Well, we set out obscenely early on Monday. Our taxi was booked for 3:30am, so we got up at 2:30. All went well - in the first of many smooth transfers, we got the bus at Oxford's bus station and headed for Heathrow. Everyone uses the coach service in Oxford; the coaches are fast and frequent, and it saves the hassle of parking in London.

For this trip, we'd bought new cases - the sort that have a frame and a handle and oh what a godsend they were! No more hunting for trolleys, no more hauling heavy bags up and down stairs. Two instant converts to the new design, as our cases rattled merrily after us with a simple little tug.

We flew Czech Airlines. As it had been an internet booking, we hadn't thought to specify vegetarian food for Greg, but it wasn't too bad. The Czech airlines seem to be relatively successful for a European carrier; Bulgarian Airlines, for example, was bought by a foreign company, and once the generous Government subsidies ended, the company simply sold the assets and departed, leaving Bulgaria with no national carrier and dependent on overseas companies such as Luthansa and British Airways - who, of course, charge correspondingly more. Our flight was packed - one reason we were doing a midweek break rather than a long weekend was that it had been impossible to get flights.

When we landed, it was just as hot as the UK.

We went through the customs etc etc and on to the forecourt. Here were various minibuses waiting - many offering lifts to hotels. From being here last autumn, I knew there was a regular bus to Republic Square in the heart of the city for only 90K (the hotel buses were 720K). So ... we arrived at the Square and picked up a taxi.

Hotel Sieber

Here we encountered our first problem - the hotel we'd booked wasn't the one I thought it was. I'd picked - on the basis of photos on the web page - a hotel I'd seen with a beautiful façade and a very central location - which I remembered from my last holiday. Unfortunately, they'd put the wrong photo with the text and, instead of been taken to a central location, we were driven out some distance.

Hotel on the web page (Hotel Rott)

But the Hotel Sieber, in a quiet street, was lovely - and we had a beautiful air conditioned room - as well as staff who were anxious to be as helpful as possible. So the disappointment was only small (and only really for me, as Greg had never seen the other location anyway).

One thing we quickly realised - we had been very lucky with our taxi. He'd charged us 280K (about £6) which was a lot compared with the bus journey. But, in fact, 450K was a standard price - and many tourists get totally ripped off by taxi drivers.

So ... after this we set out back into the city (using a 'safe' taxi booked by the hotel).

We headed back into the city to the Old Town Square. This is a fantastic place - to one side you have the beautiful Teyn Church; to the other you have the Old Town Hall.

Teyn Church (as seen from the Old Town Hall)	Old Town Hall (as seen from the Teyn Church)

The buildings around the square all have wonderful facades ... and there is a glorious state of Jan Huss in the middle.

Facade near the Old Town Hall	Statue of Jan Huss in the Old Town Square	Facade near the Old Town Hall

We made our way to the astronomical clock; it must have been about 3 pm by now - and last time I was in Prague, we had missed seeing it by about two minutes (we saw the crowd dispersing).

This time we made it.

Astronomical Clock on the wall of the Old Town Hall

Just before the hour, a crowd gathers before the clock, which is a large and complex thing. As the minute hand reaches the hour, the two blue doors creak open, a little gasp of pleasure from the crowd goes up and the apostles slowly parade past the open doors. As each reaches the doors, they turn and briefly face the crowd below as though in benediction. Below, the other figures move - the saints turn and nod their heads - and Death swings his scythe.

It's all over in about a minute. A ripple of faint applause runs through the crowd (people aren't really sure how to express appreciation) and then the crowd drifts happily away. It's actually quite wonderful to see.

After that, we went and had some lunch in one of the restaurants around the square. I had beef in a cream sauce with coquettes - a local speciality (Czech food tends to the hearty - and tasty). Then we started to look for the Black Light Theatre that was performing a production of Faust. We'd decided we wanted to see a Black Light production - and the advertisements for this one looked interesting.

I was doing the navigating (our usual pattern - I'm good at navigating). We stopped to admire some crystal - and decided we would bring some home. Then we found the theatre, booked tickets for the following night, and headed for a café where we had beers - a huge mistake. The beer was delicious (as Czech beer always is - those northern Bohemian hops!). But after our long day, it wiped us out totally.

We set out for the underground - the Metro. There seemed to be signs - but no stations. Eventually we found one, halfway down a long boulevard that had grand buildings to either side - but mostly shops (and - urgh - a Macdonalds). We caught the tube to a stop with an unpronounceable name Jirího z Podebrad, which proved to be a short walk from the hotel. The most striking feature in the area seemed to be a rather nice modern church (which was actually designed by the architect who did much of the twentieth century remodelling of the Castle - Josip Plecnik).

Church in Jirího z Podebrad

When we got to the hotel, we simply collapsed in our room. "We'll get up in a couple of hours," we agreed - it was now about 5pm.

We got up at 7am the following morning.