Oxford day
I had one pill of my travel probiotics left and needed to make a trip into Oxford to the larger health food store to buy some more.I stopped in our market town at the small health food store earlier in the week, but they only carried probiotics which are stable at room temperature and have 2-5 billion cultures, and I'm used to taking 50-100 billion cultures. Live cultures, stored in the fridge, not the dry kind stored on the shelves. Well, it would seem that my live kind are not that easy to get in the UK, so I bought a 25 billion kind and am hoping for the best.But while I was going into town anyway, I thought I'd take you with me.
I always park two miles out of town in the park and ride, which for me should be called the park and walk, and walk in.The walk is lovely, gets me some fresh air and exercise and goes past garden alotments and various canals of the Thames, until it gets into town.
I did pick this day to walk in because once per week is a vintage market day and loads of tents set up and all sorts of interesting goods.
I had a good mooch around the market but the prices are so much higher than the car boot sales, the goods that I'm interested in, like ink bottles, paper ephemera, or stoneware, not that much different than the car boot sale finds, and my map seller wasn't there this week, so I didn't buy anything.
On to Cornmarket street to get to the covered market where the health food store is.Cornmarket is the typical tourist street so a good deal of crowd surfing goes on to get thru.
But a duck down the alley away from the tourists and I'm in the covered market.Note to self, come back and buy some flowers last minute.
So I bought the probiotics, had a peek at some of the lovelier stores and stopped at the butcher for some steak and ale pies.
Then out of the covered market and down some of the roads, I had a peek thru the gates of some of the universities.
Down the lovely streets of warm Cotswold stone buildings...
...to one of my favourite stores in the whole world; Scriptum.
Guys, I just love this store.
It's like walking into a jewel box curiosity shop of needful things.
It's full of whimsey and fun and vintage books, and the most beautiful, handmade, leather bound, marbled-paper journals in the world.
Then out of Scriptum, where I didn;t buy anything...yet...and back thru the streets, peeking into other front gates of universities.
Past the Radcliffe Camera, (the ancient university science library), and into St Mary's Church behind it.
At the ground floor of the church is a little garden cafe called The Vaults...because it is in the Vaults of the church...with lunch tables and chairs among the gravestones.
The cafe belongs to our friend Will and I popped in to say Hi, but he wasn' working today.
So, being very restrained in my shopping today and having bought the essentials I came into town for, I walked back out again.
But don't worry, I'll be back.
Back home in Oxfordshire
Hello everyone,I'm back in OXON with Robbie and took a few days to recover, adjust and flip into UK living.Look at this little guy!Theo is so much bigger and so much gentler. Robert has him so incredibly well trained and disciplined. I'm so impressed.
This week I jumped into the car and drove to the market on the wrong side of the road on the wrong side of the car and felt very easy about it.Also this week I cleared the cobwebs out of my studio and got reacquainted with my space again.
Would you like to see some new art supplies?I bought some watercolours in Slovakia, in an art store in Piestany. I bet that's the best place to sell art supplies to all the happy spa customers.These watercolours are so cool because the little pallets hook on top of each other and form a small tower with a plastic lid. So much fun.And in Prague, I bought a new set of chalk pencils. A full set with loads of exquisite colours. Believe it or not, I've never had a full set of chalk pencils in my arsenal and I use them all the time in my art.
I've also brought back a ton of ephemera; old maps, old passports, documents...
And this little painting, painted by a street artist in Prague. I fell in love witht he bright, happy colours.I'll find a frame for it and it will join my studio collection.
It's a small but special to me collection.In it is this large, vintage oil painting I bought at the car boot sale for just a pound or two. I loved it at first sight.
I feel really lucky to have one of Robert's mother's paintings in my studio hanging beside my own art.(R's mother's on left, one of my oils on right)
I also have three of Robert's father's paintings here on my wall. They are all wonderful inspiration.
For a primary little art session the other day, chose a map of the area where my summer cottage used to be.I looked at it for a while but the only obvious choice was to paint that bird I saw flying below me when I was looking down from Strekov Castle. I did a lot more blowing up of the three photos I managed to take of it and concluded that it wasn;t a gyrfalcon but probably a rough-legged buzzard.And so I decided to go with that and paint him.Especially when I'm dealing with an old and delicate map...this one is beyond fragile with old paper glued onto canvas...I will draw my subject on transparent paper to get it right before I place it on the map. Often these papers are a one-shot deal and there is no erasing possible.As soon as I get anywhere with this painting, I'll show you. :D
In other news!I've had the most wonderful day out with Robert at the Thames at our favourite little pub The Rose Revived.
