the second attempt for the girls to see it. There were quite a few people around but we still enjoyed the show. Afterwards we found a geocache close by and the girls were really excited since it had quite a few travel bugs in it. We also stopped in at a couple of tourist shops to see the Krtko merch because it was cool.
We headed out to go for a couple of geocache that were near where we were staying. The first was under the Charles Bridge and seemed like it went missing which apparently happened to it sometimes. So we ended up going across the bridge again and the girls ended up touching some of the statues along the way. It was a bit more busy on the bridge this time, but we enjoyed the walk to the other side and more geocaching.
Our apartment was a little too nice as we didn't want to leave, but the lure of ice cream proved to be too great. After getting a treat we walked by our previous hotel and on to Karluv Most (Charles Bridge) with it's wonderfully sculpted figures. It was busy but not terribly crowded and we enjoyed the stroll before heading to dinner. We were glad to have ventured out into the city in the evening as it is usually very pleasant.
