Colleen's 1st Day in Praha (June 17th)

Hello all - 


So sorry for the delay! Colleen and I had a crazy busy fun-filled week together here in Prague, and I've been busy recouping from it and staying current on homework. I finally have some time to write ...


Colleen arrived Tuesday evening, the 16th, and so Wednesday the 17th was our first day out. We met mid-morning and decided to head towards my school - on the opposite end of the Charles Bridge - and just see what we saw along the way.


Here are some shots from our wandering ...

I love the spires on top of spires on this tower!

Now, how COOL of a manhole cover is this?!?!

Ummmm ... a preview of what is to come? Hmmmm ... OK, that isn't fair now is it? Hindsight is 20/20! OK OK ... I took this because I had no idea, thank you Colleen, that this was how they towed cars in Europe - by picking them UP! Neat!!!

I love this mosaic work - so cool! Regal you might say ... ha!

OK ... this arrow is NOT painted on, it is actually formed out of cobblestones - and then white cobblestones are laid inside of it. WOW!

OK, we are over the Charles Bridge now - and I just loved this little canal, with the boat just coming under the bridge.

We are now in Hradcany (Castle district), in some cute little square that sorta felt like there was no way out of ... and I just loved that old stone building in the background. Which, it turns out, is part of the Prague Castle wall.

This stepped garden TOTALLY caught my eye, as it is just super magnificent! Also, I later figured out - - it leads right up to the Castle.

OK, so this place had a "For Rent" sign up ... anyone, anyone - wanna go halfsies?

At this point, it was time for me to be at school. So, Colleen walked me there and I quickly showed her around. I knew we were going to take an excursion during today's A+A class, and I asked Colleen if she might like to come ... I could ask the teacher if he would allow that. Since we were going to the Prague Castle for the excursion, and Colleen had that on her itinerary - she agreed.

Chris, A+A teacher, was super laid-back and kind about my request and readily agreed to it. He also said she could stay for the lecture that he would give before we went on our excursion. Colleen was ready for a break, and interested in the topic (Prague Art + Architecture) ... so she stayed. Yeah ... I got to have a friend at school!!!

So, we learned about the Pre-Romanesque and Romanesque periods of Prague - from it's birth around 880 to about 1230. Cool! I learned that the defining look of Romanesque architecture in Prague is 1) super heavy columns, and 2) rounded archways. I learned much more cool stuff, about the history of Prague and its founding ... but too much for here.

Then we headed off to Prague Castle, specifically St. George's Basilica ... which is a Romanesque building, founded in 920. I wasn't able to take pics inside of it, but took some of the other buildings in the castle grounds - as well as the Basilica. Check them out ...

 

This is St. Vitus Cathedral, which has a long and complicated history ... and is visible every time you see the Castle in pictures, with it's most Gothic spires. This is the side of it, not the front. I can tell you that when we walked into the part of the Castle grounds that contains this magnificent house-of-worship and I came face to face with it's front ... I was breathe taken, literally - could not breathe for a moment or two. It is just THAT gorgeous and intricate and cool and crazy and awe inducing. More on this later, as we visit it in the class twice ... once for Gothic (the older parts of the cathedral) and again for, ummm, Renaissance maybe - I forgot. BUT - there will be PLENTY more of this structure in my pics and blog.

This is a close-up of the intricate and super colorful mosaic of St. Vitus

I mean REALLY! Just look at that magnificent monstrous (in a fabulous way!) thing!! Again, St. Vitus if you weren't paying attention.

So, this is the outside of St. George's Basilica. This is a much newer facade (Baroque), but the original building (a convent) dates back to 920. I'm just not sure I'm liking the pink-ish exterior ... but the interior was sweet. Serene, spiritual, quiet, old and lovely.

This is the side entrance to St. George's ... actually, the original entrance to the convent - through which girls as young as 10 passed through, never to see ANYONE from the outside again. She was from that point on, pledged to be a Bride of Christ - and only aspired to life in the cloister. And most times these girls were simply 'given' to the convent, with no consultation of their desires. Sigh ... sad, and lonely, and terrifying - and maybe, just maybe, serene and happy. Who knows.

This is the back of St. George's Basilica, which shows the original Romanesque architecture from 920 (on the right side) ... the left part was added much later.

And that is it for St. George's ... class ends, and Colleen and I head out. On the way down (as Prague Castle is high on a hill), we get some cool shots too.

We found a viewing area on top of the Castle wall, and this shot is of Prague ... nice nice shot of much of the city. You can see the TV Tower (with the babies) on the left side, far in the distance. And the tall dark double spires of St. Ludmila's (next to my flat) in the center area. Neat!

Yea ... me and Colleen, still on the viewpoint on the Castle wall - taken by a nice lady as I recall. The backdrop is the Castle District (Hradcany).

And that is it ladies and gents ... we walked home from there, across the Charles Bridge and through Old Town Sq - which was packed and we quickly got the heck outta there!

My first day with Colleen was sweet! Thanks for coming friend!!

Here is a link to the day's photos on my Picasa page ... Colleen's 1st Day in Praha

Stay tuned for more ...