The water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life (John 4:14)

Here's the biggest thing I learned from my photos from Prague: I don't like to take pictures when it's cold outside. Even when I took outdoor landscape photos, I did it from indoors. For example, this shot of the famous Charles Bridge is from a window in Prague Castle:

Prague Castle was about the only obligatory tourist site we visited. Mainly, we hunted down train stations and outdoor markets, sometimes in vain; we missed the Holesovice Market, over 100,000 square meters full of flea market and fake designer goodness, by a day. But the castle was worth it, if only for Vladislav Hall of the Old Royal Palace, where I caught this picture of Tim, indoors of course:

I couldn't avoid the outside as we walked from the castle to our hotel, which was a bit of a hike. Tim was stopping about every minute to take a picture, so I got in on the act to keep myself warm. These swans didn't seem as concerned as I was about the cold:

By this time, I was getting pretty hungry and thirsty, so the taverns started looking pretty appealing, especially this cozy, packed one with the sign for Gambrinus, which Tim and I agree was one of our favorites of the many available Czech brews:

The day before, our first day in the Czech Republic, we tracked down the warm interior of U Flecku, one of the oldest beer halls in Prague. The waiters were forceful with the drinks, thrusting lager pints and Becherovka shots onto your table without request. But the entertainment was accommodating, even playing Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called to Say 'I Love You'" so the Asian tourists could sing along karaoke-style:

We were thankful for Becherovka the day we took a day trip to Karlovy Vary, also known as Carlsbad (yes, it is the California burg's sister city), a high-end spa city known for its healing hot springs. You can drink from many of them as you walk through the city, but they are so sulfuric that the liquor is needed to drown out the chemical taste:

Unfortunately, you are not allowed to bathe in the springs, which would have been nice to cut the cold bite of the valley wind, so we settled for toasting our insides with sips from the springs instead, although not at the main one, which shoots up like a geyser:

We took a remedy of a different kind when we took the bus on to Plzen, home of the Pilsner Urquell brewery, where drinking is allowed, even encouraged. The Brewery Museum admission included a coin voucher for a draft at the restaurant next door. The museum itself was a bit hokey, but I like that it gave me the opportunity to take this cheesy photo of Tim:

Our last night, back in Prague, we did the real-life version of the painting in Plzen, drinking the original Budweiser, Budvar, at U Medvidku, one of the oldest beer halls in Prague. We also ate traditional dishes: a potato pancake full of bacon for Tim, and sirloin stew with dumplings for me:

We started with the oldest hall and ended with the biggest one, a nice way to bookend a beer-filled trip that provided many good excuses to get out of the cold and to the bottom of a glass.