Happy Sunday. This is the end of our pre-pilgrimage posts.

We started our day with something we’d all been looking forward to for some time. We walked 4km (1hr) to a former communist agricultural museum to attend a thriving Christian worship service with Destiny Church. The irony of that cannot be overstated. If such a thing were possible Marx, Lenin, and Stalin would be rolling in their graves.

Nadine’s friend Allie attends this church and after hearing we were coming to Prague invited us. The most lasting impact was that it felt like home. The fellowship of Christian brothers and sisters is like that. We were recognized and prayed for corporately again and for the final time. These pilgrim blessings are a treasure to me. I also carried a greeting from our local pastor to this congregation completing the circle in a way. It was very Pauline. Overall, it was a wonderful experience.

Next on the list was an obligatory tour of the “castle” which is also a palace and a cathedral and prison. It was average, but honestly I’m a little jaded having already seen scores of majestic cathedrals and castles over the years.

There was one fascinating story about Saint Ludmila of Bohemia. She was the grandmother of King Wensaslas of Christmas Carol fame. Due some jealousy within the family she was murdered by strangulation using her own veil. After King Charles she is reportedly the most well known person within ancient Czech history.

The cathedral itself was unremarkable, but I guess I’m jaded.

The most unique aspect of the Castle complex was “The golden lane” a row of shops nestled in the outer wall of the castle. These shops eg the tailors shop, the goldsmiths shop, the herbalists shop all occupied a single archway, each being about 50 square feet in size.

Our day ended with a delicious dinner (we’d skipped lunch altogether) in the Vegan restaurant above our apartment. The aroma of the fresh food had been tempting us for two days.

We are back at the apartment now. Tomorrow the pilgrimage begins. I’m really eager for this to begin. Something about being a pilgrim and staying put in one place has just seemed off. Today was a good day, but I’m ready to GO! After tomorrow we will be walking every day until 08Aug so that will soon be remedied.