Prague

Correction: This post refers to the "Old Town" and "New Town" of Prague. While both do exist, I screwed up the references. The New Town is actually right next to the Old Town, and contains the likes of Wencelsas Square. What I referred to as the "New Town" throughout this post actually refers to the Castle Quarter, the area on the west bank of the river. Sorry!!!

Most of our travels so far have stayed in Western Europe. We really want to make it further east at some point (Poland and Russia are high on our wish list), but those are a little further down on the list. We were able to take a short weekend trip (45 hours door to door, to be exact) to Prague, in the Czech Republic. Although not quite Eastern Europe (I think it is officially "Central"), this is different from the likes of Rome and Paris.Saturday, October 3rd

Since we were making such a short trip of it, we knew we needed to leave as early as possible. When we booked our 6:15 flight, though, we didn't think about just how early we'd need to get up. Because the trains don't come too often that early, we had to catch a 4:08 train, which meant our day started before 3am. On the way to the station, we actually ran into several people making their way home from their various Friday activities.

When we step off the plane in each new country, we like to check the place off our list by one of us giving a resounding, "Check!!" Possibly the most memorable moment from this trip is the look on Jenna's face after she said it, then quickly realized that what she actually meant was, "Czech!!"

It took a little while to get through the airport and into town, but by mid morning we had checked into our hotel and were out on the streets. The city is split into an Old Town and a New Town, with a river running through the middle. We wandered through the Old Town a little based on the location of our hotel, but our plan was to see the New Town this day, so we made our way across the Charles Bridge that connects the two.

This bridge was built in the 1300s, and at that time was the only way to cross between Prague Castle (in the New Town) and everything else that sat in the Old Town. The bridge is one of the top attractions in the city, partly due to its age and importance, but also because it is lined with a bunch of statues and just generally looks cool. Unfortunately, at the moment they're doing some renovations, so parts of the bridge are closed off and full of scaffolding, and it is going to stay that for few a few more years. The parts that are open are cool, but the pictures just didn't come out too great with all the construction. We had a great time walking across the bridge and seeing all the people and listening to the street performers along the way!

The main site in the New Town is the Prague Castle, but there were a few things on the way up the hill that it sits on that we stopped at. The first thing was a monastery with a great view over the city. Afterward we stopped by a Jenna must - the Museum of Miniatures. This was a weird little place - they had about 15 different miniature displays, but of the uber miniature sort. Like a chickpea with a copy of the Mona Lisa, or a flea with a tiny padlock around its leg. You had to look through a microscope to see these tiny things. I'm sure it takes a ridiculous amount of skill to make these tiny things, but it seemed like a bit of a novelty.

Our next stop was the Castle, which is really more of a fortress. There is a small city, including a huge Cathedral (the real center point of the castle) and a nice little shopping street. All of it sits on top of a large hill that looks down across the river to the Old Town, and it is is surrounded by castle-type walls.

There were a few things that we saw inside the Castle, like the old shopping street (Golden Lane) and the Old Royal Palace with its great hall - with entrances made to be big enough for horses to enter, so they could have games in the hall. The prize of the Castle, though, was definitely the Cathedral. It was massive and as impressive as many of the cathedrals we've seen throughout Europe.

This stained glass window was very vibrant and apparently an important bit of local art. Made in the 1930s by a local artist at a high point of Czech nationalism, it shows the people coming out of darkness into a light brought by Cyril (who brought Christianity to the area and created the Cyrillic alphabet - think Russian), and St. Wenceslas (who was the first Christian king of the area and is now the patron saint of the Czech people).

This is the tomb of John of Nepomuk, another local saint who was killed by being thrown off the Charles Bridge and drowned at the orders of the emperor The details as to why are sketchy, but the leading thought is that the Queen confessed to him, and the King thought the confession included adultery. When John wouldn't divulge the information heard in the confession, he was put to death. His tomb is made completely of silver - they estimate it to be about 1 ton worth.

There were also all of these beautiful rose windows.

After leaving the castle we headed down the hill and up another big hill (luckily by funicular this time). This hill was supposed to have the best views in the city, and is supposed to be the best place in town to bring a first date. I must say, the views of the city were amazing!

By the time we'd come down off the hill and warmed up a bit with some Starbucks hot chocolate, it was time for dinner. We ate at a local place that served traditional Czech food (working man food - meat and potatoes). After filling up good on chicken and wild boar (you can guess who ordered what), we strolled through some parts of the Old Town in the moon and street lights. We made our way to the main square where we thought we'd watch the famous astronomical clock strike 10:00. We gathered with about 100 other tourists and waited about until about ten minutes past before we gave and went back to the hotel, where we found out that the clock only does its thing (see definition of "thing" below) until 9:00 at night. Somewhat defeated, we headed to bed...

