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Published: April 12th 2008
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We’re writing this on the bus from Prague to Cesky Krumlov, so have covered some ground since the last blog entry! Unfortunately the bus windows have a protective film on them so we can’t see much - it’s giving the whole countryside a grey pea soup hue. We seem to be passing through farm land, occasional small towns and trees on the roadside are still in winter colours but beginning to show signs of spring.
Cambridge was lovely and restful with family. We revisited old haunts including the splendid Ely Cathedral and it’s lovely surrounds, the fens, which are reminiscent of the south east of S Australia, as they are criss-crossed with huge drains. New adventures included Grimes Graves - an ancient flint mine which was working in 4000 BC and which is surrounded by land pockmarked with old drives - a sort of grassed version of Coober Pedy, the Wash at Kings Lynn - a fishing village/maritime centre where eco-friendly kids were catching crabs off the wharf and chucking them all back again. The foreshore was lined with fish and chip shops serving the national delicacy - battered cod and chips - all low salt, fat and cholesterol of course.
A highlight was the Fitzwilliam Museum, where Fi’s sister Barb works and we had a personal guided tour. It’s a beautiful 250 yr old purpose built museum whose marbled entry and staircase rivals and Vatican. It houses an amazing collection of beautiful artwork, ceramics, artefacts, medieval armour, furniture - too short a visit this time and definitely needs a return (especially the shop). The trees around Cambridge were at absolute bud burst - they thought we were coming two weeks later. While most of the week the weather was sunny - we awoke to snow on our final day so the trip to Stansted Airport was through trees and fields lightly dusted with white - very pretty.
(Just passed a series of fields that appeared to have been ploughed and are steaming????? Frost rising??? Thermal activitiy??? The sun is making a vain attempt to shine through the clouds - this overheated, dark bus makes assessing the environment very difficult! )
And so to Prague where we’ve been staying at the wonderful Pension Vetrnik - about half way between the airport and the city centre, fifteen minutes by tram - Prague transport services are cheap, frequent, clean and easy to use.
The gardens and buildings of Vetrnik are an oasis in an area of prefab concrete housing blocks - some acres of gently landscaped gardens which Milos (the owner) says he keeps like an “English country garden - not like the formal French”. He aspires to the Romantic school of gardening rather than the austere formality of the neo-classical (that’s Kev the gardener speaking!!). The b&b comprises a round tower and several other joined buildings - the oldest dates back 998 years - all white/yellow stucco with orange tiled roofs. Inside there are lots of exposed stone walls and white plaster work, with wooden floors - very attractive. Dave and Phyllis joined us again at Vetrnik and we all enjoyed the family atmosphere and home cooked meals at night - and the company of Andy, the St Bernard who at 18months stands over a metre high and 1.5 metres long. Dave and Kev also enjoyed full cooked breakfasts to rival those in Ireland. Anyone going to Prague should stay at the Vetrnik!! The whole family came out to farewell Kev and I this morning.
Prague itself is an architectural mixture: gothic, renaissance buildings, concrete slab reminders of the Communist times, large
up market villas and the occasional bizarre edifice such as the dancing building, a contorted glass and metal building said to symbolise Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire in a close dancing pose. As with every city, Prague has its graffiti and litter, although these tend to be off the main tourist drag. On our way out to Cesky Krumlov, the bus passed huge earth works- tunnels and freeways bypassing the city centre.
Prague castle is amazing. It is a complex of religious and government buildings, whose history stretches back to pre Christian times. The skyline is dominated by the gothic monster in St Vitus Cathedral, which began its life in 926 AD, and like all cathedrals was added to over the centuries. Its buttresses reminded us of warlike creatures in Star wars or some fortress type HQ of Dr bad guy in a James bond movie. As with all such structures, the enormity and intricacy of the stone work along with mysterious skills of those ancient craftsmen is awesome. We bought a comprehensive pass which gave access to the history of Prague museum, a 16th century shopping street, which took visa ( at today’s prices unfortunately)a gallery of suits of
armour, including one originally belonging to the Duke Antonivic Ludvicovo Todger, we also have a picture of him not wearing his specially designed suit of armour. Professor Dixie, will undoubtedly add the pictures below to the current opus he is writing “Tracing Todgers Through History. We also watched the changing of the guard - a little sloppy and one of the guards had forgotten his weapon!!
Other Prague highlights included the Spanish Syngogue, in which every surface is covered with intricate patterns in gold traced on dark reds, blues and greens - must have taken someone a very long time to complete and very impressive. We also visited the Pinkas Synagoge which is a memorial to the 77,000 Czech Jews who perished at the hands of Hitler. The walls inside are painted white and lined with the names of the dead - the surname in each case written in red with first names, birthdate and date of death following in black. It’s a very light and peaceful memorial to some very dark days in Czech history. Upstairs from this is a room displaying drawings made by children in Terezin - the concentration camp.
We walked across Charles Bridge with its
31 statues of saints several times - it’s a bit like the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, with lots of stalls selling jewellery, photos, souvenirs, and some terrific buskers. The statues themselves apparently are copies, but nevertheless are covered with a black sooty substance that covers many Prague statues and buildings (lichen???) One of the statues is of St John of Nepomuk and you can rub his tummy for luck. (There’s a very ugly and ostentatious memorial to the same St John in St Vitus Cathedral at the castle - it’s a vast silver structure including cherubs, knights, scantily-clad women, oversize shells etc, all under a very large canopy.) The bridge is gradually being rebuilt - a huge stone masonry exercise, Kim!!
Our last activity in Prague was a cruise on the Vlatava - always good to get a slightly different view of the city. Praguers make good use of the river banks - lots of restaurants, promenades, parks and some fisherpersons. The commentary (in four languages - so only snippits of info) pointed out numerous very large buildings housing the public service. Obviously a very big business! Nevertheless, it’s a gorgeous river - especially in the late evening with the
statues of the Charles Bridge against the skyline.
And now we’re in Cesky Krumlov - a tiny medieval town in southern Bohemia. Our accommodation here has casement windows overlooking the Vltava River - not bad at all!!
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