Thanks to the help of this forum, we had a GREAT time in Austria and Czech Republic! Trip report forthcoming, I promise!

Meanwhile, I wanted to pass along a little insight about the Prague castle complex (Pražský hrad): the "Old Royal Palace" is just a huge empty hall, and currently the old St. George Basilica is full of scaffolding in its interesting bits, so the only thing of interest (in our opinion) is St. Vitus Cathedral. It is free to attend mass (once daily, several on the weekend), so why not save the money and just go to a mass at St. Vitus? You can gawk while you sit in the pew, take pics before and after, and maybe get a little spiritual refreshment to boot (hint to non-Catholics: you can still go to mass and enjoy the surroundings and music; it's no problem to just sit in the pew if you don't want to participate in certain parts). Then you can walk outside and take pics of the city views from the free viewpoints all around.

I'm sure others have found the castle more interesting, but we felt that the cathedral was the only part we cared for. BTW they do a Latin mass the first sunday of every month; the chant sounded so beautiful with the cathedral's acoustics!

Excellent tip!

And I agree with your assessment.

Is the exhibit in the basement of the Old Royal Palace not anymore?

I agree, for someone who is not really into pure architecture the Old Royal Palace might be a disappointment.

Do you still need a ticket to walk down Golden Lane? If you don't exit the castle via Golden Lane is there another way down the hill or do you need to go back the way you came in?

yes , you need a ticket for Golden lane, it is a one way system and you come out at the far side of the lane and back into the catle complex.The lane is free to wander down in the evening though.

We are in Prague right now and were just at the castle. If you continue past the entrance to the Golden Lane there is a staircase that takes you right down to the main street. We walked up the side street that has the incline, not the stairs.

Thanks for the updates. I have friends going to Prague in August and wanted to pass on the info to them.

One more question - are the shops in Golden Lane open in the evening?

Sorry no idea if the shops are open in the evening. The whole strete was recently revamped and a lot of changes have been made.I passed by the area a week past sunday but did not actually go into Golden lane so cannot say if any place was open.

Thanks Gus. What was changed on Golden Lane (if anyone knows).

not sure what changed, they did a full archeological excavation of the lane ( it was close for over a year) and I know some of the shops etc were changed.I have never been in since it was revamped, I noticed the gift shop that was near the lane is now a beauty product shop (think Body shop type products) but I was just passing as I was reccying and timing a possible walk for a walking group I am taking to Prague in October ,so really did not have time to get down the lane.

Thanks so much for these tips. We will be in krakow, then the Czech republic, leaving in a few days. Well travel by car for a week in czech republic and I'll try to report back on our return. Will also be in Belgium for the first several days of the tour de France!