Weekend in Prague 2

Please, bear with me, this time we have so many good photos, and what you will find here is the absolute minimum for our first half Saturday. Stefan has strict order to shoot so many good photos at once never evermore! To cut things shorter I will spare you my endless comments and put fewer text online. (By the by I am learning for some hillariously complicated exam right now - so there is not that much time. But still one needs to take breaks, lol.)

So: On Saturday morning we were headed to the castle of Prague. In fact the Prager Burg is a whole part of the city, the castle having expanded over the centuries, in total for example you have three inner wards from various centuries, an Old and a New Palace. Huge buildings like the Dom St.Veit have been added, there are various museums and basilica. This time it was more of a walk-through for us, but next time we will definately have a look at the great rooms in the palaces and the exhibits there.

This is the complex of the Prager Burg and quite a walk up there. We came up over the Alte Schloßstiege, which is why we entered into the area from the back entrance. But it simply was closer to our hotel and just as beautiful.

It was a beautiful day, and boats where out. But our aim was the Burg, so no boating, and off we went!

When you enter from the Alte Schloßstiege, you walk tiny alleys and pass buildings like the Toy Museum or the Palais Lobkowitz. Of course great photo spots everywhere!

A must-see for everyone coming to Prague is the Dom St. Veit, the place where all the Bohemian kings were crowned. Now they rest there in their tombs... Building constructions on the dome were started in 1344, in in fact it was a torso until the 19th century (of course the krypta and the main building had been built in time for the crowning ceremonies and the funerals). My guide says that it was only finished from 1872-1929. To me, as a typical European, used to really old things, it felt irritating. I mean, it looked old - as it SHOULD (for European thinking), but it is actually brand-new (also for European thinking). But anyway, it is a great place. And it is HUGE!!

Light streamed in, and the glass windows came to life with great colours and reflections.

 



You need to pay extra to be able to go up to the altar, but as fast as we could get we had a great impression of the dimension and the colorful windows anyway. And we had a very strong photo lens, haha.

The dome from the back. Did I say, that it is huge?

Then it was definately time to take a break. We sat on the stone bench of the dome, toasting with H2O brought in my little pink waterbottle. Next to us were people sitting with actual mugs and hot tea, so we were not the only ones in need of a break.

The dome from the Pulverbrücke, one of the exits of the castle area. Here we also saw a small version of the change of guards, the main change of the guard being exercised each day at 12.00 hrs, but we missed that. But there is a small version every hour. Anyway, it cannot get any better than the change of guards at the Royal Castle in Stockholm, where the guards played "Lay all your love on my" from ABBA!

We passed through the rest of the area quite quickly, in fact it is walls if you do not go inside anywhere. But there is lots of treasures, rooms and exhibitions to be seen. We will do that next time.

But we saw a group of people with their English setters (maybe a group of breeders or a breeding club?), and the dogs were so charming, wagging their tails at us and licking Stefans face when he tried to catch a good shot - we will always cherish that memory! Dogs are fabulous!!! (Okay, you knew I would say that.)

Then we reached the main entrance of the Castle. With serious looking guards and all. I remember the ones in front of Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle - they never look at you and pretend not to see you. These here were different: They stood stick as a stiff but looked at you!! Eerie!!

The view from up there is gorgeous!! Especially on a sunny, clear and warm day like we had on this very special Saturday in earliest Spring.

Here you see some view down to the Karlsbrücke, where we had strolled very relaxed and almost remote the night before. See the people pushing down there????? And we had been thinking: What a peaceful place, and it is just us here....

Some more view. It is lovely, lovely, lovely from up there, and after working your way through the narrow lanes of the castle complex it comes almost as a surprise.

So stay tuned, there is lots more to come. I told you about this little "too many good photos"-problem.

Wavies for today though....