Kristen left this morning to continue the business trip to the Symantec offices in Ireland, so we shared a cab that dropped me off at a backpacker’s hostel and she carried on to the airport. The idea today was to continue where we left off yesterday and finished the primary tourist sites at the Prague Castle.
So, back over the Charles Bridge, through the winding streets and up the hill to Prague Castle I ventured.
(Nice to have statues pointing the way.)
(And finally the cardio workout of the day on the "Prague Stairmaster".)
The beautiful thing about Prague is that one can avoid the hordes of tourists by simply starting out the day at about nine in the morning. Pick your favorite site to see in relative peace, because that will be your only solitude of the day. Notice the difference a couple hours makes in the foot traffic on the Charles Bridge.
(Morning)
(Afternoon)
For me the top pick was St. Vitus’s Cathedral. In itself it was beautiful. For some reason these structures don’t particularly evoke a spiritual connection for me but trigger an architectural appreciation. The Gothic Era of construction is especially impressive, with detailed carvings poking out of almost every crevasse.
One of my favorite details of the period are the gargoyles that line the roof seam, attached to the buttresses. Their mouths serve as the rain spouts and when water is flowing their exaggerated expressions don’t seem so wildly out of place. Did you know that they get their name from the gargling sound that water makes as it runs through the pipes and exits their stone mouths?
The early tourist venturers were treated to a much clearer morning than yesterday afternoon’s finish. Climbing one of the Cathedral towers provided a crisp view of the city and was well worth the climbing effort.
(Viewing deck just below copper tower top.)
(Note how close the countryside is to the old city center.)
A couple of art galleries are housed within the castle walls. First is the Prague Castle Picture Gallery, home to many Italian paintings of the 18th century. The good thing is that this gallery was part of the general admission. If you have been to any of the major European galleries this will be a fifteen-minute experience for mental cataloging of many minor artists and a few random masters.
(Sorry no pictures allowed inside.)
The second and National Gallery is worth the effort to browse. You will gain an appreciation for the artistic style of Czech artists and their melding of Austro-Hungarian influences with the greater impact of Italian and Dutch schools.
I love the active motion of the religious statues. It is almost as if these church relics are in the mood to dance. This approach seems more human to me and approachable vs. literally stone-faced sterile statues.
One of the conscious decisions or strategies in making this trip is to see enough so that if I never return there is still satisfaction in the depth of experience while still leaving ample activity unseen so that I could return and share new experiences with someone else. The Prague Loreto falls into this category. It is on the “must see” tourist list and is a beautiful building, but I am consciously saving it for another day.
I'm always a sucker for a good city scape.
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