Sunday June 7th 2009

Yesterday we learned how to return our empty beer bottles. Almost a third of the cost of their beer, is the deposit on the bottle. We loaded our bag with empty beer bottles, and made our way to our neighborhood Albert's grocery store.

We tried to get some information from a lady leaving the check out counter, but she motioned us into the store. We next tried the check out clerk, and she too pointed down behind the line of waiting customers. We figured, we were supposed to get in line, and when we were next, she looked exacerbated, and again pointed down the aisle. We looked where she pointed, but was confused, until I noticed a machine at the far end of the store.

We loaded the bottles one at a time onto a revolving tablet. Once all the bottles were loaded, we pressed a button, which issued us a receipt.



We bought our gorceries, as well as some more beer and wine, and handed the clerk our receipt.

After unloading our groceries, we strolled about some of the side streets that we had not frequented much. The details of the buildings never cease to delight the eye, and the cute small side streets are so lovely.

However, it was a cold day, with periods of rain. Earlier in the day, we had passed and interesting pub, and we decided to return and give it a try.

It was a very typical old fashioned Czech pub, with an elderly man playing wonderful music on his accordian. The slight smell of tobacco was not over powering nor unpleasant to our surprise, and it added to the feel of the pub.



Hera started off with a spicey sausage as an entree, while I had their Olomouc cheese, a cheese that reminds me of Oka cheese from back home. The portion of cheese they served was surprisingly large. I wish pubs back home offered similar portions. For our main dish, Hera had the house specialty goulash, while I had their wild boar goulash. Of the two, I found mine to have a much deeper and robust flavour.



We walked some more, then made our way home making it a short day.

Today, we awoke refreshed, and ready for another day. After some coffee and breakfast, we walked down Wenceslas Square, and again there was another pick up game of basketball for the youth, this time sponsored by MacDonald's.

We heard some music, and noticed a small band and parade that was walking to help with World Hungar.

For the past few days, we had been keeping our eyes open for the crystal shop that Hera had purchased her crystal last week. She had really liked their wares, but try as we might, we could not find it. There are hundreds of crystal shops all over the place.

Fortunately, we looked over our blog, and realizing what we did that day, we went back to the same area, and its streets. Finally we came across the crystal shop, and Hera picked up a lovely pair of crystal earings.

There was a nearby church that I have wanted to enter, so we walked through the Ungelt courtyard. We picked up a cookie from the same merchant we had bought previously, but today's cookie was not as fresh.

The church bells rang for noon, as we ate our cookie across the street. But as luck would have it, the church was closed from noon to 2 pm. So we backtracked, and crossed the Old Town square, and headed towards Charles bridge.

The winding medieval street just before the bridge is such a lovely street, but so crowded with souvenir shops. The hustle and bustle of tourists suddenly disappears as one enters the gateway to the Klementinum, a Jesuit building with four churches, that is Eastern Europe's largest libray.
We were just in time to catch the tour, and paying for our tickets asked if photos were allowed.

Many places charge extra for a photo pass, but unfortunately no photography was allowed. Very quietly, the elderly lady selling us the tickets said we can "secretly."

Hera managed to snap off a couple of photos along with the other tourists, but we were soon told by our guide that no photos were allowed.

The tour guide gave us a pleasant tour of the building, the Hall of Mirrors Church, the very impressive library holding the knowledge of the day, as well as the astronomical tower. It contained two mechanical machines that displayed both Tycho Brahe's geocentric (earth in the centre and the sun and planets revolve around the earth), and Copernicus' heliocentric (sun in the centre, with earth and the planets circling the sun). One must remember that Copernicus' book was part of the "prohibited books."

In the tower, not only were astronomical readings made of the stars, but the daily time of "noon" determined. A small hole in the tower, let a beam of sunlight fall on the floor, which slowly arced its way, and when it crossed a north-south wire, it was noon, and that was calleded to another person at the roof of the tower who signalled with his flag. This allowed all the clock towers to ring its bells to tell everyone it was noon, and a canon was fired across the river, to signal noon to nearby towns. How we take time for granted these days.

