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As you leave the castle area, you can stroll through the Malá Strana or Lesser Quarter tucked at the foot of the hill.
The neighborhood, one of the best preserved in the city, prospered when upper-class family settled here, hoping no doubt that a little of the royal flourish would rub off on them. Later most of the homes were abandoned when the ruling powers moved to Vienna. Thankfully, the area escaped any major restorations.
This is like a stroll through history down the ornate streets of baroque Europe. Mozart stayed in the neighborhood for a time and some scenes from the film Amadeus were shot here.
We are back in the old town square, just in time to hear the famous astronomical clock announce the hour. The square, an architectural showpiece lined with Romanesque and Gothic houses crowds with spectators awaiting the top of the hour. The five-hundred-year old wooden clock and the old town hall is a Mediaeval engineering marvel. Still in working order, the middle part is the actual clock, showing the movement of the sun and moon. Underneath is a calendar with signs of the zodiac. When death rings the death knell and the 12 Apostles proceed along the windows, we know our time has come
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tuck:fold
rub off on sb.: to be learned or obtained without any effort
ornate:elaborately, heavily, and often excessively ornamented.
zoidiac:黄道带
knell:The sound of a bell knelling; a toll
Apostle:one of the 12 disciples chosen by Jesus to preach the gospel.
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