The part of the castle that was available with our ticket wasn't all that impressive, we didn't spend much time there.  We probably should have visited Prague before Cesky Krumlov -- Cesky Krumlov set a pretty high bar.  :)  We also enjoyed the smaller basilica - St. George's.  The simplicity of it was beautiful.   We bypassed the "golden lane", due to the crowds and then went to the gardens where we wandered until we decided what to do next.   That "next" was a walk to find food!  Fortunately for us the little plaza outside the entrance to the castle had tasty sausages, more potato dumplings and trdelnik.  And that trdelnik was huge, warm and delicious.  The best ones we had all weekend!   

Prague Castle at Sunset While we were on that side of the city we decided to walk through the park up to the top of Petrin Hill to the observatory tower (modeled after the Eiffel Tower).    We were pretty wiped out and we decided to recharge on the park bench for awhile.  It was a much needed break but we unfortunately missed out on the sunny skies.  Before we knew it the clouds rolled on in and our hope for a sunset from the tower fled.  We still climbed on up to see what we could see, but then we headed back down the hill and walked along the river and hung out on the bridge until dusk.   From there we found a place to eat a late dinner and called it a day. 

Our paddle on the river Sunday was the last full day of our trip.  We decided we couldn't handle any more of the crowds and opted out of the "tourist attractions".  Instead we followed the advice of a friend of mine who had lived in Prague to do a few things that were off the beaten track.   Fortunately we were slow enough out the door that we were in the area to hear the serenade of Easter morning bells from the church outside our hotel.  I've always loved church bells and on Easter morning they were especially pretty.  We then walked south until we got to Vysehrad - a fortress on a small hill with a church, cemetery and great views of the castle.  Our Sunday afternoon was probably the highlight of our time in Prague.  We walked along the river from Vysehrad to the St. Charles Bridge.   Halfway to the bridge there was a little island that had a paddle boat rental and we spent a leisurely and sunny hour on the river paddling around and checking out the views of the castle and bridge Our paddle on the river from the water.   We wished we had rented the boat for longer.  We really enjoyed it.   We then walked to Wenclas Square where we heard there were more Easter markets.    The markets there weren't as impressive as the ones outside our hotel, but the nearby daily market was a hit.  We found some fun little wooden tulips to bring home with us. We (I) then blew the rest of our Czech Crown wad back at the main Easter Market in Old Town Square on all sorts of fun colored, hand painted wooden and hollow (real) eggs.  

Old Town Plaza from Terrace Restaurant

We attended an organ concert on Sunday evening.  The concert was at 6pm in St. Salvator Church near the bridge.  The venue and the program weren't quite as impressive as the Easter concert from Friday night.  But it was still really nice and Lee loves listening to the organ.  For our last night in Prague we decided to eat at the restaurant at the top of the Hotel U Prince.  The food wasn't much to rave about, but the view was!  Our reservation was for 7:30pm so we were able to watch the sunset and then see the church, astronomical tower and city St. Charles Bridge light up before we finished.    We returned to the plaza for a few more photos of the towers and steeples of the Our Lady Before Tyn church (some say it inspired Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle) and then walked out to the bridge one last time.   The following morning our trip came to an end and we had to head back home.   We were sorry to have our trip come to an end, but were very grateful for the opportunity to have gone.  We had such a great time.  Now that we're back, it's time to start planning another.