Climbing even more steps, we were allowed to venture out, and take in the awesome sights of the town that spread itself around us. Hera was thrilled, and felt the long climbed was well worth the effort.

Crossing the Charles Bridge, we again came across the band that we had met earlier in our trip. I must admit, the star of the band is the man with metal nail tips on his fingers playing his "washing board." A bit further along the bridge, a blind musician played his accordian. We gave both some change, as we enjoyed their music.

Hera had asked if I was going to make a wish at St. John of Nepomuk. One is only allowed one wish in a lifetime, and Hera had previously made her wish. So today, I joined the line, and made mine.

On the other side of the river, we decided to enter a small pub for some beer and a bite to eat. I had wanted their "pig on a stick" sausage, but they were out, so we both had sausages that was garnished with some freshly grated horse radish. Of course a good cold beer was enjoyed as well. The waitress brought Hera's plate, and at first I thought she misunderstood, and thought we were going to share a plate, when her young daughter came on my other side and served me my plate with a smile from ear to ear.

Soon after stepping out of the pub, it started to rain lightly, as we noticed a series of locks that seem to be wishes of lovers, and their relationship. I found the contrast of the barbed wire above the locks to be something to ponder.

I knew that there was a tribute wall for John Lennon nearby, and we started to head in that direction, when it suddenly got very dark, and the skies opened up,and the rained poured. Fortunately we had brought our rain coats, and ran under some large trees, which just happened to be in front of John Lennon's tribute wall.

Apparently when John Lennon was assissinated, people spontaneously drew their graffitti in memory of John Lennon. Night after night, it was cleaned up by the authorities, and day after day graffitti re-appeared. It was a place of hope where people gathered.

Although the rain still fell lightly, we started to make our way in the Little Quarter. We walked under Charles Bridge and enjoyed the views reminiscent of a canal in Venice.

As quick as the rain started, the clouds broke, and the hot sun came shining through. We followed the Vltava River towards the adjacent Legii Bridge. The buildings across the river, illumnated by the bright sun, against the back drop of dark storm clouds was a specatular sight.





Crossing the Leggi bridge, we were back in the New Town, and heading for home. We walked in front of the Louvre Cafe, and we remembered the wonderful night we recently shared with our friends.



Back home, it is time to relax and share some drinks.

Cheers,

Hera & Anthony

Saturday June 6th 2009

Yesterday we decided to take the next few days a bit slower, after all this is a vacation. We had made plans a few days earlier to meet up with some friends we knew. Usually we see them at Christmas parties back home, and we were anxious to meet them here.



Andre and Jarka met us at our apartment. We had some beer and chit chatted, and then left for the restaurant. On the way, we learned that Jarka too loved photographs, as she borrowed Hera's camera and took a few shots.









We walked across now familiar streets, and entered the Savoy Restaurant. An elegant restaurant with high ceilings that transported us back a century, to a more romantic era, where poeple took their time and enjoyed the pleasantries of life.






Perusing the menu of Czeck classics, we ordered our meals. Hera started off with a salad that was quite large, and shared it with Jarka, while Andre ordered a cauliflower soup, and I the chicken soup with faggots an obvious mistranslation for what seem to be liver dumplings. The manner the soup was served does warrant a mention. A large shallow white bowl with a small cauliflower in the centre was given to Andre, while I was served a similar bowl with some noodles. We were both a bit surprised and not too sure, when the waiter then took out a small metal pitcher that contained our respective soups, and poured it into our bowls.





Three of us had ordered duck, but it was late, and they only had one duck dish left. Jarka had the roast duck, Hera ordered a Czeck steak tartar, while Andre and I both had their pork schnitzel. All our meals were delicious.



Not wanting the evening to end, we strolled over to the Cafe Louvre, a place that Hera and I had seen before and had planned on trying. It was closing in 45 minutes, but regardless, we entered and had some drinks. It too had the typical high ceilings of Czech cafes, with its own unique and elegant charm. Old black and white photographs adorned the walls, with a billard table in the adjoining room.




