We arrived in Prague in the late afternoon and found our hostel with not too much difficulty, dropped off our bags in our room and met my friend Anna in the hostel lounge. She and another friend had just spent the past few days in Prague and showed us to a cafeteria-style restaurant where we all enjoyed large plates of goulash before taking a ramble through some of the Christmas markets (although some of them were very lacking in Christmas-oriented items and the multitude of witches made me think of Halloween). Then Anna was off back to Spain, and Bianca, Katharina and I meandered to the Old Town Square where the Astronomical Clock is.
Christmas market in full swing! The Church of Our Lady before Týn (yes, that's the whole title) is lit up above it.
Complete with horse-drawn carriage rides!
We finished our night by playing cards in our hostel. Katharina (above) was the ultimate champion at Rummy over the next few days.
I think I was very happy to go to bed that night. Behind me on the wall was the only light switch to the entire room, so everyone was at my mercy when it came to bedtime! I know one night I accidentally turned all the lights on when I rolled over and hit the switch with my foot (woke me up, too, at some early hour of the morning), but hopefully no one else remembers that!______________________________________________
Our second day in Prague
We had heard from Anna that there were free tours beginning in Wenceslas Square at 9:30am, so we hit the metro --with its incredibly steep and long escalators-- early on our second morning.
Sometimes the escalators went so fast, there was quite a strong breeze!
Our stop! Thankfully, it was an easy name to remember in Czech.
The Prague Castle compound
To make a long story short, the free tour had been changed to the afternoon (so much for getting up early!) and so we changed our plans and decided to begin our day by touring the Prague Castle compound. The next series of pictures is how we made our way there, a bit roundabout-ly, but it included some fabulous views of the city.
Morning over Prague. It must have been around 10am at this point.
Through the trees, the Castle compound as we approached it from the side. We thought we were on the same hill as it was on, but unfortunately we had to come down from the one we were on and walk all the way up via the Old Castle Stairs. Once we had done that, there were more great views!
Proof that I was there! You can see the spires of Týn across the river.
One of the most architecturally imposing sights within the castle compound was St. Vitus's Cathedral (although the full name of it is St. Vitus, St. Wenceslas, and St. Adalbert Cathedral). The queue was so long that we were unable to go in. We did manage to take an abundance of pictures of the exterior, though:
View from the back as we approach.
As you can see, there were mosaics on the outside as well as an abundance of gargoyles and depictions of saints. The cathedral was so huge that, try as we did, it was virtually impossible to get a photograph of the entire structure within a camera's viewfinder.
From here we made our way to Golden Lane, which was once the guild and servants' quarters in the castle compound. In contrast to the cathedral, everything in Golden Lane was tiny.
Franz Kafka lived for awhile in No. 22. He reportedly loved the atmosphere of the place.
Bianca in front of No. 22! Of course, all the houses have now been converted into shops, and I heard one tour guide shout to his group, "Don't buy anything here! Everything here you can get for much less down in the town!" So, I listened to him.
The dungeons were at the end of the Golden Lane, and we saw a few bits of apparatus that made us very grateful to no longer be living in a time period when they might have been in use. The tower in which these things are kept is famous for the people it used to imprison; there was some tale about a man who used to play his violin so sweetly, apparently, that people from near and far came to hear him. But the plaques on the wall were kind enough to point out that such "sweet music" from the "violin" was most likely a reference to torture. Obviously, tell the first version to your children!
A cage.
A full body brace.
We went next to the Basilica of St. George, which is behind St. Vitus's Cathedral.
The front of the Basilica of St. George. This facade is from the 17th century, baroque, it doesn't match the inside of the church at all, which was first built in 920 A.D.
A Benedictine Abbey was attached to the Basilica 50 years or so after it was first built, and what we saw was the church as it has survived since its rebuilding in 1142 following a fire.
Our next stop was the Old Castle, which was also next to St. Vitus's Cathedral. The Great Hall in the Old Castle is one of the most beautiful things I saw on my trip, maybe because it seemed a bit elvish to me. Bianca was trying to explain that the majority of the hall does not, in fact, match itself in architectural styles. The windows are more classical than gothic--or something like that.
The Great Hall.
The chapel within the Old Castle. I think it was destroyed by fire a couple of times.
The throne room.
Katharina posing next to the window of defenestration, out of which three men were thrown in 1618, an event which began the Thirty Years' War. Surprisingly, all three men survived the 30-meter fall. I guess they were lucky enough to land in a large pile of manure!
The Jewish quarter
Our last bit of sight-seeing during the day was in the Jewish quarter, which is by the river, just west of the Old Town Square. There were a multitude of old synagogues and churches, none of which we went into, because all places were very full leading up to the New Year's Eve celebrations that night.
Here was one of the synagogues. Too many people to take good photos!