Sunday, October 4th

Sunday was our Old Town day. We started off with a decent free breakfast from the hotel before heading back into the main square. This time, we did get to watch the famous clock strike the hour. It is astronomical, so I guess it shows all kinds of extra information like what astronomical sign it is, when the sun is supposed to rise/set, etc. We pretty much couldn't tell what it said, even the time. We had to look at our watches to tell when it was going to ring! When it does ring, it puts on a nice little show. Death comes out, flips an hourglass, and starts ringing his bell. At the same time, each of the 12 disciples roll past to show their faces while 3 heathen sinners hang their heads as they apparently face their judgement. At least that is what I got out of it (with a little help from the guide book). The other interesting thing with this clock is that it shows what "Saint's Day" it is. If you happen to not know, most non-Protestant Christian faiths devote each calendar day to a specific saint (like St Patrick's Day or St Valentine's Day), and this clock will give you a reminder of whose day today is.

Our original plan was to spend the morning in the Jewish district. Leading up to WW2, prior to the atrocities of the death camps, the Jews in the city were forced into the worst area of town. They built up several little sites that are supposedly worth a visit, but unfortunately for us the weekend of our trip was a Jewish holiday, and everything was closed. We had a walk around the neighborhood and tried to peek in some of the sites, but ended up spending significantly less time there than planned.

We headed back to the main square in the old town and walked through the various stalls that made up the market there. We then headed into the cathedral on the square, where we were actually fortunate enough to catch the end of a service. We then toured through the church a bit before heading back out to the square to enjoy a nice meal of brats/chicken skewer (Aaron/Jenna) and peasant's potatoes (small potatoes grilled with cheese and onions). It was pretty delicious!

Since we didn't get to the Jewish Quarter, we had quite a bit of extra time, and were able to make it to the Museum of Communism. After WW2, Czechoslovakia fell under communist rule, and this museum is a kind of memorial to that era. Maybe memorial is a bad word for it - the museum was created more as a reminder of what life was like, and to let everyone know that things are much better now. It was a very interesting museum, having tons of information on the history of how the communists came to power, and what life was like. They had recreated sections of a school, a factory, and a general store, and it was interesting to see what it was like and learn a little bit about what it would have been like to live there.

They also had a lot of the museum devoted to the Velvet Revolution - the name they've given to the fall of communist rule in Czechoslovakia because it happened peacefully, without a single blow (sort of - there were definitely some scuffles in the streets between the people and police). Anyway, there were no major conflicts, but after several days of protests by the people, the government leaders simply stepped down. You get a piece of it in school, but the focus is always in Russia and the Berlin Wall. It was really good to get a perspective from one of these smaller communist nations.

By the time we finished with the museum, it was nearing our time to leave. We spent a little more time wandering through the streets to get a little more appreciation for the beauty of this city, which miraculously came out of WW2 nearly completely unscathed. We walked back through the Old Town Square and through some of the quaint side streets before making our way back to the airport.

Miscellany

We generally focus on the big trips and events, but during that time the little things accumulate, so we thought we might put together a few of the memorable things we've done lately that don't deserve their own posts.

Concerts

One of the great things about living in such a major city is that pretty much any major concert tour makes its stop here. The problem is that in a city so big, they tend to sell out right away. We were lucky enough to be on Ticketmaster first thing for two that we really wanted to see though, and got great tickets for Both U2 and Coldplay at Wembley Stadium.

U2 was about everything you'd think it would be. They are probably the biggest rock band on the planet and led by one of the most recognizable names in music, the one and only Bono. Aside from the fact that they've put out some great music in the past 20 years, we also have a lot of respect for what the band does with their popularity - getting involved in a lot of charitable causes. The show was incredible. The stage was something between a space ship and a giant spider - I don't think it would fit in any stadium that didn't have a open top. They played all their best songs, except of course Jenna's favorite (The Sweetest Thing). We didn't have the best seats (they looked mostly like ants), but luckily their ridiculous stage had a giant screen that made things a little more visible. Anyway, not sure why we've never made it to one of their shows before, but we'll definitely try to catch them again.

Coldplay was also very good. Like U2 they are a British band, and their lead singer Chris Martin (a household name here) is married to American actress Gwyneth Paltrow. U2 is a little pretentious, thinking they're about the best band ever (which, to be honest, they have an argument for), and as such they had two no-name English bands open for them. Coldplay on the other hand still has a little humility, and had two big openers. First was Girls Aloud, which is a Spice Girls type band that is really big here but probably hasn't quite picked up across the pond. We didn't care much about them so we skipped it. The 2nd opener was Jay-Z, probably the biggest name in rap music. It was a pretty odd choice, but apparently he and Gwen are good friends, and he and Coldplay collaborated on a song on Coldplay's newest album. Anyway, it wasn't necessarily "our type of music", we did know a few of the songs, and he put on a super-high energy show. When he walked off the stage it felt like the show should be over, and we still had the main act!



