A short cab ride from Prague Airport to what is known as Old Town we checked into the Hotel U Stare Pani. Old Town is the is where Prague grew from its beginning. The hotel is within a couple of minutes of one of the main attractions: Old Town Square. The Square is a huge open cobblestone area which is surrounded by whole variety of architecture, some of which dates back to the 10th century. One of the sites is the Old Town Hall on the front of which is a large astronomical clock that was build in the 1500's. It is so unique that city fathers blinded the clock builder after he completed it so that he could not build another one for any other city.
One of the other notable buildings is the chuch of Our Lady Before Tyn. Construction began in the 10th century and the build is maintained today. What is really strange about it is that they built other large buildings around it such that you can no longer see the outside base of the church. The only portion visible from the Square is the upper level and its twin towers. In order to get into the church you must pass through one of the buildings which now encircles it. Prague is sometimes referred to as the city of churches, and this one is just one of many of Gothic design. If you are into Gothic or Barouque architecture, Prague is the place to be. Inside the church one sees a very, very ornate interior --- lots of huge statues most of which are done in gold leaf.
After the time in the Town Square we finally had to give it up to get our clocks in sync with local time --- Prague is 7 hours earlier than Dallas. One thing we found out very quickly is that Prague has become a major tourist town and the people like to party all hours of the night. There is a pub directly across the street from the hotel and we learned that the party goers do not drink quietly. They finally gave up about 5 AM so we got some really peaceful sleep between 5 AM and 9 AM before we headed out.
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