We started off at Prague castle. We just followed the other tourists up the hill. There was a gorgeous view of the town and the castle.
There were gaurds by the gates. The kind of gaurds that stand very still while people take photos next them. I didn't want to be one of those people. There was also a statue of the first President, Tom.
The czechs like to tell people they are angry and surly. I think its like what we tell people about Australians being surfies and riding kangaroos and drinking forsters. If these rumours of poor temperment are true, they are built into the architecture. The gates of the palace were decorated with figures. One was a man about to stab another man. In the second statue a man was beating his opponent with a club. Friendly folk.
There was a vast courtyard with granite set flag poles behind the gates and guards. Then an entrance to another building and another large courtyard. This one had a fountain in it. We realised we should have come earlier, as the crowds of tour groups had begun to gather en mass. We were still just ahead of most though.
We bought tickets to the castle that allowed us into the Old palace, the Basilica of St George and Golden Lane. First we went to St Vitus Cathedral, which was free to get into. The outside was a set of dark gothic towers that rose above the other buildings. It was beautifully ornate. It was completely covered in gargoyles. Some looked like dragons or monsters while others looks like screaming people. There was a short que to get in, which was a lot longer behind us.
Inside, I was hit by the sheer size of halls. It had echoing spaces, surrounded by columns. The large windows that decked the walls were made up of intricate stained glass scenes.
The roof had interesting crossing patterns that continued down the walls. Around the walls were golden trimmed statues of religious figures. At the front was an alter,following on to a tomb decorated with flying angels.
Next was the old royal palace. It was basically a large room with a few decorations and a nice view over the city from the balcony. In and out in 5 minutes. Not particularly interesting. Golden Lane was a road of old style house which have long since been converted to tourist traps. We walked through quickly. On reflection, probably didn't need the ticket. All the best bits of the castle were free anyway.
We walked down the long path back to the street and found a small park for lunch. Lunch was cheese sanwiches we made that morning. We walked further and found St Nicolas´s Church,apparently a good example of Czech baroque. St Nick´s church was one of the better things I saw that day. It had a fraction of the visitors of the other St Vitus. There were no tour groups and loud guides or constant flashes of cameras.
It was quiet and cool and had a feeling of piece about it. You sit in a pew and take a breath, then you look up. The frescos covering every part of the ceiling are amazing. They gave the illusion of decorative architecture around the edged of each painting. So skillfully done we couldn't tell were the painting started. The main piece went from building to a sky scene with angels and clouds. It maintained this almost perfect perspective of looking upwards toward the subjects. Then become distorted as it reached the clouds.
Further on was an impressive dome in the same style. And many gold trimmed statues. I just sat there for a while to take in every detail.
We were peckish after all the touring, so stopped in to a café for tea and cake. The cakes were a raspberry cheesecake and a caramel cake. Both were generous portions, tasty and rich. We couldn't finish them between us.
Next we found the Lennon wall. After his assignation in 1980, some young Czechs painted his picture on the wall. Others followed with pictures and slogans of peace. It was illegal during the communist period and kept getting painted over. Now it is a legal graffiti wall apparently. Every few years it gets washed over though, so no one´s experience of the wall will be exactly the same. There is a bust of John sticking out of the wall so he face will be there no matter what it looks like.
Right now there are lots of peace slogans and Beetles lyrics, some portraits and a picture of John with a beard.
The highlight of my day. I don't know exactly why. It´s just a wall with graffiti on it. Most is just boring and there´s a lot of illegible scribbles. Its not what´s on the wall, but what it represents. There´s just a feeling that comes from being there. Every person who has ever written on the wall is connected, even after their work is painted over.
We decided to come back on another day and see it again.
I left feeling calm and at peace with the world. I strolled down the busy bridge, packed with people. I didn't feel the crowd was there. Imagine played in my head as I watched the boats and hot air balloons floating past the distant bridges.
We got back to the hostel and brought Ozy downstairs to the bar. While typing we had a bit of beer. Mistake. We returned to the Chinese place and got the same food and brought it back to the hostel. We sat at our room´s table and devoured our meal. Then returned to typing, this time in our room. Mistake. The moment I sat on my bed I collapsed. We slept through the evening and woke up at about 10-30pm. By then it was too late to attempt the karaoke night we planned to try. It was just to far away and we were too tired. We sat at the bar and drank red bull, but it didn't help. I desperately wanted to salvage the night, but it looked like it wasn´t going to happen.
New rule I decided: no beer in the day. We just end up asleep. Also no typing in bed.
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