Last Concerts in Prague

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Dieter had to return to work after leaving Salzburg until noon today and then he and Inge were going to head our way so we anticipated an early evening rendezvous somewhere near the Charles Bridge around 6pm

Just in front of our hotel is a square named Kafka after Franz Kafka, an influential writer from the early 1900’s. This square is very small but nevertheless it is a square, maybe the size of the lot of our home. Next to the square is the St. Nicholas Church built in 1735 and it is one corner of the Old Town Square.

We decided several things yesterday: 1. We’d take Dieter & Inge to a concert tonight 2. We’d introduce Dieter and Inge to champagne and chocolates on the Charles Bridge and 3. We’d visit the Lobkowicz Palace next to the castle area and attend the 1pm concert in one of the palace rooms.

Yesterday we saw a poster at the St. Nicholas Church for a concert tonight at 8 so we thought that it would be a good on to attend with Dieter and Inge.

We headed over the bridge and walked up the narrow walk up to the Palace. We got there a little early so decided to have a cappuccino in the courtyard while waiting for the line to start.

The palace was built early in the 16th century and inherited soon after by the Lobkowicz family. The family holdings consist of about 4 castles but at one time were about 10. Great-Grandpa Lobkowicz was married to a British woman so when the Nazi’s came she was already in the U.K. with the kids. She wrote a letter saying that she was dying and Grandpa got out with the clothes on his back. After the Nazi’s were gone the family returned and got everything back. Then the communists came and took everything again. This time the family came to the U.S.

The current Lobkowicz grew up hearing about castles and carriages. He came to Prague to study when the Velvet Revolution took place and he was able to recover nearly all of the lost property. He and his family care for everything today.

The concert lasted 1 hour and consisted of 3 musicians; violin, flute and piano, playing various popular pieces. Some of the pieces really worked for the 3 of them while some were not so great. Nevertheless we enjoyed being in an interesting Palace for some music.

After the concert we first ate some lunch on the balcony overlooking the old city then took the audio tour which turned out much more fascinating than we had imagined. We were primarily interested in the collection of music from Beethoven and instruments but ended up looking at all of the portraits, dishes, and other collections.

We’d finally finished with the castle when Dieter sent a text; they were getting on the trolley so we got down the hill arriving about the same time Dieter and Inge got off the trolley.
Inge and Dieter were dressed for the concert so we all walked back to our hotel, buying champagne and chocolates for later, although they did not understand what we planned to do. A little street food to hold us over in the square then into the concert.

There was a large group already gathered so we got into the pack for seats. No one was sitting on the seats placed in the center so we went to get those when I saw that the folding chairs in the very front row were not taken. I quickly went to the front and signaled the rest to follow so we ended up with the best seats in the house.

The concert was a string orchestra playing various pieces including Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” and Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons”. Now when we entered the sky was cloudy but that was it. During the Mozart we saw thru the stained glass windows behind the orchestra, a bright light flash then the thunder hit. The orchestra was thrown off briefly; it was funny to watch the reaction as we could see each lightening flash and knew that the thunder would sound.

What an ending to our trip.

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Photos

St. Nicholas Church
The St. Nicholas Church at night

On the Charles Bridge
Walking on the Charles Bridge