Prague - Lucia and me, together again!

Here I am, taking a vacation from my vacation! What a great concept! Lucia and I arrived in Prague this past Saturday and have been on the move ever since. We've been having a lot of fun seeing the sights of the city and some of the surrounding areas. We've walked around the "old city" quite a bit and seen some of the famous town squares, churches and the large town clock which produces a display of the 12 apostles every hour. On Tuesday we went about 2 hours out of town to visit the hot springs area called Karlovy Vary (also called "Carlsbad" and named for King Charles IV who discovered the springs in the 14th century). This area is known mostly for the health benefits of drinking the water which contains lots of minerals. There are 12 different springs and you can actually visit a local doctor who will tell you which springs to drink from depending on your particular medical problem. Yesterday we had lunch with Lucia's cousin. Then, today, we took another tour and bicycled about 20 miles out of town to visit the castle of King Charles IV known as Karlstejn. After the ride we had to climb all the way up to the castle entrance at the top of a steep hill but the tour was worth it. The castle has been restored in fantastic detail and you can really get a sense of how it must have looked in the late 1300's. Once we were done with the tour and with all of the hundreds of gift shops which line the long road back down, we took a train back into the city. Now we're pretty exhausted but it's all been worth it. Tomorrow we hope to visit the Charles Bridge (have you noticed the pattern here regarding old Charles?) and perhaps Prague Castle. Lucia speaks fluent Czech and has been a fantastic tour guide even though she hasn't been back here for many years. This trip wouldn't have been half as rich otherwise.

Please consider making a small donation to help cancer survivors (sadly, my mom was not one of them) http://www.livestrong.org/grassroots2008/steveonhisbike