Prague3: Smetana Concert Hall, Natural History Museum, St. Vitus Cathedral

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Photos (top to bottom): photo1: The Paladium shopping center, with 200 upscale retail stores; photos 2&3: the interior of Smetana Concert Hall; photos 4-14: in and around the Natural History Museum; photo15: fish were thick in the Vltava River; photo16&17: inside St. Vitas Cathedral in Prague Castle.

After three days of playing tourist, I can quiet and focus on my Endicott class, which begins Monday. I'm beat, after another seven hours of walking/exploring yesterday, then an evening concert at one of Prague fanciest performance halls, the Smetana.

I ended up walking a large loop around the city, from Old Town, through Wenceslas Square, to the Natural History Museum; across the Vltava, winding through green space to Prague Castle, and back along the Charles Bridge to Old Town.

Wenceslas Square is a broad shopping boulevard (photo4), with many fewer tourists, and many more reminants of the Communist era. I wandered through a non-descript department store, with guards posted at each door, drawing somber looks from sales clerks, most older. I bought a pair of socks.

The Natural History Museum was a classic, as much for the architecture (photos 5&13) as the exhibitions. Their collection was vast and comprehensive, exhibited in rooms filled with old wooden, glass-fronted display cases. Being a paleontology/anthropology enthusiast, with an interest in the Neolithic, I found a lot of very special pieces (photos 6-12).

I am now looking forward to settling-in at the Endicott-sponsored digs across town. In the moment, focusing on small things, in a quiet milieu, free of tourist-clogged streets, sounds splendid.