Its entrance. I think there may have been a concert going on at the time. Many of the old churches and synagogues are used as concert halls.
Stairway to Heaven? Fire escape, rather.
An ancient synagogue contrasts with the trendy neighborhood around it.
A church.
Another synagogue. This one was definitely being used for a concert that night--one of Beethoven's symphonies, I think.
The night of New Year's Eve
Me with mulled wine standing in front of the Old Town Square. We kept returning here, because it seemed to be the center of things.
There were many buildings with paintings on them. This was one of my favourites.
The Astronomical Clock. When the hour strikes, the tiny skeleton of Death (upper right) rings the bell in its hand, and a parade of saints goes by, visible through the two little wooden doors up near the top.
Another view of the Old Town Square. We soon left here and went shopping in order to make dinner back at the hostel. It was the cheapest dinner we had, under 100 Crowns for all three of us, and I couldn't even finish my entire (huge) portion.
Our famous New Year's Eve meal--spaghetti! We figured we needed a good feed in us in order to stay up and see the midnight fireworks display! After the meal, we made our way slowly to the Charles Bridge for the best view of the fireworks.
We stopped into a small cafe/pub named after Franz Kafka.
Keeping warm and dry during a sudden rain shower. Not quite cold enough for snow!
An outside nativity scene.
Once we arrived on the Charles Bridge, this was the view of Prague Castle and St. Vitus's Cathedral up on the hill to our left. People were already lighting off fireworks everywhere, and the waterfowl were flying in great big circles, attempting to escape the noise and lights. At one point during the official display, a swan flew low over the bridge, close enough to touch.
The beginning of the official display. There was only one barge (lower right) from which the fireworks were being lit. If you look in the upper mid-right at the greenish light there, I think that was one of the many floating lanterns, like miniature airballoons, drifting up above the city. Definitely my favourite fire-related thing that night--like flying, waxless candles!
To be fair, I would say that Lumberjack Days in Stillwater does just as good of a display as was officially put on in Prague for New Year's Eve. However, nothing can compare with the overall effect of hundreds of fireworks lighting up around the city, with so much smoke that by the end of it all, you could only see the lights and not the buildings. We uncorked a bottle of champagne on the stroke of midnight and saluted 2010. May it be a good year for each one of us!
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New Year's Day
This was during breakfast. I was slightly tired. We were to do a lot more sightseeing, beginning by walking back to the Charles Bridge, then crossing it and seeing the town around (but below) Prague Castle compound.
Lots of saint statues:
The Charles Bridge:
Back again! The morning was foggy.
St. Christopher statue.
Another statue on the Charles Bridge. These statues are what the bridge is known for, but I couldn't figure out what this one was supposed to be. There is someone imprisoned behind the grate. There is also a bird perched on what looks like a saint's head. But no, it's a real bird!
The Loreta:
Strahov Monastery and Library
The Loreta is a place of pilgrimage. I was unclear exactly what it was, so I have tried looking it up. It seems that this was built after a church in Italy by the same name. The church in Italy contains the Casa Santa, the Holy House, which, legend has it, was the house where St. Mary lived in Nazareth (how the house got to Italy is another story). So, to make a long story short, the Loreta is a Marian shrine. It has various parts to it and various legends attached to it from what I could gather. There are many others like it built around Europe.
Another view of the Loreta.
Strahov Monastery and Library
At the top of the same hill that Prague Castle is on, we came to the Strahov Monastery and visited the Basilica of Our Lady, which was rebuilt a number of times (the Basilica, not the Monastery). Mozart once played its organ.
The front of the Basilica.
The Basilica is dedicated to St. Norbert, who was the founder and patron of the Premonstratensians (a religious order). Many of the frescoes depict scenes from St. Norbert's life.
This is the front of the famous library next to the Basilica. It holds at least 42,000 volumes on many different topics, although it's known as the Philosophical Hall (there is also a Theological Hall nearby, holding 18,000 volumes), but it was closed at the time we were there.
Leaving the Strahov Monastery. This is looking back at it as we go back down the hill, passing many of the current government buildings.
The hill was a clustering of embassies and various government buildings. This was one of them, but I can't for the life of me keep them all straight.
We spent our last few hours before leaving Prague walking along the river. Here, once again, is the Charles Bridge. We had watched the fireworks from the opposite side the night before, on the left.
Also on our river walk, we sighted the two houses/apartment buildings that are supposed to look like a couple dancing. They're just to the left where the bridge meets the shore. I'm assuming the blue-tinted one in the shape of an hourglass is the woman?
So ended my trip to Prague! While I had begun my stay there a bit overwhelmed by the city and its sprawling historical sights, I left with a heightened appreciation for the slow unveiling of its treasures as I strolled the paved streets under the gaze of a thousand statues. I hear Budapest is even more impressive, as a couple people have now told me, so perhaps next time I'm in that part of the world, I'll make my way there!
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