April 29

The weather cleared up and became sunny again. Although not as warm as on Monday it was a perfect day for a walking tour of the Prague Castle with our friends Nicky and Ross from Surrey. We bought a tour ticket which allowed us entry into some of the interesting places in the castle such as the St. Vitus Cathedral.

St. Georges Basilica

This church was founded in 920.

And the Golden Lane 

This is where some of the King's goldsmiths and alchemists lived. Franz Kafka lived here for a spell as well.

We continued our tour down the Old Castle Stairs and eventually we wound up on the bottom in Lesser Town Square. Not without stopping and taking in more of the beautiful panoramas of Prague.

We boarded a tram which took us to Letna Plain and from there we walked down the bluff and across one of the many Vltava bridges back to the Old Town Square

Tomorrow the Zoo and hopefully we will be able to get there on one of the river boats.

April 28

Tuesday was a blustery rainy day. I don't think the temperature got into the double digits all day. It was a wild swing in the weather considering that the day before it was sunny and 24°C!

Regardless of the weather we took the train to Karlstejn which is a little village south of Prague and sits under a castle of the same name.

This castle was built by King Charles IV as a summer palace and to store the crown jewels of Bohemia and the Holly Roman Empire of which he was the emperor. The castle was founded in 1348 and finished just seventeen years later. There is no photography allowed inside any of the buildings therefore no pictures.

It is a bit of a climb to get there so about half way we stopped in a quaint little restaurant and had a bit of a snack to replenish our energy.

Potato soup serven in a bread-bowl

Unfortunately most of the "real" treasure was not open to visitors as the rooms have to be kept with certain temperature and humidity to preserve the antiquities. 

The main gate

After the tour of the castle we walked back into the village and stopped again at the same restaurant "Restaurace Pod Hradem" or Restaurant under the Castle for some coffee and desert.

April 26

Today we gathered most of the family that was able to make it and had a bit of a memorial to return some of the ashes of my father, mother and brother to the river they all loved so much.

This was the particular spot that they always returned to for a swim or just to spend a sunny afternoon.

On the way back to the cars we went by the new swimming pool the city built. It uses biomass water filtration. It consists of two separate bodies of water, one being the actual swimming pool and the other an enclosed biomass filtration body. The filtration is performed by carefully chosen water plants, sand and various mosses and the water gets filtered to the point that it is almost drinkable. There are no chemicals at al used in the process.

The specifications say they can  support up to a thousand bathers at a time.

April 26

Quick update
Yesterday we visited my cousin's place for a very informal family get-together. We visited with both of my cousins, their wives, one of my cousin's daughters and my cousin's in-laws. It was a very pleasant afternoon full of nostalgia and catching up. Cathie actually had a good time also as there were several people that spoke English so she had someone to chat with.

The ladies also put on this amazing spread of snacks, goodies and sweets. With all this great food around it is really easy to gain a few pounds. It is a good thing that we do a lot of walking to counteract the food intake.

April 24

A bit of nostalgia today.
We met up with a friend whom I used to work with before I retired. Her son is playing in the Ales Hrebesky Memorial lacrosse tournament in Radotin and we took her and her husband around to show them where I grew up.

We walked down my old street by my grandparent's house and then we wandered toward the river where my brother Dan, my cousins and I spent most of the sumer swimming in.

After that we went by the School I went to.

In the afternoon we boarded the train and rode it all the way back to the Prague main station where we transferred to a metro line and took it to one of the stations close to the river.

Walking along the river we eventually came to the famous "Dancing House" whose purpose I still don't understand. Perhaps it's a piece of art...

Just a little interesting titbit - Vltava river in Prague is host to thousands of white swans. They can be seen just about anywhere in the river. Especially where people have access to the shore to feed them.

Click on the picture below to enlarge it.

April 23

Today we took a stroll through night Prague. Prague at night is a very magical place. Many streets in the Old Town are still lit with gas street lamps and a lamplighter goes every night and turns them on and every dawn to turn them off.

The streets are also very narrow and cobbled. Some of the cobble stones are six hundred years old. Unfortunately, some of the magic is taken away by the ever present tourists and little stores selling all manner of kitschy things none of which really reflect the true Czech crafts and craftsmanship.

Here are several pictures from night prague.

