19/6/19 - Last day in Prague - finally the Castle Gardens and St Vitus Cathedral

Finally we have reached our last day in Prague.
It hasn't been as we expected, but it has been a bonus to have more time here and see some unexpected places

Today we covered off on the essentials first. We went and paid our extra accommodation bill and then I took Trevor to the Palladium (which has 200 shops)  to the mobile phone shop where I purchased his data sim from, and we had a conversation with the helpful guy there, who finally got the data working. This means that Trevor finally has data on his phone which will work in the EU and when mine runs out in a few days time his will still be working for a couple more weeks, which should get us through well.

We also organised for a taxi pick up tomorrow morning so that we can get to the train station the easy way and on to the train to Budapest without too much hassle (hopefully).  We will be on the train for 6.5 hours tomorrow starting at 7.50am, and will be in Budapest to meet up with our tour group for the last day or so of the tour.  We will have 4 days in Budapest, so there will be no need to rush around and we will just see how we go with activity and pace ourselves to Trevor's pace.

Once we had done the essentials it was time to play so we figured out where we were, how to catch an undergound train, how to get off and out of the subway, how to find the tram we wanted and how to catch it in the correct direction .  Then we figured out where to get off correctly.  This was all a very interesting experience that took us both somewhat out of our comfort zone.  We couldn't help thinking that Max and Jack would have loved it.

This was more of a puzzle because the actual streets are not shown - just the names of the stops. 

We went from Narodni trida on the 22 tram at 1430 (it was right on time) to the stop after Malostranka keeping an eye on our offline maps app to check we were going to be in the right place.  

We found a photo exhibition open for free in the summerhouse in the Castle Gardens and its surrounds - It documents the fall of the Iron Curtain... something we have heard a lot about here. Some very moving  and powerful shots among them.

Many trying to get from East to West Germany came through Prague, but had to leave their cars behind.  They ended up with cars parked in the parks all over the place and just abandoned.

this symbolic jangling of keys happened for the first time when Czechoslovakia gained independence from the Soviets and still happens today.to signify support at demonstrations.  It had special significance here as it symbolized unlocking the doors and telling the Soviets to go home. 

Then we enjoyed walking in the gardens until suddenly the rain and thunderstorm came .  Huge , heaving drops plopping from the sky and soaking us and others.

This is the singing fountain.  It is supposed to sound like singing, but you have to use your imagination. As the water hits the bronze base you do get a kind of deep humming noise. 

Another pretty one 

We sheltered for a while and then decided to just keep walking to the Cathedral to have a look.  We sheltered in there oohing and ahhing until the worst of it was past ,

we thought it was good to see walkers represented in the stained glass windows...

and readers/librarians

before seeking tea and cake at the palace with a view

special cover on the way to a cuppa

This was a golden cherry (otherwise known as a physalis or cape gooseberry.)  We saw them twice today decorating carrot cake slices.

this was the other carrot cake.

and then walking home across one of the many bridges and through the Jewish area to our little apartment.

Trev noticed the Three Musketeers themed building just near home (these were knights in the history of Czech) and I took some photos of it.

The netting is to avoid pigeons pooing and nesting.  In this case it hasn't worked very well. 

Now we are home relaxing.  We will have a quiet night tonight and try to get a bit of sleep before our early start and travel tomorrow.