Moss Lady in AZ: How John Lennon Rocked Prague

These are copies of King Wencheslas' crown, orb, and scepture, located in the Castle.

This sign kept puzzling Larry and me. Could we or couldn't we take pictures? I decided it was OK to photograph the sign at least.

St. Vitus Cathedral.

Inside St. Vitus

There were many silver mines near Prague, so it isn't surprising to see things made out of silver.

The stained glass windows seemed especially nice here.

St. Vitus has a Rose Window as well as many gargoyles.

Love those gargoyles!

Violence at the gate--beware troublemakers!

Before we climbed up to the Castle, we saw this memorial to the victims of Communism on Petin Hill. In Czechoslovakia, 205,486 people were imprisoned, 248 were executed, 4,500 died in prison, 327 were shot attempting to cross the border, and 170,938 left the country.

Art near the Vltava River.

There is a new fad in Europe for couples to express their devotion to each other. They buy padlocks, put their initials on them, then lock them to bridges. We noticed this first in Paris, but didn't think it was an international craze. Now we know.

This is Lennon Wall. During the 60's John Lennon's ideas gave many residents hope and vision. When he was killed in 1980, a large wall was spontaneously covered with memorial graffiti. The guidebook says that night after night, the police would paint over the "All You Need is Love" and "Imagine" graffiti. Day after day it would reappear. Local hippies would gather here until independence came in 1989. Locals still maintain it.

Larry below Kind Wencheslas.

When I was in college, I studied German literature. Franz Kafka was included. He was really Czech, but wrote in German and was influential in the early 1900's. He wrote a book on The Castle which I remember being about someone who tried and tried, but could never make it to the castle. Today in Prague, Larry and I tried and tried and made it to the castle, even passing one of Kafka's residences there. According to Wikipedia (so it must be right) "Dark and at times surreal, The Castle is about alienation, bureaucracy, the seemingly endless frustrations of man's attempts to stand against the system, and the futile and hopeless pursuit of an unobtainable goal". Here we go across the Charles Bridge toward the Castle.