Tyn church 

Rudolfinum

Prague Castle panorama

Charles Bridge Tower

National Theatre

Vltava river bank at night

I may have mentioned it before but gere it goes again; Cathie and I were able to obtain a pensioner ID which allowed us to buy a monthly transit pass for the equivalent of $12.50. This pass allows us to travel on all forms of Prague Transit including the interurban trains operated by Czech Railways to all of Prague's suburbs.

April 22nd

Today my cousin and his wife picked us up and we drove south to one of the most picturesque towns in the world. The town is Cesky Krumlov and it is a UNESCO World Heritage protected site. Cesky Krumlov is one of the oldest continuously occupied medieval towns in Europe. The castle dates back to 1302 and the chateau and the town soon followed.

All vehicles except local delivery are banned from the historic part of the town so visitors must park in one of the many visitor parking lots and walk in. The picture below shows one of the entrances into town from the parking lot we chose.

And this is the other side

The following pictures will hopefully give an idea of what the town is about.

The Chateau

The castle to the left of the chateau

Town square with many excellent restaurants

A view from the castle

Another view

Yet another view

We ended the day by driving back to Prague through some of the old country roads rather than taking the freeways. This gave us an opportunity to stop and buy some real Czech confectioneries, drive through some of the old Czech hamlets and see some of the local castles in the hills. we also stopped at a place call Mnisek pod Brdy which was a town close to a small village where my grandparents lived. There is a very nicely restored chateau there.

Tomorrow we will be taking it a little easy as today was a lot of walking and hill climbing and our legs need a bit of rest.

for more info on Cesky Krumlov go here

April 20

Today we wanted to check out some of the tours that are offered from Prague into other parts of Europe. We decided to kill two birds with one cobble stone and see one of the first mega shopping centres built in Prague after the velvet revolution. Centrum Cerny Most. The only picture opportunity I found worth while was the in the food court where there was a stand called "Smak Ceske Kuchyne" which in English means Taste of Czech Cuisine. They offer a really good cross section of the most popular dishes found in Czech cooking.

We also stopped at local bus tour agency and enquired about a five day excursion to Paris. We found one that includes the bus, two nights in a Paris hotel, guided tours and hotel breakfasts. The price? Equivalent of $520.00 for both of us!

Once again, this mall is very accessible via city bus or metro.

After the mall we went back into the city centre and did a little sightseeing starting at "Namesti Republiky" 

And the "Prasna Brana" or The Powder Tower

And then wound our way through The Parisienne Street 

on to the old Jewish quarter

With the oldest synagogue in europe.

After visiting the Jewish quarter we continued towards the river and went by the Rudolfinum which is a major concert hall and a venue for most of the big musical events in Prague.

And just because I can't help myself, here is another shot of the castle with yet another bridge in the foreground

During our various walks we noticed that many of the national treasures, be it old heritage buildings, churches, statues, etc., are being meticulously restored. Below are a couple of pictures showing some of the work being done.

Worker using a wire brush to clean a statuary

Church façade being restored

After crossing the river

and taking a couple of pictures we wound up in an area called Kampa

Prague's little Venice

On the way home we stopped at Albert which is one of the big supermarket chains here and bought groceries for the next few days as it is much cheaper to cook at home and healthier.

Good night.....

April 18

Today we went to a place called Vysehrad. This is one of the oldest castles/forts in Prague. It was established somewhere around the 10th century which makes just a bit younger than Prague Castle. It is situated on a bluff over the right bank of the Vltava river and one can enjoy a spectacular view of most of the southern part of prague. Access is quite easy. 

This is the gate to the grounds

 We traveled on the metro and got off at Vysehrad station and from there it's just a 10 minute walk to the grounds.

Metro

Some of the spectacular views from Vysehrad 

These are some of the original ramparts going back to the 10th crntury.

Basilica of St. Peter and Paul

After visiting Vysehrad we were invited to come and watch my cousin coach some kids how to play tennis. We walked back to the metro station got on the C train, transferred at a place called "Florenc" on to the "B" train which took us to the Smichov train station where we got on the "City Elephant" commuter train and rode to Radotin.

Our commuter train to Radotin

This is the place I grew up in

At the Radotin Tennis Club we met up with my cousin, his wife and one of his daughters (whose daughter is one of the kids my cousin is coaching) and watched the class in one of the inflatable "bubbles" 

My cousin at the net

And the kiddies he's coaching

After that we went on a bit of a ride in the country before stopping to buy a few groceries and heading home.