They also put on a really great show. They are pushing their new album, so it was pretty heavy on the new stuff. That was okay, since we like most everything on the new album, but they also did mix in a lot of their older stuff, including dropping in about 50 huge "yellow" beach balls for the song that made them famous. They also did not sing Jenna's favorite song, Bonus Track! Again, one that we'd definitely go back to.

Greenwich



Greenwich (pronounced "grin-itch"), is a town on the Thames that used to be just east of London, but has now been swallowed by the city, and is actually quite central. We had a free Saturday in September and decided to spend the afternoon there.


This is the home of the famous Prime Meridian - 0 Degrees Longitude. It is also the home to GMT - Greenwich Mean Time - essentially ground zero for how we tell time. Officially, all time zones are given a time of GMT plus "x", So CST is actually just GMT + 6:00. As such, there is a big conservatory here. Apparently there was a lot that went into determining the longitudes. It has a lot to do with the rotation of the earth and time and a bunch of other scientific stuff, and it was all very important to navigation and seafaring. The conservatory had a little museum that explained it all, but to be honest we didn't understand it too much or care. We pretty much just wanted to say that we stood on, or stradled, the Prime Meridian...which we did.


The picture above is supposedly the line of the meridian leading up to a sculpture of the globe.

The 4th Plinth


Trafalgar Square is a major landmark in London - a large open square in front of the National Gallery art museum. When it was built, the plan was to put statues at the corners of the square. They built all four plinths (fancy name for the base that the statue sits on). They put up three of the statues, but for whatever reason they didn't have the money to build the fourth. They held off for several years, and by the time the money was available, the powers that be couldn't decide on which king/general/rich guy to put up there. While they were deciding, they started putting up temporary statues, and apparently it stuck.


For some time now, they've been putting statues that were on tour or waiting for a permanent home or whatever on a short term basis. So, the 4th Plinth has become famous as either a place to see something on display short term (usually a piece of art work as opposed to a classic statue), or to see an empty plinth.


A local artist named Anthony Gormley recently came up with a great idea for the plinth. (He was also a professor to Jenna's brother Hesse when he got his master's in Switzerland.) He decided that it would be nice to put the "normal man" up there. I think it is supposed to be something about the importance of the standard citizen - something along the lines of them being as important as the guys who stand on the other 3 plinths. Anyway, his plan came to fruition, and for 100 days from July to October, for 24 hours a day, some random person was standing on the plinth (anyone could apply online, and they were selected at random). Each person got 1 hour (that means 2400 people) to do whatever they wanted. A lot of the people were trying to bring awareness to some cause or another. Others tried to just have a fun time or show off in some way. We made our way past the plinth a couple times in the 100 days, and here is a recap of the ones we saw:

Chiari Malformation - Lady bringing attention to this rare sort of brain malformation. Not really sure but I guess it affects balance? Her presentation worked at least a little, because we'd never heard of it, and now we have.

Bingo! - This guy had assistants in the crowd who handed out bingo cards. He then drew out balls and called numbers with a megaphone. It was fun, but we didn't stick around long enough to win a prize.
Lady with crazy pink wig and swimsuit dancing - This lady was, well, wearing a crazy pink wig and a swimsuit and danced around. She was promoting families taking vacations in England.

Fisherman - He sat in a chair and...fished. Get Hooked on Fishing is a mentoring program for children while fishing.

Lady (we think) wearing a big eye - She was trying to speak for the blind. She also tried to throw balls out into the crowd, presumably with information on them. Ironically, the giant eye made it so she couldn't see, so the balls didn't get out to the crowd too well.

Indian Elvis - By far our favorite. It was 9:00 at night. He told us that he only found out about being on the plinth 24 hours earlier. In his short time to plan, he came up with dressing up like Elvis and singing his songs. He only had an iPod connected to a cheap boombox, so the sound wasn't great. Also, he obviously didn't know all the words, because he was using a clipboard with the lyrics. It was hilarious, though - his thick accent singing these songs by The King was great. The crowd got really into it - especially one crazy guy who was running around and dancing and singing like he was the main attraction. Anyway, we'd planned to stay fro 5 minutes, and ended up watching this guy for 30.

Windsor

Windsor is the official residence of the Queen, and at 800 years old it is the oldest occupied castle in the world. If you've been reading, we were thwarted in our first attempt to visit when they closed the entrance five minutes early. This time, we had a free Saturday, and devoted the whole of the day to getting out there.

It was an interesting visit. There's a big mix between the castles that you see everywhere else that are simply tourist attractions, and the palaces that you see everywhere else, that are super fancy. On the outside it looks like your standard castle, but on the inside it is very palatial, fitting of the fact that the Queen and her family do spend a lot of time here. It is supposed to be the Queen's favorite of all her homes, so she's there quite often. She was actually there the day we visited, but didn't happen to be greeting guests.

Could go into a lot of detail about all the stuff we saw - royal apartments, the grounds and gardens, and the chapel, but I'm sure people don't care that much, and this post is starting to run pretty long, so...