Prague

Thursday, 15th September
After a walk back up the hill to the bus, we said goodbye to the lovely medieval town of Cesky Krumlov and headed for Prague. The morning was cool with some fog patches, but quickly cleared to a clear day. The drive was through rolling, wooded hills and farmlands - very picturesque.
We arrived in Prague just on noon, after driving through typical city outskirts. Prague is a mixture of medieval, middle ages and communist buildings. The very ugly with the very beautiful. Some is well maintained, some needs plenty of TLC. Bullet holes from the Second World War are still apparent in some of the building. Grafitti is very bad.
None of our hotel rooms were ready, so we were assured our hand luggage would be stored in a secure room while we went and had lunch, with the rooms supposed to be ready before we left for our afternoon tour of the city. This is when the drama started. Our tour guide noticed a stranger trying to enter the luggage area and challenged him. When she turned back, her tour bag/office had been stolen. Not only did this contain all the documents and paperwork she required for the tour, but also her float of about ten thousand Euros as well as her personal documents and cards. (Tour guides are expected to pay cash for optional tours as they happen - Insight really need to review this policy!) The hotel CCTV showed there were three involved in the theft and they had been waiting in the lobby for our arrival. Although the complete scenario was filmed, it doesn't really help Beata. Fortunately we have Friday in Prague, which will give her time to visit her embassy and arrange an emergency passport so she can continue with the tour. A big dampener has been put on the tour.
A very subdued group, clutching bags to their tummies, headed out for a tour of the city sights. Our bus took us to the Prague Castle where we were dropped (with our local guide) so we could look at St Vitas Cathedral, watch the guards change, watch five brides and grooms have their photos taken (they have photos taken days before the wedding - one bride we saw was wearing a very dirty gown and thongs on her feet), before walking through the narrow cobblestone streets to the Charles Bridge. There are supposed to be 5 million visitors to Prague and I think they were all on Charles Bridge at the same time. They all then followed us to the square to see the famous Astronomical Clock strike five before we returned to the Palace Hotel for dinner.
After dinner entertainment was a tour of Prague by night - we were put onto a little train which drove around the streets before we finished the evening with a cruise on the river. The city looked very pretty by night, with all the churches and buildings lit up. There are supposed 137 churches in this city, and I think we have seen 136!
Unfortunately, we don't feel secure in this city and everyone is very aware of their bags and wallets - all are securely tucked down the fronts of shirts of attached securely to our chests!
Will put some photos on later today when I have more time.