I’d decided to miss my run today as we’d done a fair bit of walking already, and that would make up for it with time-on-feet. It was still a relatively early start though as we needed to be out the door by 08:40 to be at the Clementinum before 09:00 - the time of our booking. The first slot of the day is one that is 50% off, so it only cost us 380 CZK for the two tickets.

The queue was long, and when I asked at the front if this was the ticket queue or the queue to go in, it seemed it was for both. Once they started moving though, we were then able to skip the line, and wait in the lobby for our tour to start. Considering the length of the queue, prebooking had been the right choice. Even if it did mean an early start to the day.

The first stop of this tour is up the spiral staircase to the first floor, where in an unassuming corridor you’re told about the Clementinum - a Jesuit college, and how the brilliant Albert Einstein had held lectures there, whilst on the creative side, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart played in the chapel multiple times. Its fame extends into fiction, where the character of Robert Langdon also visited this library in Secret of Secrets in search of ancient books and manuscripts. Back in the real world, it’s actually still a functional building where University students can come to study.

With the scene set, we were then told about the baroque library. You go through the door to the library in small groups, and need to limit your time there. You can’t go all the way in either, as there’s a fence just inside the door so you can see inside, but not get too close to the books. The lights are dim as well, to limit their exposure.

Once everyone in our tour group had their turn, we continued up the spiral staircase into the astronomical tower. Part way up you stop in the Meridian Hall where astronomical instruments are on display. There’s also a small hole in the floor where you can see through to the room below where we’d passed a large measurement instrument on the way up the tower. The purpose of the instrument was that light would shine through a hole in the wall onto some string, and from the room above they’d see this and know when it was midday. They’d then run up the remaining stairs to the top of the tower to wave a flag.

We continued up the tower ourselves, without a flag, and looked around at the view from there. One of the most notable things we could see was just how long the queue now was to go inside. We then returned back down with the rest of our tour group, and left the Clementinum and the others behind to go looking for the Rudolfinum. This was a nice easy find, since we’d run past it on Saturday.

This was the start of our foray around the Jewish Quarter, as we then looked at the Old-New Synagogue, and the Golem mosaic outside the Restaurant Golem. There is also a statue of Franz Kafka, the famous writer, around here. In our wandering, we also realised how close to the Old Town Square we still were. Everything seemed so close to each other, maybe not quite to the same degree as Valencia, but it’s a scale you can’t appreciate looking at a map.

The furthest point away from the apartment today was the Convent of St. Agnes, which we only photographed the exterior of in passing due to it having been converted into an art gallery. A few doors down from this, number 1043, is a tiny green house - the smallest house in Prague. We also passed by Vinok, a wire sculpture by Veronika Psotková; designed to be a symbol of resilience, remembrance, and protest, created in response to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

There wasn’t really anything left to do today, so we looked around the Church of Our Lady before Týn, and paid 20 CZK to use the facilities there. Everywhere in Prague, when you can find them, they seem to charge 20 CZK for this. Quite a few restaurants had some you could use for free, even if it required a code off your receipt to get in.

We were back in the Old Town Square now, and whilst two Czech police officers were dealing with a disturbance of some sort, we looked round the market stalls.One had been set-up by Knedlín, a bistro specialising in potato dumplings. They had both fruit and savoury options; Carmen suggested we try these for lunch, and it seemed like a great idea at only 99 CZK each.

Each dumpling has a crumby coating, oozes with gooey fillings when you cut into them, and are about the size of a cricket ball - maybe a touch bigger. I had a souvlaki and chicken one, and then a white chocolate and raspberry one for dessert. We took our food to a bench, and sat there to eat them. As we sat there, three police cars worth of officers were now dealing with the one person that seemed to be causing them trouble. Before we left, an ambulance arrived and they bundled them into it.

With so many side streets left to explore, we made a start on some more of them, and found a cat cafe named Kavárna Kočičí. The first time we’d gone out together, we’d visited a cat cafe in London for tea and cake, but nobody knew about that, so it seemed like this would be a good place to visit at some point. We only got a few steps away before deciding that we may as well go in anyway, and have a hot drink now.

They have quite a few cats in there, but it looked like many of them had been overstimulated from hours of attention. We stayed there for maybe an hour, and then decided to wander some more. On the other side of the Charles Bridge, this time we decided to walk near to the waterfront heading north. We found Vojanovy sady park, just as the sun had come out and started to warm up. We realised there were more nutria, the beaver-like rodents, on the riverbank after we left the park, so we spent some time photographing those again.

We also found Waldstein Park (the Senate Gardens) with the large man-made drip wall, and an aviary containing some owls. We waited around in hope they’d fly lower so we could see them better, but they did not. From there we headed back to the apartment via an ice cream shop. At 89 CZK for two scoops it was cheaper than most places, half of what the one closer to us would have cost, but still pricier than Valencia had been.

Three hours after our return to the apartment, we were standing back outside at 18:30. As we stood there, the air getting cooler, we had this sudden realisation that we had no idea of who was picking us up. The tour company had not sent us any details other than that someone would be along to do so between 18:30 and 19:00. I wondered if this was going to be an issue; would anyone turn up? I thought about when I used GetYourGuide in Kigali, and how troublesome it’d been to find the place I was supposed to be due to inaccurate details there. Would this be the same? I hadn’t voiced that concern, but found that Carmen was thinking the same, due to our experience in Valencia for another.

I reassured us both that if nobody turned up, that we’d find somewhere else to eat easy enough, and would contact the tour company in that scenario. Our fears were not necessary though, as a people carrier turned up after fifteen minutes, having already collected a group of three from elsewhere. We were then driven over to a road behind the theatres, and when he started to reverse down a one-way street I was sure he’d reversed into something, maybe another car. He then drove around the block, before having a second attempt. This time he parked up, and collected another couple.

The drive from there was over the bridge, and down a road we’d run down during the half marathon, and a little beyond that to a place called the Folklore Garden, arriving just before 19:30. As we entered we were each given a shot glass of 30% honey wine; something that neither of us drank. They showed us to our table: a long wooden table with a bench on either side. There was little space between us and the next table, and the bench was then even more cramped when more people turned up. It felt like it was a fight to stay seated on the end of the bench at times. It soon felt like I was getting a bit of a headache.

The first course was soon brought out, whilst the singing and dancing on stage had started. This was bread and a bowl of mushroom soup. The drinks were unlimited, so was supplied glass after glass of apple juice. Those who drank alcohol were getting a continuous supply of beer and/or wine. People were walking around taking photographs of groups on every table as well.

For the main course, we both went for the traditional option, which had pork, beef, and a chicken leg along with mashed potatoes and roast potatoes. It was quite filling, but then there was a gap in the food for a while whilst there was some participation dancing such as the Mazurka. Carmen got up to dance for one of them, where she had to move around with a wooden sword in her hand.

For dessert, this was an apple strudel with cream. They also came around with printed copies of the photographs for 250 CZK each. As they’d already printed it, it felt like they were forcing us into buying a photo we might not even want.

After watching more singing and dancing, it came to an end at 22:00, and we were driven back to the apartment. On the way back we got a message from our host:

I am sorry to bother you in the eveing. I would like to ask you for permition to enter your apartment tomorrow around 12:00. Previous clients broke the glass door from the shower and the insurance technic needs to just take a picture of it. My colleague from the reception will be with him, so don't have to be present.

We’d not noticed any issues, but gave them permission anyway. We got back to the apartment at 22:25 - our latest evening yet!