Prague Castle and Paddle boating

On Thursday we met Vidal and Jarda at the metro and headed over to Prague Castle. Here is the view from the castle.

Next we went through the giant entranceway with hundreds of other tourists swarming towards the church directly next to Prague Castle. This was one of the most grand churches we've seen and we got to go inside.

Next I wanted to see the changing of the guard and we had 5 minutes to be back at the entrance. Although both Wendy and Jarda thought it only happened at 12, I figured I might as well go look so I ran off and Vidal followed me. We made it in time to see 3 soldiers walking towards the gates together and they did lots of very precise steps and arm movements all in sync and finally switched positions with the previous guards. Vidal videotaped it so go on his blog to see it.

Then we walked to the back of the castle where there were more nice buildings and gardens and viewpoints.

Afterwards we went back towards the river and saw some giants statues of babies which are apparently also featured along the sides of the TV tower in the distance. We also saw a ton of swans and baby duckies being fed.

Then we headed to the other side of the river and rented a paddleboat. We set off into the water towards Charles' Bridge. Of course Vidal and Jarda did the paddling which is why we went so slow. Anyway, there were great views and the weather was really nice and we listened to music and took pictures and fed the ducks. 

Then Wendy and I went to a restaurant for dinner and got baked potatoes. We then went to the National Theater and saw a popular Czech opera called The Bartered Bride. On our way we stopped to see this cool statue of a head that swivels around.

The Bartered Bride was about a woman who is in love but her father wants to marry her off to a rich man since her father in in debt. The rich man turns out to be the man she's in love with's brother so they end up tricking the fathers into letting them get married (there was English subtitles).

The theater was very beautiful.

Now that it was nighttime, Wendy showed me the view of Prague Castle and the Charles' Bridge with the lights shining on the river.

From there we headed to Wendy's uncle's house in Prague to stay the night.