Prague Sept 22

The weather in Prague has been perfect. Another sunny day, high 22.

Every European city I have visited the last few years has an LRT system, and they are great. The on in Prague is quite extensive, and as a bonus it is FREE for anyone over 70. I love it.

Prague is similar to Budapest, in that it is divided by a river, the Vitava, or Moldau, as it was known under the Hapsburgs. The Old town is rather flat, while the other side rises up from the river. This is the side where the castle and St. Vitus Cathedral is.

(I love my iPad, but it sometimes is irritating. It doesn't know all the saints, and when I typed in Vitus, it changed it to Virus. I wonder if the pope knows about St. Virus)

We started out by taking a the tram up the hill, where our first stop was the Strahov monastery. The most important aspect of this monastery is its beautiful library. The collection of over 20 000 books date back to the 1400's. The library rooms are, themselves, works of art.

Near the library is a large statue dedicated to Tycho Brahe and Johannesburg Kepler, two of the most influential physicists of the 17th century. They worked together, sort of, in Prague. (It's a long story)

Next on the agenda was a visit to the Royal Palace, and the impressive St. Vitus Cathedral. It is a Gothic Cathedral, finished in 1344. It contains the St. Wenceslas Chapel, where relics of the saint are buried. I think it is his right ear, and left testicle, but I'm not sure.

The view from the castle is outstanding.

We made our way back home, had some lunch and then revisited the Charles Bridge. It dates back to the 1500's, and is the most famous of the bridges crossing the Vitava. There are 30 large statues lining the bridge. The are numerous arts and crafts stalls along the bridge.

After dinner, and some more shopping we went to a concert at the Smetana Hall, at the Municipal House. The hall is beautiful, Art Noveau, and the acoustics are perfect. The performance was by the Prague Music Orchestra. I don't want to be picky, but the term "orchestra", in my mind, means more than 8 members, but that's all that appeared on stage. 8 men, all dressed in black. 6 violinists, and 2 cellists. 

A couple of ladies, obviously friends, recorded the whole concert on their cell phones. I can just hear the conversation back home,

"Joy, you have to come over and see my video of a concert I saw in Prague"

"I'd love to, Shirley, but you have to see mine first"

Now, the music was great, but I don't think a cell phone will have great sound, and, to be honest, there wasn't a lot of action on stage; no shimmy-shimmy shaking, no pelvic thrusts, not even a single toe tapper. 

I shouldn't complain, because I really enjoyed the music. It was beautiful. I just closed my eyes, and let the music flow over me. Magic!

Photo 1 three physics guys, I'm the one on the left 

Photo 2 the Theological Hall at the Strahov library

Photo 3 the view from the castle grounds

Photo 4 the balcony at Smetana Hall

Prague Sept 23

The weather has been pleasant, high of 22, mostly sunny.

We did a lot of walking today. The high-light was a guided tour of the Municipal House. This building was built between 1905 and 1912, and is in the Art Noveau style. It has a lot of historic significance, because the Czech independent was announced here in 1918. It served a the parliamentary building for many years. At the moment is is no longer used for government purposes, and it is closed to the public, except for tours. The rooms are in beautiful shape, with most of the furniture and chandeliers original from 1912. The Art Noveau theme is gorgeous, one of the architectural gems in the world.

It is also the home of a big concert hall, where we will enjoy a concert tomorrow evening.

Afterwards Sandy and Sonja had a lot of fun window shopping, and some real shopping.

One of the big attractions in Prague is the hourly display at the Astronomical Clock. There are literally a couple of hundred tourists waiting for this event. At the hour bells chime, two small doors open, and several saints appear. The whole thing doesn't take more than a minute. Very anti climatic.

We also visited the old Jewish quarter, located near the town square in a beautiful area of Prague. The street leading to the Jewish quarter has every expensive boutique you can think of, there were even some Sonja didn't recognize. I did recognize a few.

The synagogue in this area is the oldest, continuously active synagogue in Europe. It was built in 1207, and, the story goes angels transported stones from the ruined temple in Jerusalem to Prague, to build this synagogue. 

Another interesting feature is the Jewish cemetery. Because of anti semitism it was not allowed to expand. It is relatively small, but is the burial place for 20 000 graves. Because of the limited space the cemetery is several feet high.

When Sandy and I were in Prague in 2007 we discovered a great Italian restaurant, a bit out of the way. Lo and behold we actually found it again, and had a great meal there.

It pays to have a good memory.

Photo 1 the Municipal House

Photo 2 One of the rooms in the Municipal House

Photo 3 the coffee lounge. The coffee machine still works, 110 years later

Photo 4 another photo of the Main Square. The statue is a memorial statue of Jan Hus, who was a religious reformer, before Luther. The Catholic Church didn't like his ideas and burned him at the stake. So much for religious dialogue.

Photo 5 the Old New Synagogue. The explanation for the name is long.

Cesky Krumlov Sept 24

Sept 24

Everything went smoothly this morning. We left the apartment, and took the Metro to a bus station to get our bus to Cesky Krumlov. The ticket agency was kind enough to store our big bags, until we return to Prague on Saturday; thus we could travel light.

The bus was quite nice, a lot better than the Aer Lingus flight to Budapest. The seats are more comfortable, more leg room, there is an electric outlet, an entertainment unit, WiFi on the road, even free coffee served by an attractive attendant. She smiled at me...my heart is aflutter.

We arrived in Cesky Krumlov, one of the most picturesque places I have visited. The old town consists of buildings from the 14th to the 17th century, and the town is situated inside a horseshoe formed by the Vitava River, the same river that goes through Prague. The old town is quite small, only about 5 blocks square, but very charming. On the other side of the river is a steep cliff, on the top of which is a large castle from the 13th century. The tower is quite unique.

One of the tourist attractions is a boat ride, using inflatable canoes, down the river. The company drives you, and your boat, to a spot 30 or so kilometres up-stream, and then you paddle back down to Cesky Krumlov. It is customary to stop at several of the beer gardens along the way, so by the time they get to the town many are quite inebriated. To make things interesting there is a small set of rapids, in town, and when I saw it, more than half dumped, and floated the last few metres.

The temperature today was a high of 14, so there were no canoeists.

After settling in our Pension, we walked around the old town. It is truly like a Disney World, only the real thing. Most of the buildings are either pensions, hotels, restaurants or boutiques. During the day there are a lot of tourist buses, here for a day visit. In the evening it is much quieter.

There are a lot of oriental tourists, more than any other group.

After dinner we came across a group of about 25 orientals, all dresses in medieval costumes. Quite a sight, they seemed to be having a lot of fun

Photo 1 one of the restaurants in Cesky Krumlov

Photo 2 a view of the castle and tower, and the town

Photo 3 the main square

Photo 4 Multiculturalism in action