Exploring St. Vitus' Cathedral

Gothic.  Renaissance.  Baroque.  Tall spires, vaulted ceilings and lots of stained glass.  In fact, we enjoyed the many windows of St. Vitus' Cathedral so much, that we took a whole album of pictures.

The kings and queens of Bohemia held their coronations here and the cathedral is the final resting place for the remains of local patron saints, nobles, royals and archbishops.

The St. Wenceslas Chapel within the cathedral is particularly impressive, decorated with more than 1300 gems and gold and surrounded by Gothic frescoes.  The chapel houses the tomb of the patron saint of Prague, Good King (actually a prince) Wenceslas who was murdered by his brother in the Premyslid Dynasty.

Of course, no Catholic church is complete without its confessional.  If you were walking behind us while we passed it, here's what you would hear:

Anna: What's that?

Nicole: It's a place where you can go and tell the priest what you've done wrong.

Anna: Why?

Nicole: So that he can tell you what to do so that God forgives you.

Sophie: Can the priest say, "No, I don't forgive you?"

Nicole: He's not supposed to do that.

Sophie: Can he say, "That was really horrible?"

Nicole: Yeah, I think he can do that.

Anna: Why is there a curtain?

Nicole: So that you can confess in private.

Anna: But the priest is there.

Nicole: Right, but he's kind of like a telephone to God.

Theology 101.  Check.

(Sophie: "What's theology?")