One of the first reflections of our trip in the Czech Republic – we spent one week in Prague.

We had gone on a walking tour of the Old Town – The old Town Square….The sky was blue, sun was shinning, there was a smell of cooked ham, smell of fresh coffee, cafe’s, people bustling, buskers playing….. it was an amazing square. History surrounded us, here we were in the 21st century looking up at a medieval clock that was created in 1410 – there are only three astronomical clocks that are working left in the world – as I looked at the clock I wondered how the hell could they tell the time, I sure as hell couldn’t, I was mesmerized by the clock. We waited with many others for the clock to reach the hour so that it would chime… I was surprised to see figures of the Apostles and across the clock stands Death, a skeleton that strikes the time upon the hour.

The square was located between Wenceslas Square and the Charles Bridge; There were several architectural styles including the Gothic Týn Church and baroque St. Nicholas Church. The tower at the Old Town Hall had panoramic views of Old Town shop. The Kinsky Place also held the art museum of the Czech National Gallery, we didn’t go in, just admired the building.

The square had several statues of religious people, cant remember all there names. The square was also home to a memorial to martyrs who were beheaded on that spot during the Old Town Square executions. There are 27 crosses that mark the pavement in their honor. There was a plaque which lists the names of all 27 victims it dated from 1911 – I do have a picture…but have to find it…

It was surreal to bump into fellow colleagues whilst in Prague, just on this day I ran into about 5 West Australians, how strange is that you are half way around the world and bump into people you work with – that really was no surprise as there were 480 Australians in Prague for the conference.