As we pulled into Prague we had been reminded that anything we read about this city mentioned heavy crowds. Outside of London, we haven't really come across a "crowded" city - so we discounted our travel guides and figured it would be easy to get around. Gross miscalculation. The ride from the airport to center of town should take about 25 minutes. It took us over an hour. Our cab driver kept bobbing and weaving on side streets, apparently to dodge traffic. At times he seemed brilliant with these navigation techniques, while in a couple instances we thought we might end up in a ditch. This was our first clue that the city was crowded. Quoting the driver - "traffic is always like this". The next time we dared to enter a car was to head back to the airport.
Prague survived WW2 significantly better then most of Europe, so it has kept its charm and architecture from its founding days. Highlights included the Charles Bridge, Castle District and the Astronomical Clock. Tourists were at every one of these locations by the hundreds, with map and/or guidebook in hand. You'd think you were at a travel convention. Even so, if you can get past dodging your fellow tourists, Prague is an easy city to get around (most of the time) and has some great sights. The architecture on just about every block in the Old Town and Castle Districts had us in awe.
On Saturday Prague officially opened up their Christmas markets - which was a sight to see. Scattered throughout town were booths just like Krakow, featuring local crafts and some Czech food specialties. Our favorite had to be "trdlo". This is a local pastry, slowly roasted over flames in about 5 minutes, heavily sugared and mixed with cinnamon. We haven't tasted anything like it before - just delicious! At 5pm Saturday the official lighting of the tree was the big event. We of course we were clueless. In the center of town, sits the Astronomical Clock. 
At the top of every hour, hundreds if not thousands of tourists gather in front of this clock to watch the characters dance as the bells go off. On a typical day, it is not easy to get through this sea of tourists. Take that scene and add every local Czech family with children, who have descended on the square for the Christmas tree lighting. Suddenly we realized that we 
were in the Prague equivalent of NY Times Square (during New Years Eve). Everything was jovial and beautiful as the lighting ceremony began. After the 10 minute display, everyone packed up to leave and chaos hit the square. Trying to walk through the town square was like swimming upstream in the Mississippi. Four women behind us had obviously been through this before - they took their elbows and forearms to our backs and pushed us forward. We turned back and all 4 were half our size, but the crowds did not deter them. Somehow we broke free from the masses and sure enough 4 minutes later two ambulances arrived as people were trampled.
At the top of every hour, hundreds if not thousands of tourists gather in front of this clock to watch the characters dance as the bells go off. On a typical day, it is not easy to get through this sea of tourists. Take that scene and add every local Czech family with children, who have descended on the square for the Christmas tree lighting. Suddenly we realized that we 
were in the Prague equivalent of NY Times Square (during New Years Eve). Everything was jovial and beautiful as the lighting ceremony began. After the 10 minute display, everyone packed up to leave and chaos hit the square. Trying to walk through the town square was like swimming upstream in the Mississippi. Four women behind us had obviously been through this before - they took their elbows and forearms to our backs and pushed us forward. We turned back and all 4 were half our size, but the crowds did not deter them. Somehow we broke free from the masses and sure enough 4 minutes later two ambulances arrived as people were trampled. 
The rest of our trip was uneventful, but fun. We took in an Advent Concert in a local cathedral, which was a different way of seeing another church. By Sunday afternoon, we were ready for some time back in Zurich. We had a rough flight as the last half of the flight (about 1 hr 10 mins total) was a mix of heavy turbulance and side to side rocking. Not good. For two realitively frequent travelers it was as bad as we'd come across. Once we finally reached Zurich we turned on the news, and learned we flew through a terrible rain storm that had just hit the French coast earlier that day... Happy to be back safe and sound in Zurich! 
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