Vysehrad cemetery, family tomb duties, a small castle called Star, and night at the opera

Hello my dear friends,I'm almost too tired to hit the publish button tonight.Whew, what a day.Today I went form one end of Prague to the other, taking the tram, the metro, and walking.Happily, public transportation in Prague is a dream with trams and the metro coming by every five minutes, and I made it up to Vysehrad in no time.Do you know Vysehrad?It's the most beautiful place.The name comes form two words: Vyssi-higher and Hrad- that castle type way up high on a hill. This place is up higher than Hradcany - Prague castle, therefore, Vysehrad.It's an ancient settlement turned into castle, turned into Gothic basilica and cemetery, and has in it, among so many people, Smetana, Dvorak, Neruda and Mucha.The interior of the basilica is so spectacular it's impossible to show you in photos.Every inch of the space is painted and decorated by various artists, Alphonse Mucha being one of them.Each column has three saints painted on it. Look at the beautiful expressions on their faces. That's the magic of Mucha.And the view form the old fortified fort walls over all of Prague is spectacular.Then I found my family tomb.My family and my future family owns this tomb for life.I'm not sure any other members of my family will ever be buried or interred in the tomb, but my grandparents and my great grandparents plus some other ancient ancestors are here, so it needs taking care of.Every few years we hand over some money for the ground's keeper to keep the site in our absence.I had a little visit with my grandparents, pulled up a little stray grass, clipped a couple fern leaves which were covering the beautiful black marble and swept the tomb with the little whisk brooms everyone can use.Then I took the metro and trams over to a little castle. This little castle is more like a villa mixed with a folly, and is at the end of this beautiful park.It's called Letohradek Hvesda, which translates into summer castle star and it's shaped like a six pointed star.It's relatively new by Prague standards and dated back to 1555.These days it serves as a space for rotating art exhibits and bits of cultural interest.So then back to the hotel, and with about an hour to go before this evening's performance, I slipped into an evening dress and hopped back on the tram to the National Opera House for Rusalka.Oh my lord it was lovely. Cameras we not allowed during the performance, sorry.But I did take this photo of the sunset over the Vltava and Hradcany.So tired tonight.I might try to take it a bit easier tomorrow.