So we started the long, wet walk to the Prague Castle, our other big thing to see. We had to cross the Vlatva river to get there and walk up a big hill. Finally, soaked we arrive near the castle, only to find out we could have taken the Metro to the base of the hill and gotten there in a much drier state.

It should be said that the Prague castle, is not just a castle... but almost an entire city. There is the cathedral of St. Vitus, also another romanesque church, the Golden row, which includes Kafka's house. Much of it is free, but there are approximately a dozen museums in the area, some of which is related to the history of the Prague castle, but many are not. If you like toys, there is a big toy museum there, for example. They have a huge Barbie exhibit apparently. Brent and I got there a bit late and only had about 2 hours to spend in the museums. Nonetheless, we bought an A ticket, which let us in to all the museums dealing with the castle and historic significance. It costs 220 Crowns ($7.50) and 110 for students ($3.75).

We started our tour in the palace, where the famous defenestration of Prague took place. The famous start of the thirty years' war where two Catholic messengers were thrown out of a window at the Prague Castle. We think we found the exact window, but we aren't positive. The castle tour is a bit of a let down to be honest. If you don't understand Czech, you won't understand much of the exhibition, as most signs are only in Czech. Those items that are explained in many languages are not explained well - it seems as though the stories start in the middle, so you leave just as confused as though the words were not in English. If seeing the famous window (which is in the first anteroom of the tour) isn't important to you, you may want to consider getting a B level ticket. It doesn't allow you entry to the main palace, nor do you have the opportunity to climb the south tower of the cathedral, and it is significantly cheaper. From there, we checked out the church and cathedral. St. Vitus is a stunning piece of architecture, probably - in my opinion - the prettiest cathedral I've seen outside of France. We elected to skip the tower climb.

We left the castle by way of the Golden Way (which you also must buy a ticket for, but is part of A or B level tickets at the Prague Castle) to see the workplace of Franz Kafka. There are also examples of torture chambers, halls of armor, all sorts of medieval things you can check out, much of which you can buy because the Golden Way has been turned into a giant gift shop.

On the way back to the old town, we took the Metro, not wanting to get any more wet. I love travelling city subways because I think they tend to give important clues about the personality of the city. New York's is messy and huge and carries a sense of importance and almost pending history. Berlin's is a throughly modern system reconciling itself with its own history. The Prague metro is a design of the Soviet bloc. Purely utilitarian in form, but modern enough to have been considered a showpiece. Each station with a different color scheme, but the same basic design in each stop. The walls and ceilings look to be covered in "Halls" cough drops. Our next stop was the train station to try to get information and tickets to our next stops. We got the information, but the purchase wasn't easy. I'll explain why a bit later. With some information under our belts, we headed back to the Manhattan for a nap before the nightlife takes over again.