Prague Staroměstská

Today we toured Prague's old town. Beautiful old architecture, narrow streets, and plenty of places to eat and drink. Very charming. One of the more popular attractions is the clock tower. On its side is an astronomical clock and every hour on the hour the little figurines start moving as the bell chimes. Two windows open and the 12 apostles (more figurines) walk by and look at the crowd assembled below. And this does draw a good sized crowd although one web-based tourist guide I read said that the wait was not worth more than 5 minutes. I'd have to agree. It's really not that spectacular.

Prior to old town we walked by the dancing building in new town. They're also sometimes referred to the Fred and Ginger buildings. They were designed by Frank Gehry, a Canadian architect (based in L.A.) who also designed the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. We took the pictures from the Vltava river side of the street, where we're standing below. As my friend commented on me at lunch, I look like quite the boffin in my lab, er, I mean rain coat.

And that concludes our 3-day tour of Prague. It really should have been longer, but now it's time to head back home and then to work. We leave tomorrow morning at 09:30 which requires us to get up at 05:00. We don't get in till about 19:30 if there are no delays. Too late to pick up the cats unfortunately, but I read on their web page that we may get a chance to do so on Sunday. I'm sure the cats would love to be home a day early. Maybe we'll have time to fit in a forest walk with them.

Later this month Corey has to travel to D.C., then I drive down to Charleston in October. Core then takes off to Reno in November, and I close out the year with a trip to Finland in December. I've been asked to serve as dissertation defense opponent to a PhD candidate there. When I asked my Finnish friends what it's like in Finland in December, they told me "Dark!". I've experienced very long bright days in Stockholm in June, but have yet to experience really long dark days. I hope it's not too cold.