Prague Part 4

During the communist period, not much was done to maintain the beauty of the city's buildings. Apparently Wenceslas Square (Vaclavski Namesti), which we walked through several times, was actually covered with scaffolding for over a decade without much work being done.

True renovations began after the communist collapse. During this time much of the city converted from coal heating to electric heating. This helped maintain buildings after renovations and rebuilds as the coal burning air pollution no longer corroded and darkened the building facades.

We ended up taking a lot of photos at or near Old Town Square because we walked through it so many times. This is the spot where we saw the St. Nicholas Church, the Tyn Church, the Astronomical Clock and more.

Here are a few things and/or photos I haven't already mentioned. The statue here is a memorial to Jan Hus (born in 1369) a religious reformer who became a symbol of Czech nationalism.

There were performance artists pretending to be statues in the square.

At Wenceslas Square we saw the Art Nouveau Grand Hotel Europa. By the way, the square is a very long street more than a square.

Somewhere we saw this upside down sculpture of a man on a horse. The horse is upside down, but the man isn't. Some folks believe it is supposed to be Wenceslas.

You can tour Prague in the back of an open-air old time car. We saw them parked in various parts of town. I think maybe the season for the open-air tours was about over as it was chilly much of the time. They do have blankets though!

I have no idea what this building is but it's interesting.

You can't forget this building! The Dancing House by the American Frank Gehry is a whimsically modern building. This is supposed to be Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing.

Near the Dancing House.

Off a beautiful tree-lined side street from Old Town Square is the Old Jewish Quarter. We had a walking guide so off we went.  This is the Maisel synagogue, erected in 1592 on the basis of a privilege granted by Emperor Rudolf II. Its founder was Mordecai Maisel, the Mayor of the Prague Jewish Town.  It was originally a Renaissance temple with three naves, which was unusual for its day.The synagogue burnt down in the ghetto fire of 1689 and was rebuilt several times. It acquired its current Neo-Gothic form between 1893-1905. 

I did want to mention that many of the sites are clearly marked but you need to do a lot of reading at every corner!

We used the tram several times but we did walk a tremendous amount here! There's even a little bit of English on this sign!

The hotel served this delicious bar dessert. We think it's some sort of pistachio bar. Maybe made with pistachios made into a paste like they do with almonds. Delicious.

This is a Czech dessert for sure- honey cake. We found a little single serving one at a grocery store. It was quite good. Moist with honey based filling.

This was a cute sign outside a cafe.

What else could you want? Spectacular views...

 and beautiful fall colors.

Wait- you're in the Czech Republic, the heart of Bohemian crystal. We could not find anything that we really wanted even though there was crystal, crystal, everywhere!