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Published: January 24th 2008
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Astronomical Clock
in the Old Town Square The time: 12:30 a.m. The date: the first day of January, 2008. The locals, rather than the tourists (for once) crowd the streets, with many fireworks in one hand, and bottles of champagne in the other. Used mortar tubes litter the streets and the bridges. Every few steps we hear another explosion. This is Prague (Praha in Czech).
Prague was the destination for the 2nd part of the trip. At the border between Germany and Czech Republic, we switched from a modern German train, to a slower Czech train. We were entertained by a woman named Sonia, who loved to talk—and at the moment was learning English. We practised things like, "how are you?" and "what are your hobbies?", until a few more people joined our car. She could also gab away in five other languages—as we found out later when more people joined our car.
The days had only gotten colder. Away we went, though, bundled up with warm gloves, hats, and scarves. Our hotel was located in a quiet neighbourhood next to the Vyšehrad Castle, with easy access to trams.
The Christmas Markets were still in full swing here—and just as delightful as the markets we had
seen in Germany and Austria. The Old Town Square was bursting with people and smells and lights. The beautiful astronomical clock in deep shades of blue and gold is one of the attractions in this part of town. Each and every building that surrounded the square was a different colour and was embellished with scrolls, or statues, or gold edging. Even the park benches had unique things about them—the legs were little dragons curled underneath the seat to support them.
A special wood-fired treat, called Trdlo, could be found everywhere in the market. Strips of dough are wound around metal rollers, which are then placed over a wood fire, where the rollers turn so that the dough becomes evenly browned. Once it is browned, the Trdlo is removed from the roller and covered in cinnamon sugar and almonds, and served piping hot.
We were absolutely taken with Prague, as I think most people end up being. While there are plenty of museums and things to see, we could have wandered the town for days just taking pictures!
The next morning we crossed the Charles Bridge, the oldest bridge in Prague named after Prague’s most beloved King and
the Holy Roman Emperor. The bridge is covered with statues of saints, as well as locals selling paintings and other crafts, and of course…tourists. we ate breakfast (a couple of times) at the Bohemian Bagel. Then, we climbed up the Hradcany Hill to the Prague Castle, the largest castle complex in Europe (notice that we said the largest castle complex was in Salzburg - we are not sure which one is the largest, but both castles claim to be the largest).
In front of Prague Castle, the authorities had built a stage in anticipation of the New Years celebration, and had created a fake snow cross-country skiing course. Luckily for the skiers, it was cold enough that there would be no need to worry about melting snow. The Prague Castle complex includes several palaces, several cathedrals, and a Golden Lane road filled with shops and museums that were built into the side of a cave. After visiting a couple of these places, we toured the Lobkovicz Palace.
The Lokovicz Palace was one of the palaces that was home to Crown Prince Lobkovicz’s, a Prague family that was very influential in the Austrian-Hungarian empire. As the Austrian-Hungarian empire was
decentralized, the Lobkovicz’s ruled Prague. Lobkoviczian princes also served as chiefs of military affairs to the Hapsburgs. Today, the Lobkovicz Palace is basically an art gallery, that contains several important pieces or art. However, the Lobkovicz Palace is home to the original scores for a Mozart’s Magic Flute and Beethoven’s fourth, fifth, and sixth symphonies.
A walk along the Vltava River took us past the John Lennon Wall, a graphiti covered wall across the courtyard from the French Embassy where Praguers were inspired to write about freedom and the evils of the Communist government. After the Velvet Revolution, the French Ambassador asked the Czech government to stop whitewashing the wall.
Prague is filled with architecture, ancient architecture, gothic architecture, art noveau architecture, baroque architecture, the only examples in the world of cubist architecture, communist architecture, and even an example of post-modern architecture. One example of post-modern architecture is the “Dancing Building,” a building co-designed by Frank Gehry that is supposed to resemble Fred Astaire dancing.
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Heather
non-member comment
Wow
I want to go to Prague... What a neat ancient city!