Phill: What’s the point of a clock if it doesn’t tell the time?
Me: I’m sure it does … we just can’t figure it out.

The Astronomical Clock in Prague, located in the Old Town Square, is one of those sights that you look at and just don’t get. It’s colourful and interesting and quirky – but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to read the thing!

According to Wiki (yes I am a Wiki addict), the clock is composed of three main components: the astronomical dial, representing the position of the Sun and Moon in the sky and displaying various astronomical details; “The Walk of the Apostles”, a clockwork hourly show of figures of the Apostles and other moving sculptures; and a calendar dial with medallions representing the months. Phew – that’s a lot of things all going on at the same time!

There was a large crowd gathered at the clock, but they weren’t all there for the same reason – we quickly discovered the clock was a popular meeting place for pub crawl groups.  We saw four or five groups waiting to go to their next pub, and we were offered flyer after flyer inviting us along. It wasn’t just a meeting place for pub crawls either – Phill was offered drugs by a man who “accidentally” bumped into him and muttered, “Wanna joint?” Phill, of course, declined and we both watched as the man moved on to some teens standing near us. Another bump, another mutter, and the three of them walked off together.

I remember looking at Phill and saying excitedly, “OMG, our first drug dealer!!”

Yes, it’s small things that amuse me.

Anyway, back to the clock. It was pretty impressive and we spent a while there trying to figure it out (but with no luck). The clock itself is mounted on the Old Town City Hall and it’s possible to climb to the top to get a birds-eye view of the Old Town Square, so we did that. There was a religious concert(?) being held in the square. I’m not sure which religion it was, but it was quite popular. You can see the yellow shrine in the photo and the stage is to the left, where there was singing and music.

It was very crowded at the top of the hall and very windy too. The walkways around the top are very narrow, so we had to keep squeezing to one side to let people pass. After ten minutes or so, we decided to go back down and look at the clock one last time.

We still couldn’t figure out what time it was, but it was definitely interesting!