Day 1: Wow, that's really big!

Day one continued when we entered the heart of Prague. We headed straight for the Prague Castle complex, which is probably the most famous area in the city. Anyway, the castle has a huge number of interesting buildings, churches, and museums, only a tiny part of which we were able to see. Here we are wandering in the gardens:

I loved this gnarly old tree - probably been around longer than the castle (though parts of it date back to the 10th century!)

I never figured out what exactly this building was, but the facade was simply gorgeous - if you click the photo and look carefully, you will see beautiful white reliefs carved all over.

My first glimpse of St. Vitus' Cathedral - pretty much the trademark of Prague

It is enormous (as I am sure you guessed) - much bigger than these photos suggest

Here we are at the entrance - that woman behind us was probably taking photos of the details on the door - absolutely everything was covered in decoration and carving

Gotta love the gargoyles - reminded me of Notre Dame in Paris

This door is just the right size!

Positively breathtaking! The size is so hard to convey.

Too bad we had to mar the beauty of this photo :)

Dozens of stained glass windows lined the nave - I found them so intriguing I forgot to actually look at much else (apparently, there is a little side chapel where St. Wenceslas is buried. And a mausoleum with a bunch of royal dead guys (such as Charles IV, if you care to know)

View from the other end - the rose window (from the 20th century)

Are you shocked this is the same cathedral? The other end has a bell tower. Obviously they got several different styles going on here.

Castle gate - note the guards in their baby blues (summer uniform, apparently)

TT with something that looks like a mannequin - seriously, he doesn't look real

The Prague Castle is up on a hill, so the view of Prague is amazing - I loved the red roofs of the city

Everybody's still smiling - just wait, day 1 isn't over yet!

Random Czechsky thought: One thing that I adore about the Czech Republic (and pretty much anywhere in Europe) is that everything is old. All the buildings have been around longer than the United States. I love the historic feeling even the most mundane buildings can radiate - even a McDonalds.