Wednesday August 25th
What a busy day this turned out to be. The tram ride into town was easy. There were two choices of tram but they chose the 17 as that took them in the direction of the famous Charles Bridge. Having managed to get off at the right stop they realised they were right by one of the big concert halls. Mary suggested they look and see what was on in there over the next few days. It turned out there was Dvorak series of concerts on. The Thursday one looked really good with the prestigious Czech Philharmonic, so they found the box office. Mary asked the young lad if he spoke English and he said “Of course!”. She found out as the day went on that they all speak English in Prague; it is well established as a second language. So they booked the tickets for Thursday evening.
The Charles bridge was swarming with tourists. The hawkers and buskers were setting up as it was still quite early. A group of musicians were playing rare early jazz from the 1920s and Alan decided to buy their CD. They were an interesting band; the violin had a brass horn attached to his instrument and it was curled around his shoulder.
At the other side of the bridge was the information point so they made inquiries about the Prague card. This had no transport tied into it, but by buying the 4 day card you got free admission to most of the major museums, art galleries and monuments. It is all nicely sorted into areas, so they decided to concentrate on the castle area for the whole day.
They started at the Schwarzenburg Palace which is one of the best preserved renaissance palaces from the late 16th century. It had a permanent collection of Baroque Art in Bohemia. The exterior is decorated with black and white Italian and Venetian style Sgrafittio which makes it look like it is made of bricks but it is painted on to give a 3D effect.
From there they went to the St Vitus Cathedral which stand at the heart of the castle complex. Begun in 1344 it was not finished until 1929. So it took nearly 600 years to build. Because of this many of the stain glass windows are 20th century and in art nouvea style. They are really refreshing and original. It also houses the tomb of Good King Wencelas. His chapel is richly decorated with jewels and stones, but you can only look into it. There is constant restoration work being carried out on the cathedral and they have recently finished restoring the golden portal which has golden mosaic arches and mosaic of the Last Supper on the front.
From there they went to the Old Royal Palace which up until the 16th century had been the residence of Bohemian Princes and kings. It contains a huge gothic hall (Vladislav Hall) which is used today for presidential elections and representative events. The St George Basilica was right next to this. It is the oldest preserved church building in Prague. It was founded in 920 and rebuilt in Romanesque style in the 12th century. It was given a baroque facade in the 17th century. Next door was the St Georges Convent, the oldest monastery in Czech lands founded in 973 for Benedictine nuns. It was dissolved in1782 and used as barracks. It now houses a collection of 19th century art in Bohemia. It was an extensive collection and they had to be selective over what they took the time to view.
The Mihulka Powder Tower was well worth a visit. It has an exhibition tracing the history of the castle guards, from Royal Cohort to the Presidential guards of today. They had arrived in time to see the Changing of the Guard at 12 o’clock outside the Palace. It was a brief simple ceremony and there were all of eight players in the band but it had attracted a sizeable crowd. The next stop was the Rozmberk Palace which had rooms furnished in the style for when it was used as a young ladies finishing school.
The final building to visit in the castle complex was the Sternberg Palace. This was yet another art collection, so it got a once over lightly as they were tired and hungry by this time, but thought they may as well see it since they were so close and had a ticket. It was a large collection of European art from antiquity to the end of the Baroque and some was very dark and primitive. But there was also some fine work from the 17th and 18th centuries.
Because it had been such a full on day they decided to eat a proper meal in town before attempting the find the tram home which was still quite a walk away. They found a really reasonable 3 course meal in a little garden courtyard and had a good rest before walking back across the Charles Bridge and easily finding the tram back to Trojska.
I was quite a tired little kiwi after looking at all that art and all that walking. I did like looking at all the wooden puppets in the shops on the way back to the tram. You could have some fun puppet shows in Hemi with some of those guys. And the glass and crystal is all sparkling and pretty and there is so much of it. I am going to have a rest tomorrow and let one of the others go out for the day and see some of this stuff.
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