But all days come to an end, and so did ours. They walked us to our apartment, before catching their Metro next door. They invited us to a few outings, but with only a few days left on our trip, we found our time getting tight, so we left it open.

Cheers,

Hera & Anthony

Friday June 5th 2009

Yesterday was a long day. We awoke at 6 am to catch an early bus to Cesky Kromlov. Along with breakfast, we usually have two cups of coffee in the morning, but today I limited myself to one cup, as the 3 hour long bus has no washroom facilities.

The metro stop is literaly just a few doors away, however, the underground corridor is almost a block long. The hustle and bustle of people going off to work, is really no different than in most major cities.

At the bus station, we went to the counter we had been told to buy our tickets the day before, so we had to ask at the information desk once again. He directed us to another ticket counter, and told us our platform would be 21.

We bought our tickets, and wondered if we should buy our return tickets as well. Since we were not sure when we wanted to return, we were told we could buy them at the Cesky Krumlov bus station. We bought our tickets, and were told the bus will be leaving from platform 25. A bit confused, we told him that at the information desk, we were told platform 21. He said no, platform 25, and pointed to our tickets that did indeed state platform 25.

We looked around the various stalls, and found platform 25, where the sign said Cesky Krumlov. We sat and waited, when someone with an orange vest approached, and asked to see our tockets. Prague is known for scams, so I held my ticket tight, as I showed it to him. He spoke no English, and waved us in a direction. Not understanding, we stayed where we were, and a few minutes later, another person in an orange vest, again asked to see our tickets. He too did not speak any English except for a few words, and said "no" and pointed towards platform 21, whose sign had the name of another city.

We did walk over, and I noted a small schedule posted on the wall, at platform 21 that did have state Cesky Krumlov. Perhaps the person at the information desk was correct from the start.

The bus itself was a non-descript, but relatively comfortable bus. We listened to a couple behind us as she read sections about Cesky Krumlov, and I knew they had the same book as we. We watched the old city slide into the modern city, then the suburbs, followed by the rolling hills of the country side.

Three hours is a bit on the long side, and we failed to nap along the way, but we finally were at Cesky Krumlov.

Our first goal was to go the the bus station kiosk, and check about our return journey home. But the counter was closed. We asked a cleaner, who with almost no English, managed to tell us to come back later. We knew that hours of the buses, and I figured that since no bus was leaving for a few hours, the counter would only open closer to the times of the departing buses. Since the town centre was only 10 minutes away, we decided to return early afternoon to arrange our return trip.



The town is amazing. A medieval town that has been frozen in time. A winding river almost completely surrounds the town, holding the quaint pretty buidings tightly within its banks, with the lovely Castle and its Tower dominating the view on the other side. Spectacular views were had as we made our way into town.



Our first stop was the Tourist Informatio, to pick up the town map, and ask about sites we wanted to tour like the Castle and the Baroque Theatre. We were informed that the Theatre was at the castle, and for both, we would have to ask at the Castle Ticket counter.

I noticed a sign for bus tickets, and asked if they also sold tickets for our return trip back to Prague. They did, and we were told that only 5 seats were left on the last train leaving at 7 pm. Glad that we asked, as we did not want to be marrooned in the town without a means to get home, we bought our tickets even though we would not be sitting next to each other.

As with any town, the centre is dominated by the town square. The pharmacy on the corner has been a pharmacy since 1620. The square is permeated with history. Plagues devasted a nearby village leaving only two survivors, but happily stopped before reaching Cesky Krumlov. The Jesuits here were a bastion for catholicism, and held back the Protestant Reformation that was sweeping Europe. Later books deemed inappropriate were burned at the square, and of course if there was a bad harvest, it was blamed on witches, who were also burned here.



