Yesterday (Wednesday), we packed up from Frankfurt, grabbed our car, a neat little Opel wagon, and made the 5 hour drive to Prague (or Praha, as its called locally). Actually it took us a little bit longer than that, as we stopped in Nurnburg for lunch at about the half way point. The drive was a nice way to see more of the country side along the way. It's amazing how, if you remove the man made stuff, the countryside here looks like it could have been any number of places in the US.

Driving in Germany (and Prague) is pretty straightforward... some variations on intersections and signage, but it's pretty easy to adapt to, and Germans seem more skilled and conscientious about it. Actually, driving in Germany agrees with me, as the following picture shows:

We got in to Prague in the earl evening, and checked in to our apartment... a nice little place over the top of a bookshop in the Old Town section of the city along the river. We have a view of the river and Charles Bridge from one side of the apartment, and the Castle on the hill above the city from the other. We did a little local exploring, and then took the local tram across the river to the market and got some cheese, wine, bread, salami, etc... for dinner in.

Today we toured the castles grounds, with it's cathedral royal palace, and several other areas. There was so much to see we probably only covered less then half in the 3 hours we were there. After a little lunch we walked across the Charles Bridge while eating some local pastries that seem to be famous here and on to the square with a famous "astronomical clock", and then to an open air market. The city is beautiful... it's one of the few major cities that wasn't bombed in the war, and as a result the architecture is still original and in tact. There is a Eastern European feel that comes with only having been out from underneath the iron curtain for a few decades.

We came back and changed and went to traditional Praha restaurant for dinner and then to the local Kingdom Hall, where the only meeting that was taking place during our time here was a Ukrainian one. The Kingdom Hall is one large room inside a large commercial building, and we had to look carefully to find it.. only a small sign on the door jamb to identify it. Inside the lobby two brothers greeted us and ushered us in.

Once inside we didn't understand but about 2 words of what they were saying (Jehovah & Jesus), but followed along anyway. They have 76 publishers and 3 elders along with 2 regular pioneers. Afterward we conversed for a while in broken English phrases, and once again, it's clear our brothers are our brothers everywhere, regardless of language, culture, or location. It was a great experience.

Afterward dessert nearby and then back to the apartment. Oh, and did I mention that Prague has great and inexpensive beer?

I'm tired...and the internet connection here isn't the zippiest, so no new pictures for the moment... I'll see if I can get some up before we head out on Saturday...