And that is because I met this beautiful girl in real life!Thsi is my friend Julie and she lives in New Zeland and writes the blog Frog Pond Farm.Julie and her husband Andrew were in the Uk visiting his father and made the drive over to us so we could meet each other in person.
So we had lunch together and sat under the willows...
...beside Newbridge; the 13C bridge across our area of the Thames.
We chatted for hours and fed left-over french fries and peas to the cygnets,
and watched the narrow boats float by.
The travel journal
Hi everyone,I spent a happy hour photographing my June travel journal for you...just in case it's of any interest.Do you remember me making this late May?Well, I've been chronicling my days here with drawings, collage, snipets of this and found bits of that.It's a bit complicated and thick and folded over on itself, and so some of the pages I had to photograph twice so you would get the idea of the layout.There wasn't much thought put into this, just an organic collection of days...one after the other...just like life.Here it is and I'll try to link the posts to it.The book is bound in a vintage yellow book titled, "A Scent of New-Mown Hay" and like usual, the book came form my friend Dalyce's used book shop Booklovers.I used found paper and Mucha postcards for the pages and added two bookmark ribbons.I tied a little vintage fish, which I had around for a while, on the black ribbon, and, eventually in Piestany, I found a tag with the number 13 on it...my lucky number...and so tied that onto the burgundy ribbon.
Now at the end of the month, it's a bit thick!But I have plenty of elastic bands to keep it closed.
As you open it, you'll find photos of me, Chloe, the grand babies, and my Mother's day flowers on the inside cover.I took those with the Fuji instax mini camera Chloe bought me for Mother's day.
The first page is the flight and a collage of flight detritus and torn BA magazine pages.Post is here
These pages commemorate my flight and arrival in Prague.
These commemorate my first day in Prague.
One thing I really wanted to remember is the exquisite smell of the lindens all over the Czech Republic this month so I painted some. It'll forever be linked with this trip for me.All these days I rented a car and parked it at my friends Helena and Zdenek's place and took the train into town. The train is much faster and so much less stress than trying to battle thru the traffic. Here is the post from Helena and Zdenek's.
Next was a visit to Pribram and the Holy Mountain pilgrimage.Post is here.
Then came a visit to my favourite castle Karlstejn.The post is here.
The next day was a trip into town and a meet-up with my cousin, and we went to lunch and a visit to see Mucha, Dali and Warhol.
Then a trip to the horrifying and fascination collection at Konopiste Castle.The post is here.
Then the high and low migraine day!The depth of the Macocha abyss and the height of Pernstejn Castle.The post is here.
I left the Prague area and started driving towards Slovakia.Stopped in Brno for a couple nights. That's a night photo from my hotel room taken with the fuji instax mini.
Next stop was the palace Lednice.I also stopped that day at a war memorial but chose not to put that into my book. I have a terrific problem with wars and have a very hard and emotional time being at war memorials. Those wildflowers are from the war memorial. That's all I could manage to have in this precious book.The post is here though if you want to see the entirety of it.
Then I left Brno, crossed into Slovakia, stopped at Trencin castle and finally arrived at my spa in Piestany for five days of pampering.The post is here.
And then, my darlings, I just hung out!Luxuriated!Got wrapped in mud, got massaged, got submerged naked into hot whirl pools, swam at night in bath water temperature outdoor pools and ate the most fabulous food.Post is here.
So I was totally prepared for no posts and just a few lovely pages in my travel book...
...and then a tree fell! Miraculously, no one was hurt.Post is here.
The days wound on with massages and a funky gold plastic wrap. Twiggy massage it was called. I was swaddled like a baby. Thank goodness I didn't get an itchy nose!!!
I commemorated my days with this page and a little snippet of that gold plastic held into my room key card holder.I also painted a little piece of that bark from the horse chestnut that fell into the pool.
