Another Skate Park More picts

Vyserhad

Sorry for the lack of text content, once I started the marathon travel/study program that is SAIICA I have had little time to myself to sit down and explain all these picts. If you are interested I will try and explain the visuals below.


This is the Vyšehrad. Hrad means castle, so it is called the High Castle. It is much less popular a destination then the main castle in Prague, at least to the tourists. The locals see it as the mythical birthplace of the city. Personally, I enjoyed it more because I was able to ride the bike there and actually relax and get a feel for the place.

The the first set of pictures below are of the walls around the castle and view from them. The second one is looking straight down the wall to the ground.


In the Prague myth the wise chieftain Krok built the first castle here in the 7th century. As the story goes, his cleverest daughter, Libuše, prophesied that a great city would rise here. She is known as the mother of the Přemsyl line because she chose to follow the prophecy and marry a common ploughman. Together they founded Praha and the Přemyslid line of Czech rulers. The story was very intriguing to me and explained one of the major cultural differences that I observed during my short stay; namely, Czech seem to have much more respect for women then other Europeans that I have observed. This would have meant nothing to me had I not actually gone to Vyšehrad and learned a bit about the history. As the story continued, after Libuše died, a renegade army of women fled across the Vltava river. Šárka, another heroin, was chosen as a decoy to trap Ctirad, captain of the men's army. Unfortunately, she fell in love with him, and after her cohorts did him in, she threw herself into the the Šárka valley in remorse. The women were slaughtered by the men of Hradčany in the final battle. Whether these myths are true or not they help form the sociological perspective of the Czech people and I find them truly fascinating. Below are the four statutes in the main courtyard of the castle grounds. They are to the South of the Church of SS Peter & Paul.





McDonald's Army

I couldn't resist taking this picture. I found this anti-McDonald's Capitalism work spray painted to the last gate coming out of the northern entrance. I think it depicts well the anti-American sentiment that has grown here despite the recent liberation from the Soviet Union. It is Ironic how quickly perspectives can change.


This is the Gothic Church of SS Peter & Paul. One of many incredible Gothic works that I observed while traveling around Central Europe. It has been built and rebuilt many times over the centuries with the current incarnation completed by Josef Mocker in the 1880s. The towers were added in 1903, and most of the interior frescoes were done around 1920. However, what is truly remarkable is the cometary to the north of the church, see below.



The graves in the cemetery serve as a who-is-who list of the elite of Prague. I was taken aback be the wide difference in the dates on the headstones and the beauty of many of the statutes. It was just after I snapped the shot above that I had my the most moving moment on my trip. There was an older Austrian gentleman tending a grave just across from this angel. The grave was obviously on of the newer in the cometary, but was still dated pre-2000. Some how I caught his attention and he attempted to engage me in conversation. Unfortunately, we lacked a common language but I was able to gather that this was his wife's grave and that she was Czech and he was Austrian. I believe that he met her after being liberated from the concentration camp at Terezín. The emotion in him and the obvious love that he still holds for his wife overcame me and we cried together for a moment. It was truly a beautiful and meaningful connection between two from relatively different worlds.

Finally, the most famous grave I believe, is that of Dvorák, shown above. I actually found many with the Dvorák name, but I believe this is the tomb of "the" Dvorák.

Prague Castle

So the most obvious and and largest tourist attraction in the city is the Castle. Construction started in the 9th century and has continued through the 20th century. It is amazing that the Czechs worked on this castle longer the America has been a nation, in fact, since long before Columbus introduced the white plague that would eventually become the most unsustainable nation on the planet. As I ride my bike along the local bike route from the metronome to the castle I paused in the Royal Garden. The Garden was originally built as a zoo and used to house the royal pets, like the lions that are so much a part of the Czech imagery. From the garden I take one of many pictures of the castle itself. Depicted here is the most famous part of the castle, St. Vitus Cathedral. The cathedral is truly amazing and a masterful work of architectural wonderment. Construction of the cathedral began in 1344 on the grounds of an old Roman ruin. It is impossible to put into words how majestic it really is, so here are some pictures to attempt to capture it. The cathedral actually houses multiple chapels, each with an ornate stained glass window and its own unique scene. The main section, the chorus I think, is large enough to be a B-52 with the individual chapels each holding a UH-60.

The main tower, which houses the bells and the clockworks, has a tight spiral staircase that leads to the top of the cathedral and easily the most spectacular view of/in the city. The balcony allows you to walk all the way around the tower and to see all of ancient Prague. The view is even more amazing then that from the Space Needle and feels just just as high, especially after walking up the seemingly never ending staircase of doom. But it was worth it, see below.

In the crypt below the cathedral are the remains of many of the ancient rulers of Prague including Charles IV. I was overtaken by a mob of French teenagers on a guided tour before I was able to get any good pictures of the tomb, sorry.

As it turns out, there is much more inside the walls then just the cathedral. There is the main gate:

The first and second courtyards are surrounded by the official government buildings but once were part of a huge palace.

Finally, the old palace and the main courtyard between the Cathedral and the palace. The old palace is open to tourists and is not inhabited no longer, but it is easy to imagine what it must have been like when it was in its prime. The main ballroom is again large enough for a large airplane and was used as a multipurpose hall. They even had indoor jousting here, if you can imagine.



I failed to get some great pictures of the moat and the bridge across it that connects the second courtyard to the royal garden and the old noble garrison and artisan buildings. There is a large tower that overlooks the moat and houses the armory and old canon works where the Czech artillery was first started and where the original Howitzer was invented. Apparently the tower never saw action, but it is an amazing work of medieval military might. Behind the cathedral in the third courtyard, and the center of the castle, is a fountain and an old convent. The castle continues down the hill and is easily large enough to house the entire population of my home town, comfortably. There are houses and restaurants inside the walls below the palace, but nothing as amazing as that seen above.

Prague

So here I sit in my Room at the Hostel with my shoes off letting my blistered feet rest. I have walked so much that my feet are torn up. Since I am forced to take a break before my train leaves on Friday morning to Linz I thought I would post Blog about my travels in Prague.

First, I arrived a little late, but not too bad considering the fact that I had to change planes in JFK and CDG. Of course my luggage was lost at JFK so all I had was my back pack. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I was able to take the bus and metro to Stare Mesto (old town). I wondered around for half the day looking for a place to stay and never found the one I was looking for. Eventually I settled on a place in Nove Mesto (new town) that was 90 Euro a night. It was a full accommodation with two single beds, TV, Phone, and my own WC w/shower. However, it was a little out of my price range, so I moved the next day to a place closer to the old town square. It turns out that 30 Euro a night is about the going rate for a single with shared facilities. Anyway, on to the fun stuff.

My second day I found a bike rental agency and rented a bike. I was so excited because the blisters from the first days wanderings were making walking out of the question and the bike gave me back my mobility. Besides, it was fun just riding around in a new city. The architecture is a amazing, you could easily spend a whole day in any part of the city just looking at the buildings and learning a little about their history. The first thing I did was cross the bridge north of old town and road up the tallest hill I found. At the top I was surprised to find a relic of the Soviet days, I giant metronome, it is set atop an elaborate hill with wide staircases up either side that lead into a plaza that must have once been used for important events. However, after the fall of the Union the locals reclaimed it and it is heavily vandalized. Aside from the tourists there for the view, it is mostly used by skateboarders who have adapted the old granite and marble steps and benches into the ultimate urban stake park.

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