More Old Town

Next day we picked up on the Rick Steves "Prague Walk" again, this time getting as far as Old Town Square (again), about 500m. At this rate it will take us 3 days to do the 3 hour walk. (It did).

Starting at the Municipal House...just of few teaser pix of the
porch

We'll be back in a few days for the tour

Across the street, the Hibernia Theater, where
we saw a Carmen in 2010

Standing in front of the Powder Tower, from left to right...art deco,
Gothic, neo-Classical/Art Nouveau...

Cubist architecture in Old Town...so it said; the House of the
Black Madonna

In case you've ever wondered what a Cubist restaurant might look
like...of course you have!

Or a Cubist cafe

Cubist font, she says

Sic transit, Gloria...a surpassingly glorious building
housing a massage parlor...OK, it's a Thai massage parlor...

On Old Town Square, the Hussite church (read on)

Looking into the Tyn church, the Catholic church...over-the-top
Baroque in a Gothic structure...closed this Sunday but we'll be
back

Panning around the great square

Another 700 year sweep

The Jan Hus monument, center stage in Old Town Square; Hus
was a church critic and reformer of note, influencing Luther and
antedating him by a century, translating the Bible, advancing
feminism and other causes; he was burned at the stake in 1415
by duplicitous Church authorities; his movement then became a
national cause, with many battles against Catholic forces; the Church
eventually recognized the Hussite church and state later in the 15th
century; but it was all eclipsed when the Hapsburgs took over in
17th; then the Germans, then the Russians; Pope John Paul II
apologized in 1999 for the Church's murder of Hus; long, sad,
fruitless story...

Moving right along, today's tourist train

Wider view of part of the square, Hus monument, and the (now)
Catholic Church of Tyn

Ever more interesting buildings

50 meters down Dlouha St. from our building

Digitally-enhanced (-dehanced?)

Wenceslas Square And Environs, 2

Continuing our walk in and around Wenceslas Square, then back into Old Town...

Coruna Building, one of the better art decos we've seen ever...

Alas, rather few of the notable buildings have signage for their
names, dates, architects, etc., as in places like Paris or Barcelona

Atop another art deco beauty across the street

And another

By now we have turned left and departed the
official Walk; still in New Town

More art deco

Former palace, Palac Adria

Gorgeous street scenes

Ditto

Reflects well on its neighbors

Dynamic (some say kinetic) Kafka sculpture, by
David Czerny; each of of the 40 or so horizontal
segments moves, creating different "looks"

Us, there

Mozart wasn't born here, but he spent much of his
prime in Prague; now back in Old Town

Lizst, not so much, but then he lived a very long time

The Havelska Market: tourist crap in the middle of a street lined
with tourist crap; looking up above ground level always reveals
beautiful architecture, however

Stavoske Theater; where the world premiere of Don Giovanni
took place, 1787

More beauty everywhere

Wenceslas Square And Environs, 1

Our reconnaissance phase completed, we set forth September 24th to do the Rickie Stevie "Prague Walk," which takes you from Wenceslas Square through Old Town Square to Charles IV Square and across the Charles Bridge. Alas, we veered off from this after Wenceslas Square to explore some streets southwest, still New Town, vowing to rejoin the tour another day, starting at the Municipal House.

Along the way, a better view of the Municipal House

Much musical history in Prague, mostly well-signed,

if not in English, however

Another great Gothic tower

It seems like nearly every building, at least the old ones, is adorned
with sculpture or paint

Sometimes sidewalks too

Inside a downtown post office

All four walls so adorned

At the top of Wenceslas Square, the national museum

"Under the horse's tail" is a common meeting point at the Square

Houses of parliament during the Russian occupation

Proper view of Good King Wenceslas, first great Czech ruler; also
known to you, dear Reader, via the Christmas carol

Looking down the square, actually a wide boulevard; here, in
November of 1989, hundreds of thousands gathered nightly to
demand an end to the Russian occupation and rule; unlike 1968,
this time the Russians did not send in their tanks...it was the
Velvet Revolution

The long square features just about every kind of architecture since

Gothic; here, a particularly huge and exotic art deco

The old Grand Europa Hotel, under new management presumably, 
an art nouveau landmark

Pregnant with meaning department: yes, it's the M&S (sic transit,
Gloria); yes, it has five (count 'em) great caryatids/telamons; but,
most importantly, this is the balcony from which Vaclav Havel 
announced the end of Russian control and the establishment of a
free Czech republic in 1989

In an arcade off Wenceslas Square, Good King

Wenceslas demonstrates his unusual riding skills

In another arcade, a popular downtown ice creamery...the banana/

strawberry was just OK, the pistachio, superb

Same arcade...Tesla was a Czech manufacturer of radios in the 1930s;
huge stained glass piece

Franciscan chapel in the Franciscan garden, again, just off
Wenceslas Square

Tallest rose vines ever, so far

Back on the Square, gawking