Then I left Piestany and continued on to Bratislava to meet my cousins who I haven't seen in about 40 years!Just luck of the draw that this beautiful Mucha postcard came to this page because I remember my cousin Zdenka with red hair.The painting on the left is a branch of the most magical looking silver willow which grows everywhere here like a weed. It just sparkles at the roadside. And the little pine cone was right outside Zdenka's home.
I made myself a few personal, emotional pages in my book, including pictures, found things, photos and even a recipe my cousin Kveta gave me, but took the days without posts for myself.The one post is here.
After this emotional overload, came another emotional overload. I drove all over Austria looking for the perfect place for my aunt Vera's last resting place.Then I finally found it in Salzberg.
Two emotional pages, and one post right here.
Then I had a slow meander back up to Prague.First stop and these pages Cesky Krumlov.I painted the wild geraniums growing everywhere and the hawk moth I photographed.
Then the Trebon pond system of farming carp.
Then Hluboka castle and I ended up in Tabor...
...where I mined a few raw garnets!Real Czech garnets! You can see them better in this photo where I put a white card behind them. I mined them out of a sand mix which was put on a light table and the garnets shone ruby red thru the light.These three pages have one post here.
Suddenly a heat wave washed over Prague and I went swimming in a bio habitat and underground again into Koneprusy caves.The post is here.
Oh this page, the most amazing visit to Krivoklat castle.I fell in love with the sundial on the front. In Latin it says, do not count all your hours, only the ones filled with joy.Post is here.
All along I've been dealing with government this and official that trying to get my Czech citizenship reinstated.These pages describe a frustrating day in this heat wave made better by escaping onto the Vltava fro a few hours.Post is here.
This page is from the day reserved for taking care of my gradparents' graves and visiting a little star shaped castle called Star, and opera tixs necessitated a few nights in Prague.Post is here.
A day running around Prague. Caught up on prezzy shopping.
Tripped over some four leaf clovers.
Then my second opera, and another day of running around Prague.The post is here.
There is only one post for these two journal days because life!
This day it's back into Prague and dealing with citizenship stuff.Helena and Zdenek's granddaughter drew this lovely picture for me and I saved it in my book. On this page is a small scrap of beautiful blue paper from the chocolates I had one of to ease my frustrations, and a perfect Mucha of woe-is-me-ism landed on the right day. I swear I didn't plan that!Post is here.
Yet another day much the same as yesterday!But I did get to back to Canada for an hour!!!It actually was amazing to visit the embassy.Post is here.
And then, when I seemed to have exhausted all possible Prague venues, I was forced to go to the Northern Czech Republic to the township which was my last known official address.And it was a coming home.The post is here.
And that's where my posts end for Prague, but not this little book.Here is a little spread remembering the Metro and shopping and my walks around this golden town with lindens blossoms perfuming the air.
And the last couple of pages are a bit complicated.On the left is a collage of Prague, and a little snippet of a map showing London and Oxford.On the right is a postcard by one of my favourite illustrators, Josef Lada. He illustrated almost all the books of my childhood.
This last pages has a spread which pulls out.Under it is an envelope with pressed silver willow and oak and linden leaves.
The pull out is the cover of a found vintage book of Prague.
And the last thing in this book is a companion book I found in a vintage shop on how to keep geese.I figure if I ever needed to keep geese, this would come in very handy.
Well there you go, a month worth of memories all wrapped up between golden covers.I hope you liked this very long post and if you have any questions about the pages in my travel journal, I'm happy to explain everything.
Coming home to Strekov castle, my childhood playground, the cottage that isn't any more, remembering Terezin, and finally! Citizenship results.
Hello my dear friends,I'm about to take you on the emotional ride which was my day.Now you've been with me all along chasing my citizenship papers all over the Czech republic and we've been trying to take calm breaths together while I've been dealing with one department and then another, and then another, well, I may have finally come to the end of this humongous paper trail which is now two folders thick.
It seems that, wile I was born in and we lived in Prague, my mom was registered as a doctor at a hospital 100km away at Usti Nad Labem (Usti above the river Elbe), and this is where we had an apartment and a summer cottage, so this is where I had to go to get my citizenship papers recognised.So with enormous gratitude and thanks to a lady named Ilona, I now have full, but provisional, citizenship for the next year, and have to register that in Ottawa in September, and I get my Czech passport! Get to breeze right thru the nationals line instead of the visitors line.
