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Published: June 25th 2015
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Halloween Cake
Which took our fancy! Stepping out, it's just a short walk from our apartment to the main road to catch the 119 bus - coming from the airport - which terminates at Nádraží Veleslavin and from where you catch the Metro into Prague. Because so many people arriving or departing on the 119 bus are carrying suitcases, someone is employed to carry suitcases up or down the stairs which lead to the Metro escalator. This, we feel, is a a very impressive service; well done!
We began Wednesday's traipsing at Prague's main station following which we did a bit of wandering without really knowing where we were going. While we did end up at the Old Town Square again eventually, on the way we passed the Jerusalim Synagogue (a very interesting building) as was the Municipal Hall where we ate lunch. Reputed to be in the Art Deco style, the Municipal Hall didn't seem very Art Deco to me, but who am I to judge!
The it was off to the St Nicholas Cathedral, a jewel of a Baroque church which it was impossible not to be impressed with. Situated in what is called Lesser Town, Prague, it was built between 1704 -
1755 on the site of a former Gothic 13th century church also in memory of Saint Nicholas who was a 4th century Christian Saint and Greek Bishop. With a reputation for secret gift-giving he is the model on whom Santa Claus was named. Mind you some of the statues in the church depicted rather horrific scenarios; I sometimes wonder what's Christian about things which were done in the name of religion. But such atrocities don't really detract from the beauty of the workmanship.
From there we headed uphill - via tram and our legs -to the area where the 1958 Expo took place and on to Letná Park which then led us to Hanau Pavilion. The pavilion is a Neo-Baroque cast iron structure, built for the 1891 Jubilee Exhibition in Stromovka Park. The Prince of Hanau gave it to the city of Prague and it was transported to Letná Park seven years later.
The park was established on the edge of the Letná hillside towards the end of the 19th century, and where in 1955 a large monument to Joseph Stalin was erected at the edge of the park. It was destroyed in 1962 and was sited where
Municipal Hall
Known as an Art Deco building the Prague Metroname now stands. During the Velvet Revolution, an area close to Letná Park was the site of some important demonstrations against the Communist government. On the 25th and 26 November 1989 approximately 750,000 people protested there and were followed by a general nationwide strike on 27 November 1989. So lota of history to follow up there.
From Letná Park we ventured back to our apartment and actually cooked dinner for ourselves!
One great thing about having an apartment all to ourselves means we have so much more freedom when compared to staying in a hotel for example. Also the fact that we're here for a couple of weeks makes it much more relaxing even though I'll be the first to admit that I like to be 'on the go' most of the time. But on Thursday we decided to explore our surrounds which is in what is known as the Prague 6 area.
So, after a somewhat lazy morning, which included a Skype chat to Katherine, Thomas, Sienna, Evie and Isabella in Copenhagen - strange as it seems they now in the same time zone as we are - we decided to walk through the
forest to the Hvêzda Summer Pavilion which is close by.
Now the Museum of Czech Literature it was established during the reign of Ferdinand I who bought the forest, known as Malejov, from the Brevnov Monastery. What became a game reserve was founded in 1530 and 25 years later, the king commissioned his younger son Ferdinnd II, Archduke of Austria to build the villa which was completed three years later. The villa is in the shape of a six-pointed star, from where it and the game reserve gained their shared name. The forest, all 84 hectares of it, originally had a wall with entry gates encircling it, much of which seems still to be standing. It was a beautiful forest to walk through with so many birds twittering away - eat your heart out Neta and Bob! And it was hard to imagine that only about seven kms away the bustling city centre of Prague was filled with thousands of tourists.
As I write this I'm sitting on the verandah of our apartment, overlooking the garden and enjoying the fact that we've had no rain at all today. We haven't made a final decision yet but we'll probably
have dinner tonight in a local restaurant.
Tomorrow is another day!
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