When France and England betrayed Czeckoslovakia by giving the Sudentenland to Germany in 1938, Hitler stood proudly on this square with Nazi banners behind him. Later Russan tanks rolled in in 1968 in, reasserting their control over Czeckoslavkia. Today, the square is a calm and tranquil square, where one can sit and relax, enjoy the view.



We walked through the narrow streets, and headed towards the small bridge that led to the castle, and watched some of the rafters on the river. One of the fun activities here is to take raft or kayak ride around the town, hitting a few white water areas. I had brought my bathing suit and kayak shirt especially for this, but with the temperature at 15 along with a strong wind, neither Hera nor myself particularly wanted to get wet today.




The bridge to the castle goes over a bear pit, where bears have been traditionally kepted for centuries. The Rozmbergs who owned the castle for 300 years added bears, in the 16th century, to their coat of arms to demonstrate their (fake) ties to the Italian Orsini family. And ever since then, bears have been kepted at the castle.

Entering the Castle, we made a bee line to the ticket booth. We bought our tickets for one of the castle tours, but we were disappointed to learn that the Baroque theatre was closed for the next week.

Europe was studded with these Baroque theatres, where candles illuminated the stage, and smoke and fireworks were used for special effects, and to blind the audience as the backdrops were quickly hoisted and changed during the performance. Being made of wood, almost all these Baroque theatres have burned down excpet for this one, and another at Stockholm, Sweden. If you saw the movie the "Illusionist," it was this theatre that was used for the film.




Having some time on our hands before our castle tour, we walked about the courtyards, and climbed the steps of the Castle Tower, which offered a bird's eye view of the town below. The Tower was the original castle, to defend the river bend and the town, and later the rest of the castle complex was built up.





The only way to visit the rooms inside the castle is with a tour, and unfortunately, no photos are allowed. Our guide was a pleasant young girl, but she did seem almost mechanical in her recitation of the tour. One felt as if she was an animated audioguide waiting for us to press the "play" button when needed. Never the less, she did give us a lovely tour of several rooms of the castle.





With our tummies growling for some food, we walked into a small Czeck pub. The local hometown beer is Eggenberg, and we ordered 0,5 L (just over a pint) of their amber and dark varieties. The nose of both were full and rich, with the flavours deeper than most beers, and long delicious after tastes. Hera said these were the best beers she had ever tasted.




Hera had the smoked pork neck, while I had the roasted pork. Both were delicious, and was served along with their traditional Czeck dumplings, as well as a wonderful lightly sour saurkraut, and a sweeter red cabbage side dish.







We strolled around the small picturesque town for a few hours, walking into a few shops here and there, visiting the town's Church of St. Vitus, and then returned to the pub for one last beer.
We were surpirsed that our return bus was so spectacular. With plush leather seats, it had a stewardess who handed out headsets for the movie with small TV screens above us, and served drinks. But still no washroom on board. Watching Sandra Bullock voiced over in Czech, with English sub-titles did make the return trip much more pleasant. The time flew by, and the spires of Prague were soon in sight.

A quick Metro ride, and we were back home. Tired, and ready for bed.

Cheers,

Hera & Anthony

Wednesday June 3rd 2009

Yesterday we learned how to take a train. The language barrier did cause some trepidation, but we arrived at the train station early, bought our ticket, and waited. The building itself, a communist era structure, did not provide any comfort either. When our train's platform was announced, we headed down the long corridor, and was pleasantly surprised by the confortable train.

The hour long ride to Kutna Hora gave us the opportunity to survey the suburbs of Prague and the surrounding country side.




Our major objective for Kutna Hora was to visit the ossary of the small church of All Saints at Cedlec. This was originally a small chapel for the cemetary of the nearby Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady. As the plague ravaged the area, the cemetary was enlarged, and the Hussite wars added even more bodies to the cemetary. Years later, land was reclaimed, and the dug up bones where piled inside the Chapel in six pyramidal heaps.



