Prague.....Part 2

Hello friends! Thanks for stopping by today. I am sharing photos from my first full day in Prague and this post is picture heavy! I wanted to take pictures of everything I saw on this first day out and about. This is not all the pictures I took, but it has a good variety. I hope you have your walking shoes on because we will be putting in about 5 miles today! The first unusual thing I saw were these hanging umbrella people statues. They are so cool! See the woman in the background hanging from the orange umbrella.

I thought these huge mushroom statues were interesting. I realized on this first day that Prague is full of beautiful architecture, but it also has it's share of fun and quirky art around the city as well. And grafitti....lots of grafitti! Check out the roof of the car in the photo too!

This cafe was so pretty.

Just one of hundreds of statues I saw on buildings throughout the city.

We had brunch at Globe, an American owned restaurant.

It was so pretty inside and had some interesting artwork. LOL!

I had huevos rancheros....delicious!

Tummies full, we headed out to see some sights. I was in awe of the beautiful architecture everywhere we turned. I have never seen so many beautiful old buildings in one city.

So charming.

The Dancing House was on our list of must see's. This is a famous building that was initially named the Fred and Ginger Building but later named the Dancing House. It really stands out among the historic buildings that surround it.

We also had a beautiful view of the Vltava River from here.

There are hundreds of statues around the city. This was the first one I saw so of course, I had to take a picture.

I thought the "naked" trees were so pretty against the backdrop of beautiful architecture.

Notice the pink and green spires in the photo below.

Here's another one on this building. Prague is nicknamed the City of  the Thousand Spires. It's easy to see why. They are everywhere.

Another lovely view of the Vltava River. Isn't this playground so pretty?

More gorgeous architecture!

And more.....

Some buildings have beautiful mosaics on them as well as carvings and statues.

Here's a closer view ofd the mosaic.

I loved this building with the blue green trim.

Look at the beautiful carvings and statues on this one!

Here's some more quirky for you!

All of these beautiful buildings run parallel to the river. Walking along the river, you get the building views to the right and this view to the left.

Here I am with Miranda. Such a gorgeous backdrop!

There is nothing ugly about this city. Such perfect details everywhere.

Right after Miranda moved to Prague, she found this gingerbread shop while out exploring one day. I wanted to visit it on my trip, so we did. It was adorable all decorated for Christmas. 

Here's one of the workers making gingerbread.

Gingerbread everywhere! Such a cute shop. I did not buy anything but it smelled heavenly! I love the look of gingerbread but am not a big fan of the taste. 

After we left the gingerbread shop, we headed across the Charles Bridge. The bridge was very crowded with tourists, street performers, and people selling things. It is a beautiful bridge that is decorated with 30 statues and statuaries. Construction of this bridge began in 1357 under the rule of King Charles the IV and was finished in the beginning of the 15th century...so it's just a few years old! This is the Gothic style tower on the Old Town side of the bridge where we entered. 

Here is just one of the street performers I saw. They are all over the city!

Here's one of the statues and I even managed to get myself in the picture. See my shadow in the center?

Another statue.

And another...

This is the other end of the bridge where we walked around the most charming streets.

Look at this beautiful building....light blue with gold gilt and flanked on either side with equally beautiful pink and yellow buildings!

More street performers.....

More charming streets.

How pretty is this? They really decorate for the season!

We visited the Lennon Wall.

And then, in need of a break, we went to this little coffee shop to sit and rest for a bit and have a snack. I love all the coffee grinders they used to decorate the place. 

Almost every restaurant we went to had restroom facilities downstairs. I've never climbed as many stairs as I did during this week. There is a lot of uphill and downhill as well! You have to pay to use public restrooms in Prague so we waited until we were in a restaurant to go. 

Miranda and I decided to have an ice cream. She had caramel which had a delicious crunchy praline topping and I had strawberry. So delicious! The ice cream was a little different than our ice cream here in America. It had little pockets of ice throughout. It wasn't as sweet as ours either....in fact, none of the desserts there were as sweet as ours. I really liked them though!

We got our second wind and decided to walk back across the bridge and head to Old Town Square to the Christmas Markets. This was in one small section on the way. So pretty!

We passed the Astronomical Clock on the way. It was beginning to get dark out so this photo isn't the best. This clock is so beautiful! It is over 600 years old! It was first instaled in 1410 whoch makes it the third oldest astronomical clock in the world and the oldest one still operating.

And, finally, we made it to the square! Check out this amazing tree! You can read more about how the tree is selected each year here. I like the fact that they always choose a tree that is destined to be cut down anyway for various reasons each year. Every half hour or hour, the tree lights up in sections to music. It is magical! Those ornaments that look like little houses are each about 3-4 feet high. This tree is massive!

Here's Miranda and myself standing beside it. The bottom branches are around head high on us.

It starts getting dark around 4 PM. This picture was taken at 4:50 PM. I love the deep blue color of the sky here. It was breathtaking over the Christmas Market lights and red roofs. I will be sharing more on the Christmas Markets soon. This post is too long already!

So, I will end it by sharing my supper meal with you.....chicken schnitzel with potato pancakes and steamed veggies. Yum!

Are you as tired as I was after a long day out and about? I'll try to post some Christmas Market photos soon and then continue with my trip day by day. I hope you all had a restful weekend. The hubby and I made a lot of headway on our guest bathroom. I look forward to sharing it soon. I managed to get several things accomplished around the house this weekend so I feel good starting this new week. I have plans for several upcoming posts and look forward to sharing with you all. Have a great week! 

Until next time.....