So with a great, big sigh of relief, I walked out of that office a different girl. I'm Czech again guys. I know it's not a big deal, and I know that I can go where ever I like on my Canadian passport and I know it's more of a personal journey than a practical one, but having my Czech citizenship back also means that my children can request a Czech passport and can live and work in the EU if they like.So that was that for now. The end of my work here in Cz.I drove out of Usti along the Elbe river to retrace my childhood cottage.Now I know it was in a little village called Brno, but that village doesn't exist any more. It has been swallowed up by the expanding township of Usti.
But I remembered the area and I remembered the view, the public swimming pool at the river, and what gave it away was a little grocery store which still held the village name. So this is where my cottage used to be. This is the view of the river we had...except it was a great, big field which we children used to run around in back then.
And this, this modern three story home, is where my cottage used to be. This is the place right here.There is nothing that I recognise except the area and the fact that there were only three cottages here, one of which is still there looking like it used to.My goodness guys, you can never go back home.
So, while I'm a bit heartbroken that I will never see that cottage again...the work of my grandfather's and parents' own hands, I'm happy for whoever now owns this piece of land. May they have good joy of it and many years of happiness.
But here is another place from my childhood.Strekov castle.This ruin of a castle is walking distance form my old cottage and we used to have picnics there and run around the battlements as children.Now it looks like it's being refurbished and saved as a monument.
I drove to it and walked up to the castle.Yup, it's a Hrad and not a Zamek. It's waaay up on the hill castle.
So up we go and again come to the castle door.
From the first battlements, the view down the Elbe is pretty spectacular.
But there's more of the castle to explore.
Here is the soldiers' hall of the castle.
And here is what remains of the great hall. It also shows a couple chimney flues and the guess is this was the only heated room of the castle.
But there's so much more to go, let's go up to the tower.
Here's the observation deck at the bottom of the tower.
From here you can see my cottage area and you can see how close the castle was.Gosh, this was all forest and field and three cottages here.Wow how this county has grown. But I can hardly blame people. This is ideal cottage country.
So come on, up higher we go.
I'm so happy I'm here. I'm so happy I found it.(yes I know I look like a sheepdog and need to trim my fringe)
So I explored the castle and sat in the courtyard cafe and had a drink to celebrate...
...and watched a gyrfalcon fly lazy circles below me.
One more place here which I had to visit. This is my grandparent's street in a town called Terezin, where they used to live for the winters, while summers were always at the cottage.
And this is my grandparent's home.I remember staying here in this golden house. In the interior courtyard there was a small stone castle...about 2 ft tall...like one of those cement garden ornaments, but as a little girl, that was so magical to pretend princesses in.
This red door was the store across the street.
And this, this is the town park where I have photos of being wheeled in in my pram as a baby.
I know Terezin is famous for all sorts of awful WWII horrors, but you'll have to excuse me for not being a very good tour guide on this trip. Today, I want to end my Czech journey here. In the warmth of my family history, with love for my country, and with beautiful, golden memories.Love to you all. Thank you so much for coming along.I've got one more day here in CZ before I fly to England, and it's storming up a storm like no other. The train tracks are flooded for the time being and the trains are stopped. I'm listening to the huge thunder claps and feeling incredibly happy and peaceful.
The Czech method = How complicated can we make it? Hmm, let's see...
So I took to the streets for the third day in a row!Wait,That didn't sound right....But you've been following my journey all month, so you know what I mean.
Today I had to pick up my translated documents and take them to the Canadian embassy, which is way and hell gone on the complete other side of Prague from where I had to pick up the documents.And the embassy is only open till 12:30pm...naturaly...rainy Tuesdays being the exception...this being Bohemia and all...I mean, what exactly were we expecting anyway?So I hit the streets again.
Now, anyone who has walked the streets of Prague will spout on endlessly about how charming and olde worlde the cobblestones are, but believe me, if you need to seriously get from point A to point B, there is absolutely no charm in these wonky, watch-where-you're-going cobbles.In the over-all sweeping view they look charming...
...but these are the cobbles close up at ground level.Forget wearing heels by the way, you'll never make it.It's a core body workout trying to keep your balance in flat sandals, never mind heels.
