Blogs from Czech Republic, Europe - page 15

On July 16, my friend Anne and me left Belgium to go to the "Colours of Ostrava" festival in Czech republic. As always, our trip started as a mess : instead of leaving at 10 AM as planed, we left at 11 AM because Anne didn't have her passport and I did. Actually, first we agreed we wouldn't take it, but then we I decided it was better to take it and I hadn't told her, so she didn't bring hers and we had to go back and get it... This first day wasn't so good anyway. We wanted to get to Jena and spend our first night there, but we got into a lot of traffic jams and so we arrived pretty late at our hostel, then we couldn't find a nice restaurant and when ... read more

Cubist buildings, Post modern buildings in Prague It was at 16:30 when we finished looking round Dvorak Museum including the ground of the Villa Amerika. My mother was still full of beans and wanted to see Cubic buildings along the river on the Vysehrad district. On the other hand, my father was tired. I suggested he would have a rest in the hotel. After leaving souvenirs in our rooms, we headed for Vysehrad via the Dancing House and the riverside. It was still very hot; we saw many people having parties, swimming and sunbathing along the river. Our destination was further down on the Rasinovo nari, Esplanade. Just after going past the railway bridge, we found the house of Kovarovicova – one of the most famous examples of Cubist architecture – was designed by Joseph Chochol ... read more

I was responsible for organizing the itinerary on 24 June. I’d already decided to visit Alfons Mucha’s Museum and Drorak Museum. At night of 23 June, I decided to take my parents and Mark Wenceslas Square, Astronomical Clock of the Old Town Hall, Church of Our Lady Before Tyn, Charles Bridge, Church of St Nicholas via Mikulase Street and Lesser Quarter Square. On 24 June we got off at Museum and walked through Wenceslas Square. The renovation work was carried out on the façade of the National Museum. I told my parents that this boulevard like square was the place where reform movements – ‘Prague Spring’ in late 1960s and the ‘Velvet Revolution’ took place in 1989 – and more than 500,000 participated in demonstration on those events. The modern battle place has been transformed a ... read more

Although it was relatively cool in the morning, it became hot by the lunch time. My mother had broken her glasses which lens would turn darker when walking on sunny spots. She can walk and see the sight without glasses, but had cataract operations a few years ago. I rented her my prescription sunglasses to protect her eyes when walking over the Charles Bridge. After the lunch, we headed for Charles Bridge via Rudolfilnum, which is the home for the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. As expected, Charles Bridge was very popular: it was populated with a large number of tourists, painters, musicians and arts & crafts vendors. This pedestrian bridge makes great impact for its sculptural ornamentation with 30 statues of revered saints. Tourists gathered around some of the famous saints – St John Nepomuk, St Luitgard ... read more

Prague is a city that we were very comfortable in and could easliy spend 3 or 4 days just wandering about. Did the hop on hop off bus of course best way to see any city and the tour guides are the best to tell you all kinds of little stories about their city, which they are very proud of. The boast about the best beer in ALL of Europe, they say it is far more superior than German beer( not sure if the Germans would agree). We did all of the touristy things you do when you only have a day or two( should have allowed more time). We stood in front of town hall with all the other hundreds of tourist waiting for the Prague Astronomical clock to put on it's display. We wondered ... read more