I believe that in the Czech language, adding "y" to the end of a word means "sold here" or "This is the place". So I assume that this sign indicated the merchandise sold within, and not the quality of the goods and services. But I had to have a picture of it, anyway!

This was a little town called Plzen (pronounced Pilsen -- the secret to pronouncing words with nothing but consonants is to stick a vowel, usually an "i", in there somewhere). The town is about an hour west of Prague and half an hour east of the German border. So there may be truth to their claim that they invented Pilsner beer. I was in a store buying postcards while the Professor waited outside, only to discover when I came out that I had just missed the Clydesdale-drawn sleigh with 8 beer kegs on it, making the day's deliveries to the bars. I could see the back of it; I tried running after it so I could get a picture, but they were too fast for me.

The frozen bushes were kind enough to hold still while I got a shot of them.


This was the view from our hotel window. The long white building is a tiny part of the massive Prague castle and the spires directly behind it are St. Vitus. Here is what things looked like up on the hill.


One of the most charming things about Prague was the abundance of nativity scenes, almost all of them very simple and handmade from straw or wood.

If you look carefully, you will see that Mary is anatomically correct. I was so charmed by the straw ornaments, especially the angels, that I saw in a kiosk. I was going to buy some for me and for my SIL of Czech descent. But it was early, I knew I would find them all over the city, I didn't want to carry them around all day ... you can guess the rest of the story. I didn't buy them and I never saw another stall selling them. We deliberately went back on New Year's Day, but they didn't open. So I guess that means I have to take another trip to Prague!