Anyway, the short version of the long story is that I ran out of the house at 9ish, as soon as I got the email saying my translated documents were ready, trained it into Prague, walked the 2km to the translation office, paid, and walked the 2 km back to where I could catch a tram out to the neighbourhood of the Canadian embassy.
And then walked another 2km to get to it.But then I stepped inside and wow what a feeling.I'm on Canadian soil there. I'm back in Canada.I must tell you that never in my life have I ever needed to go to any embassy, so have nothing to compare it to, but this feeling, this feeling of home, and safety and belonging, took me completely by surprise.There's our beautiful Canadian flag flying high, and the Queen's portrait, and our Prime Minister's, and everything is in English and French, and there are little buttons commemorating Canada's 150th birthday this year.It's like coming home.If you guys ever get a chance to stop by your home embassy in your travels I highly recommend that you do it.
Anyway, shortening the long story, just for the hell of it, now I have to go to the the township of my last known address to register there.How the heck am I supposed to know something like that?Well, it seems that my mother worked in a hospital about 118km away form here in a town called Usti Nad Labem, and it makes sense because our summer cottage was in that area too.So I'm all ready to drive there tomorrow to register my citizenship papers and (i'm crossing my fingers and knocking on wood as I type this...which isn't easy), that might be the completion of that.So, with nothing else to do for the aft, I asked my cousin Marian if he had time for a lunch with me and he said he did.We met at the horse statue on Wenceslas Square, and walked to a nearby restaurant.
As In was waiting for him trying not to fume about the awful, paper-filled, super-stamped and supper-certified, double-certified and triple-certified nonsense which getting my Czech citizenship back is turning out to be, I realise I was sitting on the perfect bench.That made me smile and helped me calm right back to normal.
We chatted about family ups and downs, our children, our parents...you know, cousin talk.And then he had to get back to work and I had to get back to Helena and Zdeneks,
I stopped at Tesco on my way home for a bottle of wine and a bunch of flowers for Helena.
Tomorrow guys is probably going to be a bit of an emotional day for me. I haven't seen my childhood summer cottage since 1990 and have been wondering if I should go, but maybe I should.But first! More paper work, here we come. :D
Office work
Hello my dears,Well, I almost did it.I almost completed all the Prague office work which I had to do.
My office work consisted of visiting four government offices for some document registration for my Czech...and therefore EU citizenship.And one of these offices is only open Monday 12-5.So happy-go-lucky me all fresh faced and cheerful set out this morning via train to Prague, then Metro, then tram and got to said office.
That all went well...I think.As long as everyone else I have to deal with is ok with my birth papers everything should be fine...that's my theory and I'm sticking to it.So, do you see the opera house over there in the distance? The dome shaped building?My first office was just past that building. That was the one which didn't open till noon.
And do you see Prague castle (Hradcany) in this photo?My second stop was waaaayyy behind that and they were closed for their lunch break from 12:30 to 1:30.Figures!
So, with so much time to waste have in luxurious Gothicness on the streets of Prague, I decided not to take the tram, but to walk off those thunder thighs.Now I take care to shoot some beautiful photos for you, but the reality of summer in Prague looks more like this!One way across Charles' Bridge...
...and the other way.You should have seen this last Sunday!!!Throngs and throngs of tourists and tour groups!
But I made it to Hradcany to have a second High Magistrate of Foreign Affairs certify my documents, only to be asked for a 100 crown Kelek stamp.A what?Oh, I get that at the post office, do I?Where's the nearest post office then?Oh, all the way back down the hill at Charles' Bridge you say?
You know what?Prague is just a great big huge Stairmaster workout!Hours and hours of stairs.No wonder all the girls here have great, long legs.But there's always a choice:The path up to the same place is gentler than the stairs but twice as long. You decide."Take the tram you silly girl!" you shout.Yes, but, the tram doesn't come here, so it's a bit of a sideways track and three times as long and thru Hradcany...which means throngs of tourists and a guard scan before you enter. Kind of like a duck choosing between confit or l'orange.
So here are two views from offices today. (sigh)I keep thinking that I could be somewhere visiting a beautiful castle, but some days must happen guys.
