Aha, Praha!

Everyone who comes to Prague falls in love with it. Trust me - ask all your friends and relatives who've been, and they will bend your ears about the magnificent architecture, efficient clean metro system, reasonable prices for goods, and delicious pilsners (but of course!). And oh yes, how many damned tourists there are. Not for nothing was Prague the sixth-most visited European city last year, with over 3.5Million foreign guests pouring in. (This effectively rebuts my roommate's claim that I would be by my lonesome on the Czech Airlines flight).

The number of fellow sightseers only detracts slightly from the experience, and only if you let it. Although this year's visitor numbers are down sharply, you wouldn't know it from the masses gathered in front of the ever popular and impressive Astronomical Clock (pictured) in the old town square. The crowds start to stake out their posts and ready their videocams about fifteen minutes before the hour in anticipation of the "show". Essentially, Death (lower right-hand side) rings a bell continuously and inverts his hourglass, while the twelve Apostles slowly parade past the windows above the clock. At the end, a cock crows loudly, the windows shut, and that's about it. Personally, I found it somewhat underwhelming, and I've saved you the airfare to Prague - judge for yourself by clicking on the grainy thirty-second video.