15 July 2012 - Prague

I see this has appeared out of sequence - not a big issue.

Today we took a tour of the city starting at Wencelaus Square, though it's hardly a square being a wide boulevard 1km long and it's outside the Old City. The old part of town is divided into 4 regions - Old Town, New Town, Lesser Town and Castle Town, the last 2 on the south side of the river.  Each town had its own square and town hall and there was also a Jewish Town Hall in the Old Town. The tour went through all 4 with a walk through the castle.

In Castle Town all the palaces and houses of the nobility were nationalized in 1918 during the formation of the republic and are still in state ownership being used as government offices.  We detected a degree of resignation in our guides tone when talking about the current administration - e.g. a stadium that has been closed for 10 years for some reason that has never been divulged.  Any mention of communism was bitter.  A statue made up of people reducing in substance to illustrate the effect of communism was pointed out.

A statue on the effects of communism on the population

The castle itself is in great condition, being used as the seat of government, hence there are no interesting old nooks and crannies or ornate rooms full of old stuff.  It feels more like a series of 19th century office blocks with sentries at the gates.  We watched the changing of the guard at one gate - the usual marionette style of movement with goose stepping soldiers.

At least the sentries are allowed sun glasses.