Day 10-Prague Castle

Today we took a tour around the major areas of Prague. Our first and longest stop is Prague Castle. Prague Castle is actually made up of a compound of buildings. It has provided offices for kings, emperors, and now presidents. It is also the largest ancient castle in the world. Check out the article here on Prague Castle.

Our tour guide was quick to mention this "hideous" building outside the Castle. Anything that was built during the communist era sticks out next to the gorgeous architecture of years past.





The guard changes every hour. I felt bad for the guy because it was FREEZING! I found it so odd that we didn't have to go through metal detectors or anything resembling security. The president was even in his office the day we visited.





Fighting Giants at the gate of Prague Castle







I thought the flag pole was pretty cool. The flag is the same as the Czechoslovakia flag. When it was split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Slovakia created their own flag.







The flag that shows that the president is in his office. You could actually see the door that leads to his office. There were no guards...

The rose window of St Vitus Cathedral.

Once again I was in awe of the details.







I thought this gargoyle was so neat!

















We had a short wait to get into the cathedral. Once inside there were a lot of people so I got as many pictures as I could with out being jostled.













Kings that were buried in the cathedral

Confessional

I loved the blue

The tomb of John of Nepomuk. The relics are all silver. He was a priest and the king's wife confessed indiscretions to him.  John refused to tell the king and so he was executed by being thrown over the Charles Bridge. He has a statue on the bridge that you rub for good luck.

















This the room where the crown jewels are kept.

Behind these doors are the crown jewels. It takes 7 keys to open the door and the safe.





Beautiful pipe organ



Gorgeous rose window!

All of the stained glass windows were breathtaking!

















In the summer you can walk up the winding staircase in the tower.



When the Nazis invaded Prague they confiscated properties which included the Lobkowicz Palace. This building is the only privately owned building at Prague Castle. The Lobkowicz Family owned this building were exiled from the country and moved to the US. In recent years one of the children started acquiring all of their lost properties.

This building was built in the 10th century. The front has obviously been restored but as you walk around it you can see the age.