James and his gf arrived a day after I did. The three of us camped out at Keitha's apartment (more about that later), but on my second day, we walked from Keitha's aparment over the Prague castle which is one of the biggest castle complexes in the whole. To me, the most beautiful building in the compound was the gothic cathedral. It is comprised of many chapels and contains the tombs of many Bohemian kings. But first... we stopped for breakfast, and though I had already eaten before coming (guess who overslept :P), I tried a new cake! It's the honey cake... seems to be Prague thing (or so keitha told me).

The entrance: doesn't it remind you of Buckingham palace?



Prague Eiffel tower in the distance.


St Vitus Cathedral




The area where all Czech bishops are burried today.




The tomb in the middle reminded me a lot of the tombs I saw in Westminster abbey. They're all very grand structures just scattered around the church with no layout or organization. But somehow, they all manage to fit...












View of Prague from the castle. I should probably mention that it wasn't till a couple of years ago that the Prague castle started being lit up at night. Keitha told me that it was because R.E.M performed in Prague a few years back and suggested that it should be lit up. They even paid to install the lights and everything... but how true... I'm not sure...


Portraits of the Habsburg rulers, which serve as a reminder that Czech Republic was part of the Habsburg empire for a decent part of their history. This is my explanation why perhaps the castle does not seem as "meaningful" as compared to the imperial castles in Vienna. This is because, the Prague castle has never been properly lived in by the royal family, and while well preserved as never really had a purpose for it. You look inside, but there's nothing much to tell you of what happened in the past.... history is written all over the exterior, but not much on the interior. But if there's one thing that Prague is superb for, it's its architecture and I have yet to see a city which rivals it closely..

St George's Basillica


Examples of Bohemian art in the castle gallery



Walking along the golden mile... i couldn't stop laughing at this funny name of a restaurant. This area was mainly for tourist, selling trinklets of all kinds, chess sets/medieval trinklets etc


Taking a look in the medieval torture chamber. Did I mention that there is only one narrow staircase leading into this chamber? So imagine 50 tourists trying to come out and go down at the same time. And tourists being tourists, never give way. Once I noticed that the line had changed to going up, I quickly followed the crowd. But James and gf got trapped inside, and witnessed two french men nearly coming to blows and swearing at each other in French... BOOO... wish I had been there! :P... but then again... maybe not...


The dark hole... where they kept prisoners.


Streets of Hradcany...full of cobbled streets.... the area just outside the castle...


Watching folk dance in old town square...


So... if one ever makes it Prague (and I hope you do if you haven't) and you visit the castle, do plan to give yourself a full day there, especially if you're hiring the audio guide like you did. The castle is huge and there's much too see, but there's twice as much tourists (especially americans and french) swarming the castle as well, so it does get cramped sometimes..... But still go... just because... definitely recommend St Vitus cathedral as a must see...