Prague 2018 - Day 3: It's still winter

We woke up this morning to sleet and snow, so it was an easy decision to start the day with an indoor activity.

First up: a brisk walk up to Old Town Square again for a guided tour of the Old Town Hall at 10 AM.

Our tour guide was delayed by weather-related traffic ("there were many accidents"), but her understudy did a fine job filling in for the first 10 or 15 minutes.

The "real" tour guide appeared suddenly, and led us on a tour of the labyrinthine building.

Part of its maze-like appeal is due to being made up of 4 or 5 different buildings, originally (and it still looks like different, but attached, structures from the outside).

Various parts of it were constructed and/or renovated over a 600-year period, leading to a jumble of architectural styles, materials, stairs, windows, walled-up doorways, secret rooms and corridors, etc.

The most unusual part of the tour were the "underground" or basement areas.

These old stone sections were the original ground-level structures, before the citizens of Prague filled in most of Old Town to raise the streets above the flood level of the Vltava river.

Over the centuries, these lower levels were repurposed for a variety of uses, ranging from jails to storage to bomb shelters.

Elsewhere in Old Town, according to our guide, these underground caverns are now used as utility tunnels for various services, allowing maintenance without disturbing the ancient cobblestone streets and sidewalks.

I think she said that many of the original artifacts, and much of the original wooden parts of the structure, were lost over the centuries due to fires, various political and military conflicts, etc., but they managed to save this (burned) cross and some of the original windows, among other pieces.

On the way out of the dungeon, we went through this room that was entirely tiled with mosaics made from squares around 1/4" or 1/2" across.

That's all I know about this room; I was busy taking pictures instead of listening.

The tickets for the tour also included entrance to the Astronomical Clock tower, so we went to the top to take some pictures in the snow.

The final bit of (spiral) staircase has a traffic-control device, which is a nice upgrade since the last time we were here.

One has to squeeze past fellow photographers, while walking around (outside) within the parapets atop the tower, to get any decent shots.

It was just barely possible to make out Prague Castle and Petřín Tower in the (cloudy) distance.

Once we were cold and photo-satisfied, we carefully descended back to Earth.

We stepped back into the cold at 11:30 AM, and wandered in the direction of our lunch date at U Supa with the MoCo group, doing some light shopping along the way.

After lunch, all ten of us went next door for a private tour of Charles University.

This was very similar to the tour we got four years ago, so I didn't document all of it.

This time, however, we got to see the museum in the basement, as well.

I don't recall seeing this before, although I didn't actually check the blog from 2014.

Once the tour ended, we parted ways with the MoCo group and evaluated our options for the remainder of the afternoon, as the wintry mix was turning to mostly rain at that point.

After some deliberation, we navigated through a few blocks to get to Jindřišská Tower, and ascended to the whiskey bar/cafe in search of some hot beverages.

Coffee and tea evolved into a two-hour-long recuperation break and planning meeting, after which we headed up to the 10th floor to see the top of the city at dusk.

We were just in time for the 6 PM bells to play a few songs.

From this tower, it was possible to make out Vitkov in the distance, which is (roughly) on the itinerary for later this week.

Sabrina and I planned to meet some friends at the Břevnov Monastery for dinner at 7 PM, so we planned to leave the tower and head to the nearest metro station around 6:30.

On the way down, we stopped briefly at the museum levels for a look around.

Shannon and Brenna went to rejoin the MoCo expedition for dinner.

We crossed back to Malá Strana on the metro, and then switched to the tram for the ride up the hill to the monastery. As we went up, the snow got more substantial; there was enough snow cover for children to go sledding, as we approached the monastery.

We spent over three hours catching up with friends over a delicious dinner, and ventured forth to find the tram just before 10:30 PM.

We have a rough plan for tomorrow, mostly centered around a train trip to Tábor, which was recommended during dinner.