Sights, Prague

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Here's the real scoop on the luck superstitions of the Charles Bridge... The 16th statue walking across the Charles Bridge from the Old Town towards the Castle is a statue of St. John of Nepomuk. He's easy to find because he's exactly halfway across and has 5 gold stars forming a halo around his head. He is the national saint of Bohemia. St. John (real name "Jan Velflin") was a vicar-general that went against the wishes of King Wenceslaus IV. As a result, he was tortured and thrown from the Charles Bridge into the Vltava River where he drown on March 20, 1393. Legend has it that that five sparkling points of light ("stars") appeared hovering above the river soon after this about 500 metres downstream from where the priest was thrown in. A drought a few months later revealed the priest's body on the dry riverbed below where the stars had been.
Anyway, on the pedestal below the statue are three plaques. Now if you are going to be a tourist and be superstitious, you can at least try to do the local superstition correctly!
The plaque on the right depicts St. John being thrown off the bridge. You want to touch the depiction of the saint on the bridge. ...Not the bum of the big, fat lady on the shore underneath him! (Which I saw many an unknowing tourist enthusiastically fondle.) Touching the saint will bring you good luck and ensure that you return to Prague soon.
The plaque in the middle has some Latin stuff on it that you probably don't understand anyway, so you can ignore that one.
The plaque on the left of the pedestal shows a guard and a dog. Some superstitions say that petting the dog will reward you with a faithful spouse, keep a secret hidden from others forever, or bring you luck. Others say that petting the dog is incredibly bad luck. So best to stay away from this one altogether. Besides, nobody used to touch the dog until some drunk Czech students polished it shiny sometime around 2006 just to see if people would be dumb enough to touch it too. Sure enough, people did. They must still be laughing their heads off about that prank.
Several feet away from this statue, facing towards the Old Town Square, on the left side top edge of the bridge is a bronze cross with five stars on it. This marks the place that St. John was thrown into the river. It's said that placing your left hand on it, with one finger touching each of the stars, will make any wish come true. While I was there, no tourists even seemed to notice this cross except for me. "This must have been where they threw him off," I said to my companions feeling very clever with myself.
Good Luck!

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I noticed that some of the churches had a "No Photography" sign posted... however I found that none of the tourists cared. At first I was a little cautious and did not shoot any pictures, after that I noticed that that I was the only fool obeying the rules.

I just let loose and shot all the pictures that I wanted and no one really cared to stop me. However I was a responsible tourist and did not use the flash that would have a negative effect on old paintings etc.

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Yesterday I was wondering around at the small lanes at the foot of Charles' Bridge on the opposite side of the old town. When I turned my back, I saw these 2 hilarious peeing status. Their asses could move left and right and their "brothers" could really more up and down. Watching the tourists posing all kinds of funny poses with them was really cracking me up!

This is why I like to walk around in small lanes off the beaten path, you will always have surprises!

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Yesterday I was wondering around at the small lanes at the foot of Charles' Bridge on the opposite side of the old town. When I turned my back, I saw these 2 hilarious peeing status.

This is why I like to walk around in small lanes off the beaten path, you will always have surprises!

If you are in Prague during the Easter holidays, you shouldn't miss the Easter market. It is in the Old town square and it is working from the morning till the evenng every day even in the Holly Sunday too. There is possible to buy traditional decorated eggs and other Easter's gifts and presents.

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The tradition on Charles bridge looks like typical touristic tradition. You have to fondle the plafond of one of statues in the Charles bridge. Seems it is for luck! I'm not sure. In the photo you can see that people believe on this tradition very much - see how shines the plafond. :-)

On Karls Bridge lots of artist both musicians and painters are showing their arts. I think this particular drawings are very good. The tourist trap is ofcourse that these paintings are not so very cheap.

When passing over Charles Bridge, it is a local custom to stop at the statue of St. John Nepomuk and make a wish. There are two brass panels beneath the statue, one of which shows a mother and child protected by a soldier (with someone being thrown off the bridge) and the other depicts soldier and his dog. It is custom to make a wish whilst touching the panel for your wish to come true. I will let you know in due course if it works!