The Lobkowcitz Cafe with a view...

By the time we finished touring 3 of the 4 sites within the Prague Castle, we were running out of time and feeling quite cold and somewhat hungry, we decided to go into the Lobkowicz Palace Cafe for coffee and cakes. The Lobkowicz Palace is not part of the Prague Castle. It has its own tour itinerary and at lunch time everyday, there is a lunch and concert performance in the palace.

We were not in time for the concert and settled down for cafe latte and a chocolate cake and an apple strudel in place of lunch.

The balcony/terrace of the cafe offered a panoramic view of the city of Prague.

a panorama of Prague from the balcony of Prague Castle...

a chocolate cake for pakdokter and

an apple strudel for pakdokter's partner..

The Royal Palace, The Old Church, .....

Pakdokter was running late as the visiting time of the Prague Castle was up to 4 pm only. So we settled for a short tour that allowed entry to two parts of the Castle namely the Royal Palace and the Gentlewomen's Quarters, an old church and the Powder Tower. We were not allowed to take photographs in the Royal Palace but the exhibits there gave a summary of the history of the different dynasties which ruled Bohemia. The Gentlewomen Quarters was a convent for girls from the royal household.

The pictures below were of the church/chapel we were allowed to visit on the quick-tour ticket. This looked like a very old church constructed probably even before the massive St Vitus Cathedral. We did not manage to visit the Powder Tower as it was in a far corner of the castle complex.

Saint Vitus Cathedral

The St Vitus Cathedral stands commandingly in the centre of the Prague Castle complex. It was first built in the 9th century by the Bohemian Premyslid Dynasty but was destroyed by the Luxembourg dynasty which replaced it with a Romanesque structure. Charles IV built the current cathedral to maek it the largest Gothic Cathedral in the tradition of the French style. It took many years and several architects to complete this cathedral.

The cathedral, apart from religious functions also played host to commemorations, weddings as well as the burial grounds for the royalites and saints.

Prague Castle

The district where the Prague Castle and several other places are located is called the Hradcany. It took about 30 minutes of slow walk uphill from the Charles Bridge to reach the square in front of the Prague Castle. Being on a slightly higher elevation, snow from the previous nights was still covering the gardens in the centre of the square.



Many of the palaces around the square were not open to tourists. Entry into the Prague Castle required a ticket that allowed entry into several of the halls, chapels and towers that made up the Prague Castle.

changing of the guards...

the Stormbersky Palace..

Walking Up the Lesser Town to Prague Castle

The Prague Castle is located on a hilltop across the Vltava River opposite the Old Town. After crossing the Charles Bridge, it was an uphill walk along lanes of the area now known as the Lesser Town towards the Prague Castle.

It has been exceptionally cold as the temperature has gone down below zero. The hills of Mala Strana next to the Prague Castle was covered by a carpet of snow.

First Tunisia, Now Egypt, and Who is Next?......

Pakdokter has commented in an earlier posting about the possibility of other regimes in the Middle East collapsing like a domino after what happened in Tunisia and it looked like it is becoming a reality.

And pakdokter believes the American and European powers are all to be partly blamed for they have supported these regimes for years and ignoring the abuse of human rights and the pervasive corruption of the leaders of these military dictators and sheikhdoms who have neglected the welfare of its people.

One Arab Political Analyst interviewed on BBC correctly commented that the western powers have completely 'misread' the Arab people - thinking that the Arab people will not be able to start an uprising of this proportion. Pakdokter would like to quote his description of the Arabs - "the Egyptians Write, the Lebanese Publish and the Iranians Read ". This to pakdokter is a testimony to the fact that the western powers have underestimated the level of intellect of the Arab population as a whole, thinking ( and probably hoping ) that the suppression and repression inflicted by their governments would continue keep them partly in the dark ages with no ability for an organised uprising. How wrong they were......

Well, looking back closer to home, pakdokter can safely say that the Indonesians do read and write, but what about Malaysians?

Well, we are good at and like to shout " KITA Bolih!....."

The Opera "Carmen" at the Prague National Theatre...

After managing to get a one-hour rest at the hotel, we booked the hotel limousine to send us to the National Theatre to watch the "Opera Carmen" which played to a full house for one day only. We were lucky to have secured the two tickets on the day we arrived 3 days ago.

The National Theatre of Prague looked dull from the outside but once inside it was a complete beauty.

The opera itself was interesting with great singing and beautiful choregraphy and sets

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