Free tour- OK!

Today was amazing. Nicole found out about some free tours around the city on Facebook, so we decided to check it out. The tour was great, I think we definitely had the best tour guide around. Basically how the tour works is that it's completely free, but the guides work on a tip-paid basis. I can honestly say that our guide, Michael, definitely earned a good tip- he taught us a lot about the city.
We started off at the Astronomical Clock at 2pm for "the show." I never really realized why the clock was such a big deal until now! At the hour, it chimes, and then two little doors open above the clock where the 12 apostles rotate. On the sides of the clock, there are four wooden figurines, the most important being Death, who shakes his time teller indicating "It's time to die!" Pretty creepy if I do say so myself. Then at the end of all of that, a trumpet player begins playing a little tune to indicate the change of the hour. It was pretty cool.

Can you see the apostles in the windows above the clock?
And if you look hard, you can see the little figurines
to the left and right of the clock...

Oh, and one more thing we learned about the history behind the clock: the man who made the clock had both of his eyes speared by a hot iron rod to blind him, and his tongue cut off so he couldn't share his secrets of making this unique clock for any other cities. So to get his revenge, he went up into the clock tower, reached his hand into the clock, and pulled out a tiny coil that broke it. And it's said that right as he did this, he passed away, leaving the clock broken and no one knowing how to fix it for the next 100 years. Fun fact!
After the clock, we strolled through Old Town Square, and from there went to New Town, then Wenceslas Square (located in New Town, and the main shopping area of the city), the Jewish Quarter, and ended the tour right on the other side of the Vltava river from the Prague Castle. The tour ended  perfectly with a view of the Prague Castle lit up as the sun went down.

It was a great day, and I must say I am exhausted from the 4.5 hours of walking we did around the city. But it was amazing to learn so many things about this magnificent city I'm in, FOR FREE! I won't include all of the stuff I learned today in here, because it would go on for about another three pages. But if you're interested in getting a brief history on Prague, send me an email and I'll be willing to share.

Tomorrow, Nicole and I are heading to Vienna very early in the morning. We're staying with her friend who lives in the city, and plan on sight-seeing all day tomorrow, and make our return on Sunday evening. I will take plenty of pictures to share, and I will be sure to make a post on here once I'm back!
If you want to see more pictures of my trip so far, check out the album I put up online:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/50374522@N02/
If that doesn't work, comment on this post and let me know! I've got lots of pics on there that I want to share!