Artists on the Charles bridge...

Sunday school was back in session today after the holiday break (when most families leave the Czech Republic for wherever home is). Kathy had a doctor's appointment this morning so it was just Noah and me.

After dropping Noah off at the church for Sunday school I took the usual stroll to the Charles bridge. It was quieter than usual today. If there is a low season for tourism in Prague, this is it. After the holidays and before the weather warms in March and the outdoor cafes begin to reopen.

Today I took some pictures of the wares that are sold on the bridge. As a pedestrian bridge and one of the main tourism spots, it is a prime location for selling things. Thankfully, most of the items sold on the bridge are artistic in nature and not the typical junk sold elsewhere in the city (like the "Czech National Drinking Team" T-shirts).

There are probably 50 or so vendors selling things on the bridge - here are a few.


There are a few caricaturists. You see Joe Cocker, who was just in concert here a few weeks ago.

Original art is very big on the bridge and represents probably the single largest category. You can get water colors, color and black and white photography, etc.

The other primary category is jewelry of all kinds. Like everything else on the bridge it is pushed as local and hand made, but you are never really quite sure.

Here is a one of a kind on the bridge - a man, his monkey and a calliope. He plays the music and people throw money into the little bucket. The calliope plays well enough but a little calliope music goes a very long way. He even has CDs to sell, but I'm not sure who buys them. On the way back across the bridge there were a few Japanese tourists who were looking at the CDs and he was trying to describe the kind of music that was on them by acting it out - I surmised that one CD had uptempo music while another was slower (!?). I didn't stay to see if they bought anything.

A stroll on the Charles bridge...

After visiting the Old Town Christmas market we went to the new Palladium mall. Not surprisingly, it's much like every other mall in the world this time of year with lots of stoes selling the same stuff - although the Palladium is very upscale, so their stuff is pretty expensive. We stopped for coffee (hot chocolate for Noah) at a nice cafe inside the mall and then went for a late lunch at a restaurant on Bethlehem Namesti. Kathy had taken her family there when they visited this fall but I had never been there. After a leisurely lunch we headed home, and crossing the Charles Bridge on the way.

It was quite cold (but as a Minnesotan I am embarassed to say that I was cold even though the temperature was a balmly 20 degrees). Here is the Charles Bridge with the castle - actually St. Vitus Cathedral - in the background. The boat on the river is one of the many that offer dinner cruises. There is an open upper deck that can be used in better weather.


A view from the bridge.


One of the many statues that line both sides of the bridge. I don't know which saint this is (I probably should) but I like the gold cross with St. Vitus in the background.