Under the Emperor Josef II (c.1780's) the land was sold to a nobleman, whose landscaper restored the chapel and interior. He cleaned and bleached the bones, and decorated the interior of the church with the bones. A bone alter, chandelier, family coat of arms, and four pyramidal heaps of bones. It is estimated that 40 000 bodies of bones are in the ossary.



We took the local bus to get to the heart of Kutna Hora about 1 mile away. And though we did ask the bus driver, he was not of any help. The bus meandered about skirting most of the town, and he left us off, at the terminus about 1/2 mile away on the other side of town.

But taking things in stride, as we walked towards the heart of town, we came across an inviting pub. We sat inside the tobacco scented pub and perused their menu, as a few locals drank their beer.



Hera started with a cabbage salad that was garnished with sweet horse radish dressing. Such a delight, that we shall try it one day at home. Her main dish was called Serbian chicken, a semi-sweet and mildly spicey saucy chicken dish. Listed as hot, I could tell that Hera would have prefered it much hotter.



I started off with their mushroom soup. A very tasty and hearty soup livened up with chives. My main course was mushroom pork. A fillet of pork in a delicious mushroom sauce. Of course beer was part of our meal.



We had hoped to visit the Alchemy museum, but the owner who runs the show was not there that day. A pity, as this was the first museum dedicated to alchemy, and it sounded like fun.

Kutna Hora is quite a unique town. It made its mark with the discovery of silver, and it became very rich because of it, becoming the most significant town next to Prague. It was here that most of Europe's coins were minted. Large cathedrals were built, and the town thrived. Gothic and then Baroque were in vogue during these times. When the mine started to dry up in the 16th century, the town declined. But this declined, inadvertantly froze the town into the Medieval Gothic and Baroque town that we see today.

It is such a joy to walk around the cobbled streets, and imagine life duirng medieval times.

The Cathedral of St. Barbara, the patron saint of miners, is such an example. A large Gothic cathedral very reminiscent of Notre Dame from the outside. Within the grand cathedral, one can see some of the original gothic murals that decorated the walls. We often forget today, looking at stark structures of the past, that they were usually covered in vibrant colours.



The Baroque era is also very evident in the main alter, as well as the alters in the chapels along the sides.



What really set the mood here, was the soft organ music that played as we enjoyed our visit.
Finding our way back to our bus was our next mini adventure, but we did make it to the train station with ample time. Only to be rewarded with our train being delayed.

Stepping out of the train station, and making our way onto our familiar Wenceslas Square, we felt we were "home," even though it is just over a week, it feels like home.

Our next adventure that we are planning is to go to Cesky Krumlov.

So today, we learned about their Metro system, and the bus depot. Language is always a bit of a struggle here, but we got the information that we hope is what we need.

We then made our way up to the Strahov Monastery, where we decided to get a bite to eat first. We entered the nearby Klasterni Pivovar, the monastery brewery which was founded by an abbot in 1628. One could smell the yeast in the air.

We were disappointed that their special beer was not available today, so we ordered an amber and a dark SvNorbert beer. Both were delicious. The amber beer had a delicious hoppy flavour, with a long after taste, while the dark beer was more malty with nutty and honey notes.



We started with an ample samplying of Bavarian and Moravian cheeses and breads, followed by their goulash accompanied by three different Czech dumplings. While not very refined, I could not resist using the ample bread to mop up the delicious sauce.






The Strahov Monastery itself is a sight to behold. The star attractions are its two large rooms holding its vast collection of books. One room is devoted to Philosophy, while the other room is dedicated to Theology. A third room, behind a locked door held the prohibited books, such as the French Encyclopedia. Only the abbot held the key.



Joining the two rooms is a corridor that holds the collections of the then new science of "natural history." Cases upon cases hold the well preserved dried specimens of various animals, including one of the Dodo bird that became extinct in the 17th century.





Happy with another satisfying day, we hopped onto a tram, and made our way back home.
As I write, I am enjoying a lovely chilled Slovakian Muscat, which has a very floral nose, full multi-layered fruity flavours, and a long sweet after taste.


Cheers,

Hera & Anthony