Tuesday August 31st
Surprise, surprise it is still raining and still only 10°. Mary keeps thinking about the suitcase with the winter clothes in that she left back with Hamish. They won’t see those for another month. The comment from her sister about the temperature in Wanganui being 18° didn’t help. Put it down to climate change. Could be some shopping about to happen. She slept with her fleece jacket on last night which was a good move as she didn’t feel cold. At one of the Asian shops in CK they had both bought some really warm socks to wear in bed as well so it had been a comfortable night. Mind you there was an overwhelming temptation to stay in bed and crank up the computer and watch a few movies, but they had decided to stay here a second night to see the Castle and the Baroque Theatre so they got up and drove back to P1 the great parking place with the little bridge into the town.
They walked slowly in the direction of the Castle taking photos and videos on the way and finally got to the ticket office to find that the English Tour of the Baroque Theatre started in 4 minutes. So they quickly made their way to the starting point. There were only five people on the tour and the young Czech girl doing the commentary had learnt it all carefully and spoke slowly and clearly in immaculate English. You had to admire her tenacity because it was no easy task. This tour was to be the highlight of the day. It is described in all the publicity as the Castle’s unique gem. There are only two theatres in the world where the entire original equipment from the 18th century has been preserved and this is one, the other being in Sweden. 300 painted parts of stage scenery have been preserved which enable the building of 13 basic sets with endless variations. We were taken under the stage to see how the sets could be changed in 10 -12 seconds by hooking the right ropes and turning a central spindle. There could be up to 40 scene changes in a production without interrupting the action. There were also trap doors that could be used to bring people or items needed for the set up or down really fast. It was all done with an ingenious system of ropes, pulleys, winches and sliding frames. There is also an extensive collection of early lighting equipment which would have all been done with candles or oil lamps. Added to this was a whole series of sound effects imitating the rain, thunder, wind and the rattle of coach wheels. These sounds were all demonstrated by the guide.
At the end we were shown a movie of the scenery being changed and all the quirky features. They also showed a production taking place. Unfortunately the season is over now and there was no chance of seeing it. It would be hard to get a seat and the seating is just wooden planks with no backs, in the stalls. There is a gallery where the gentry sat, but it would be exceptionally expensive to get a seat up there. The museum where they house all the sets and costumes is only open on a few occasions a year so they were unable to visit it. In the museum there are over 600 pieces of original costumes and accessories preserved, along with technical apparatus and materials for the stage.
Although the day was wet and gloomy the decision to stay was justified by seeing this magic place alone. They went back to Hemi to boil up for a cup of soup as they had done the day before. They had already bought tickets for the Upper Castle Tour at 13.50, so had a bit of time to kill.
The tour takes you through rooms inhabited by lords of bygone days. The tour guide was excellent and fluent in English and able to answer questions easily. She hadn’t had to painstakingly learn the script by rote but could talk about it off the top of her head confidently. One of the highlights was the gold coach displaying remarkable woodcarved ornamentation and gilding. It had been made in Rome in 1638. The other outstanding room was The Masquerade Hall. It was completely covered with murals which included Harlequin, aristocrats in fancy dress, Chinese and Turks. There is clever use of mirrors as well. The artist who painted the murals also painted his own portrait in one corner drinking coffee out of pot with his name on.
On the way out of the Castle complex Ber Lin finally got to see the real bears in the bear moat. He was pleased he didn’t have to live down there and be watched by tourists all day.
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They found a nice warm internet cafe with free wifi and spent their remaining Czech crowns on coffee and cake followed by drinks. It was nice to have access to fast indoor internet. The internet at the camp was flaky to say the least and you had to sit on a seat outside the office where you could hardly see the screen and hope for the best. The cafe seemed to be full of people with laptops.
Back at the camp they worked on their diaries and then had dinner which warmed the van up nicely. Then off to bed to watch some more TV. The entertainment drive is really coming into its own now the evenings are cooler. (Thanks Craig) Thankfully it is really warm in bed and the netbook makes an excellent TV.
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