Prague is a city of contrasts. Note the butterfly atop a building in the distance. Much of Prague still looks very much like Cold War Russia. There are rows of run-down tenament buildings, old women wearing loose black clothing and walking with canes, graffiti in the alleys, etc. Oh, and Goth is very popular there. But the Old City is an amazingly beautiful place, with street after street of statues, relief sculptures on buildings, Turkish spires, clocktowers, etc. The pictures, needless to say, focus on the old city.
	A close-up of the butterfly.
	One of the entrances to the old city is marked by these sculpted musicians. The purpose of the work seems to be to emphasize the sculpted cloth draped across the musician's bodies, but the whole effect is pretty neat.
	A closer look at the horn player... note the gargoyle in the background.
	In the old city, every prominance that happens to jut or recess in a building is decorated. These male and female figures form the supports for the balcony upstairs.
	Here, griffons do the same job.
	Even telling the time of day is no simple proposition...
	The clock below, while beautifully painted and carved with fantastic detail, is relatively simple to read...
	The clock above seems to convey more information, although of what kind I'm not entirely certain. Some of it seems to be astrological. The skeleton to the right seems to remind us that time passes inexorably by, even as we watch the clock.
	Even one small corner of the edging around the clock has a world of detail in it. Note the gnome and the bird.
	Not to be left out, the door of the adjacent building is intricately carved.
	A closer look reveals more detail...
	... and still more detail.
	A nearby building is painted with scenes of love and war from faraway lands.
	Everywhere you look, there are more sculptures. This tiny guard is recessed into the wall of a guardtower. The guardtower is about four stories tall, this guy is less than a foot tall.
	This couple peeks out of a corner.
	These cherubs seem to have found a comfy place to sit... on a gazelle and a bear, I think. The pigeon also looks perfectly comfortable.
	This relief sculpture shows one of the more frightening aspects of the centaur legends. The people who first saw men riding horseback may have told such stories as this.
	The centaur, though, is far from the only decor on this building. The artwork is beautiful enough to forgive the ghastly shades of pink.
	I did mention Turkish spires... and here are some. We ate lunch in the yellowish building to the left. Oh, yes, and the dollar remains strong against the Czech crown, so lunch for two costs about $8, even here in the tourist district. Our hotel was about $35/night (and while it was nothing special, it was within walking distance of the old city.)
	Prague also has several genuine castles. You can tour them, but unfortunately we didn't have time...
	These pictures show only a small bit of the old city. The beautiful city just keeps going...
	... and going ...
	... and going ...
	... and unfortunately, we had to leave before we could see much of it at all. This is the inside of the train station. I definitely want to go back to Prague some day.

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