4 June - Prague, Czech Republic

The weather was not kind to us today. It was a cool 21 deg C and raining, but we enjoyed ourselves anyway. Our tour bus picked us up at the hotel at 9.45 and took us through Prague city pointing out significant landmarks. Our guide, Peter, took some getting used to. He spoke in a very slow manner, but he was very pleasant and helpful. On our tour he was also taking the Italian participants. He said he also takes German and French tourists at times. He likes practising his language skills. We went up the hill to Prague Castle and St Vitus Cathedral. We looked inside the beautiful cathedral adorned with stained glass windows, gold and silver. It is one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in Europe. The bus took us back to the city and to a cruise on the Vltava River, passing slowly by historical buildings and under bridges including the “well-known” Charles Bridge. After we left the boat, we had a walking tour through the Old Town Square. There the tour ended and we went for a walk to the Charles Bridge which is pedestrian only and full of stalls targeting tourists. The rain held off at times so wasn't too bad but not good for taking photographs of the beautiful colourful buildings.

We came back to our hotel for a rest before walking down to the train station to book our seats for Warsaw on Friday. Took a long time standing in the queue waiting to be served. We then walked to another part of town we hadn't seen before and back to our hotel. Everywhere you look there is another beautiful building.

We finished the day with dinner at an open air cafe in Old Town Square overlooking historic churches and enjoying the “passing parade” while we ate “traditional” Czech food with a bottle of Czech wine. A lovely romantic way to spend an evening.