Sunday - my day of rest in Praha

So, yesterday I slept in after my long day at Karlstejn Castle - and caught up on my finances too. I then decided to take a few hours and go out before the ran began last night ... I needed some groceries, and had found a new grocery store Saturday night - as well as an amazing looking cemetery that I wanted to get some pics of. So ... off I went!


It was a lovely day out, the sun was intermittent and it was on the cool side - a glorious spring day really. I took the A metro (green) to the Flora stop, where there is another mall similar to the Palladium - but this one has an Imax theater ... but not sure if the movies are in English or not. Check out their site if you want to Palac Flora. 

Here is a neat floral display at the entrance to Palac Flora

Next to the mall is the Olsanske Hrbitovy (Olsany Cemetery), which is downright huge! Based on my estimates using Google Maps ... it is a rectangle that is 6000 ft x 2000 ft - that is about a mile long! I only got to explore half of it yesterday ... which took me 2.5 hours! I had NO idea how big it was when I wandered into it, so I just kept marveling at the way it continued to unfold. See - this cemetery is NOT like ours, finely manicured and therefore easy to see how big it is from any location. This cemetery, and possibly all in Czech, is like a forest ... overgrown and fabulous! Plus, there are rows and rows of mausolea that form natural borders - so I would get to the "end" and be amazed when I saw another huge space in front of me!

This cute little shack greeted me upon my entry ... don't know WHAT it is/was for, but it has a plaque on it that says it's from 1842.

The cute shack has a chimney - cool! I'll bet that the graveyard keeper lived/worked here. Neat!!!

It is hard for me to describe how I felt during this sojourn with the Czech dead ... it was peaceful, serene, thought provoking, spiritual, dreamlike, wondrous, amazing, magnificent, cool - - and hard to believe that I was REALLY there, experiencing it!

I had no concept of time, I would look at my watch after exploring for what seemed like forever (because how could it NOT be when I had seen so MANY fabulous things?!?) and find out it had only been 15 minutes. After an hour had gone by, I should have left ... as I only wanted to be gone 2 hours total and needed time to get groceries. But, I couldn't stop - - and reminded myself that there was NOT sufficient reason for me to. Groceries could wait dammit!

And so they did ... I wandered for almost 3 hours - and after having found the bathroom at the opposite end from where I started, was not concerned in the least about the time passing. Oh yeah - I had to pay for the bathroom! OK - so it was only 5kc ... which is a quarter to you US folks.

;-}

And ... the guy I paid just kept muttering in Czech, and was a LEETLE sketchy looking. But, there were plenty of people around and I kept my eyes and ears alert while in the building.

Almost all the people I saw there where there to tend to graves, and they do some SERIOUS tending. As you will see from the images (of which I got over 100!), most of the graves require some real gardening to keep them up! It was just a glorious place to spend a glorious day!

Here, let me show you some of my fave images ...

This was near the beginning of my journey ... so so MUCH ivy!

I just REALLY like they way they shown their dates here ... the month over the day in the form of a fraction, and then that placed in the middle of the year - way way cool!

This mausoleum was splendid to look at ... old and crumbling, just like it should be!!!

This image, with its graves seeming to tilt at all angles, is marvelous.

Sigh ... it really felt like I was in a forest that just HAPPENED to have quite a lot of dead people and their various grave choices in it. It was so serene.

This was what came out when I stuck my camera (and hand) into an open mausoleum window ... it was kinda spooky!

Now this ... I think ... was the best one of the whole incredible experience. This is just superb - - I felt like I was in a period-piece movie, on some Oscar winning set. I just stared at this one for a long while, and continually exclaimed aloud as to its staggering beauty. Oh ... those are overgrown graves in the foreground!

Oh my ... do you think that is sacrilegious? Hope not! I think it's kinda cool ... thanks for letting me use your grave as a mirror Ladislav!!

So, once I got through about half of the half that I explored - I came upon an area, maybe for people with less money, where there were not grave 'slabs' ... rather mounds of earth covering the coffin. These mounds make handy gardens!! I also really liked the headstone on this one. I saw MANY unique headstones in this place ...

Like this one! It looks like a palm tree - neat!

I saw many of these kinds of gifts for the dead. The round orange thing in the middle is an egg - some were real and some not, and some looked colored like Easter eggs. I'm curious about its significance ... maybe they are just leftover from Easter? Huh.

So, this part of the cemetery (I am about 3/4 of the way through my journey. I made a circuitous and winding route vaguely following the edges of the 1/2 that I explored) has much more manicured and maintained path area.

This one wigged me out a little; there is a 3D relief of the body on TOP of the grave slab ... you can see the feet by the large sunflower, and then follow the rest up. Unique though, I'll give 'em that ... and a little cool too.

This sculpture is haunting ... a woman bereft ... palms up in surrender ... head, shoulder and torso bowed with weight ... such grief, wow.

To me, this is - - a mother refusing to let go of her dead soldier son, while her husband (the boys father) comforts her. The angel waits patiently for the dead soldier to join her. Sigh - - these Czech's sure know how to evoke feeling in their grave works.

Now, this ONE ... whoa - just extraordinary! It is a broken tree fallen over the headstone and onto the grave slab - - a SCULPTURE of a broken tree mind! Remarkable, just remarkable.

One last image, from over the wall outside on the street ... sigh - goodbye sweet Hrbitovy, I will be back to see the other half of you!!!

I stopped at the fruit and vegetable stall just outside the entrance to the cemetery, and got some YUMMY and much needed fresh fruits (cherries and granny smith apples) and veggies (pickling cukes and peas in pods) ... they are SO fab!

I then began walking west down Vinohradska, back towards my house, where the new grocery store was (Alberts). I came across this ...

I really WANT that shirt! It is both girly AND sexy! And oh look - - there's me in the window! Fun!!!

This is Holy Savior Heart of Jesus ... an enormous church, with a REALLY cool clock in the middle of its "spire" ...

This is the front of the way neat Heart of Jesus.

And that was my Sunday out and about. It was great, just great.

I went home and blogged until around 1a, as I just HAD to get that Karlstejn Castle entry done. AND ... had a most fabulous salad for dinner, with my new fresh veggies!

So, I am done blogging for the eve ... gotta shower and then tea, and Skype with my ole friend Shane. Stay tuned tomorrow (morning my time) for my entry from today, which was my 1st day of school (class today was Intro to News & Video Production) ... and ... my 1st trip across the famous Charles Bridge. AND ... got LOTS of pics too!!


Here is a link to the day's photos on my Picasa page ... Ami's Olsany Cemetery Pics

Love to all ... and thanks for visiting Praha with me!!

;-}