There we go. Second certification stamp plus Kolek stamp, plus everyone smiling about my documents, plus last of the three trips up and down these stairs!
Found the translation services, registered my Canadian documents for translation, and 4pm. Oh, wait, just realised I've only had a punnet of strawberries and a bottle of water all day.Do I dare show you my tired self and the bags under my eyes?Stuff's real guys, stuff's real.
So had a little stop in a street side cafe on St Wenceslas square for a bowl of chicken soup.
And some people watching.Now this is a great way to keep your school girls together...day glow hair bows.
And in my view were: a lady in waiting, a nutty kid with a ball who kept trying to drum on it while running round like crazy, a silver statue man who was in the right place to be ignored most of the time, girls walking past with these sexy little tule skirts (note to self, get one!), and I think that might have been a Lady GaGa wannabe!
Anyway, ate my soup and got back to the train station for 5pm.
Look it all the sleeping, tired people! Yup, one of them is me.Back to Prague tomorrow.
In circles round Prague, La Traviata at the opera, and out of Prague again
Oh my word the time just does fly, doesn't it?Every time I run out of time I wonder what happened to my on going New Year's resolution to stop running out of time and start running into it instead.Yesterday, Saturday here in Europe, I had a whole day of walking round Prague trying to catch up on my shopping.I walked out of my hotel and up Petrin hill, which is a beautiful walk and a beautiful way to get to Hradcany (Prague castle).
This area used to be the king's garden and hunting forest and it has the most spectacular views of Prague.
I saw a Sojka! It's a Eurasian Jay. His blue feathers are what German men love to stick in their hat bands.
I climbed higher and higher up Petrin hill.
And soon I had all of Prague below me.Such a beautiful sight.And such a work out!
Then past Hradcany and onto my favourite little shopping streets.
And into my favourite little shops, like this ephemera and old book shop.
I had a little lunch, I peeked into a few old churches, did my rounds round old town, St Wenceslas square, Nerudova, and even some streets I have no idea of the name of.
I did all my shopping and then walked back up to Hradcany, across to Petrin hill and back down to my hotel. In total I think I walked about 10km.
A quick shower to shower off this 30 degree heat, a bit of make up and an evening dress, and into the tram for the opera.
Such a beautiful evening from the first floor balcony at the opera house.
You know, some of the ladies' evening dresses there may not have been to my taste, but I absolutely loved that everyone made an effort.
8pm intermission and look down at the streets!
La Traviata was exquisite. I just love some of the arias in this beautiful opera. I know, no pictures during the performance! But this was the third ovation, so by then the performance is technically over! :D
So then I walked out of the opera house and into the warm night and made my way back to my hotel.
With no more late operas to stay in town for, and all offices to deal with my citizenship papers closed till Monday, I headed out of Prague ad back to Zdenek and Helena's.Just to give you a perspective, I'm in their village looking down the train tracks and there's Prague in the distance.I'm 25 minutes away from the main Prague train station.
So back at Z and H's and we went for a 11km walk down one side of the river Berounka to the neighbouring village and back up the other side.
I love these slow, wide European rivers.
We walked past fields of ripening poppies.
Poppy seed cakes are national treasures round here.
This part of the country, being so close to Prague, is prime cottage country and all along the Berounka are lovely cottages.
And, with it being Sunday, and almost summer holidays, everyone was out at their cottages and out on the river enjoying the day.
Do you see that little castle in the distance? It's very close to Z and H's home.Wouldn't it be amazing to live in a castle? Many, many castles and villas are available for sale here.
On my way I found this beautiful speckled blue egg shell.
After our walk we dropped into town for supper and then the local castle grounds was the stage for a pantomime.
The evening was warm and people were all still enjoying the river.
And so we thought we'd stay for a while and bought tickets to the pantomime, and, as it turns out, so did the whole village!!! Lol.
But the pantomime was brilliant fun, and, I understood almost every word!One great thing for being there this month is that I'm pretty much back to fluid Czech without having to think too hard.Love it.
Well I better get off this puter of mine because I have to go back into Prague tomorrow and chase down various government offices.Hope you're not getting too bored with my Prague month.
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.
In Prague and I made the best of a frustrating day.
Hi guys,Yesterday I told you I had to come into town to take care of my Czech citizenship papers and take care of my family tomb, well, today I was going to make visits to all the offices I needed to visit for forms and signatures and then lawyers for translations.Well, my first step to get this all going was to visit the high magistrate...which, this being the true Bohemia, is open only on Mondays from 12-5 or Wednesdays from 10-5.It's Thursday.Pooh.So it looks like I have to come back into town on Monday next week.
I did a bit of phoning, visited a few churches in the hood... did I tell you it's 34.7 degrees here today with the heat bouncing off the stone streets?
Heat be dammed, I decided to take a tram downtown and pick up my opera tickets for tomorrow and Saturday.
I'm going to see Rusalka tomorrow and La Traviata Saturday.
So I got down to the opera house and the box office lady looked up my tixs and guess what?They're not there!!!The company I ordered them from sends a courier to deliver them to you 15 minutes before the performance!They will be standing in front of the opera house with a sign with my name on it.Sold out performances!Oy vey.
(above, this is the national opera house)I walked to the middle of the bridge and took a small elevator to a little island in the middle of Vltava to have some freshness and coolness to be able to breathe my frustration away.
I walked around the island and stuck my hands into the river and spied a boat cruise on the other bank.Hmm
I booked an hour long cruise and ordered a big, cold glass of ice water.
Bohemia rhapsody...lol.Just about started singing.
There's Charles Bridge and one of the old bridge towers behind me.It was actually amazing floating under the bridge.
There's Prague castle and the beautiful, Gothic St Wenceslas cathedral in the middle.
I love Prague.I'm so in love with my home town.Even if it's so hot my brain is melting.
One more look at the castle and back to the dock.
Well, that was nice.We're supposed to have a thunder storm tonight and hopefully Europe will cool down a bit.To the cemetery tomorrow to visit my grandparents, and then off to the opera.
A visit to Krivoklat castle
Well, my dears, as I write this I'm back in Prague for a few days.There are things to do in town, like visit and take care of the family crypt, sort out some documents re my Czech citizenship and hang in town for a while, but before I took the train back to Prague, I drove out to an interesting castle.I visited Krikovlat castle.Yeah, I know, another day, another castle!You know the drill; if it's not the middle of the town type castle then you've got to walk up the hill, so we shall walk up the hill to see it.
We have to climb high above the village, up high on the hill because people in castles had to see far and wide for miles around to see their enemies coming.
This castle may be up on a hill but it's hidden in a thick forest. Hmm, interesting.
Almost there.
And now I'm under the walls...
...and I look down, and there is no way the castle people could have seen anything coming from this hill.Hmmm, that's pretty strange.And, at the same time, the king of Bohemia, King Wenceslaus, lived here before he built Karlstejn.
Oh well, we'll leave that mystery alone and walk thru the castle gates.
And here's the inner courtyard.
Look at these amazing gargoyles looking down on us.
Here is the good King Wenceslaus himself and a Medieval piece of the castle.
This castle is beautifully preserved and has much of the 15C glass windows. Here are the huge castle keys. The tour guide invited me to hold them and take a photo.
This is the chapel. It's one of the best preserved Gothic chapels in the world.
Original windows and part of an original door dating back to the 14C. They did buy venetian blinds online for some of the windows.
Later in the castle history, the Furstenbergs owned and lived in this place and they built this magnificent library.
Look at this free standing bookcase. Isn't it amazing? The library goes on for three rooms of these amazing book cases. They must be 15 ft tall!
And there are a few illuminated manuscripts here.Here is the good old king.
Ah, and then, in the hall of paintings, we come to a little secret.Here is a painting of a beautiful woman. Apparently the king's mistress. So, now we see the benefit of a hidden castle!Apparently he fathered several children by her and each time a birth was close she would go into confinement and then her child would be taken from her and placed on the castle doorstep, where a servant would "find" the poor orphaned child and bring it to her, and she would say, "Oh, poor orphaned child, I will take you in and raise you as my own." Therefore showing her piety, chastity and general Christian goodness. Apparently she manged to take in 8 orphans.
Well now, isn't that a turn up for the books.Looking out from the tower I was thinking of how blissfully private and hidden this castle is.
And then someone goes and builds a village overlooking your castle.
Oh well, even a king can't have everything.