Prague Castle from Charles Bridge...
cool hey?
And the whole castle area is SO BIG!!!
Day 171
Prague, Czech Republic
Hey! Guess what! We saw the apostles pop out of the clock in the main square here in Prague!! But, they didn't pop out in that circle i was talking about..they popped out of the little doors above the main clock..so COOL! I'd say there were about 1000 people gathered at exactly 2pm to watch the little skeleton pull the bell at the clock! haha...don't know why it didn't happen at 10pm the night we were there...(monkey must have been asleep hehe) but anyway...it was so good. The crowd cheered and clapped! Our hightlight for the day.............and it was free :-)
We spent the afternoon at the Prague Castle..the hightlight for me seeing King (saint) Wenceslas tomb..and some of his armour and to learn more about him..making him real and not just a fairy tale or subject of a song...
Apparently he was a noble pious king..
And some info that we learned was..
He was killed by his brother, died on September 20, 929, was in his early twenties and had ruled Bohemia for five years.
Today he is remembered as the patron saint of the Czech Republic and the Crown of Wenceslas is the symbol of Czech independence!
Remember the ditty...
Good King Wenceslas
Rode to town
Riding on a pony
Stuck a feather in his hat
And called it macaroni!!
haha...well couldn't get that song our of our brain for a while.......
Except Greg corrected me..said it was this instead...
Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen
When the snow lay round about
Deep and crisp and even
Brightly shone the moon that night
Though the frost was cruel
When a poor man came in sight
Gathering winter fuel
And the one i said...was YANKEE DOODLE went to town............
hehe
But! It's the same tune isn't it?
The other thing we realised yesterday was...Bohemia crystal was invented here!!! With the Czech Republic, of course, being that BOHEMIA is part of Czech Republic!
The things you don't think of..until you're in the place...
About the Castle. Pic above.
It's just massive. It was originally built, or started being built about a thousand years ago...and has been over the years progressively made into one of the largest castle estates in Europe.
We didn't see all the castle (includes palaces, cathedral, old brewery that is now a restaurant, art galleries etcetc!) so we're off again today!!!!! (Ticket, $A30 each lasts 2 days)
Last night we also went to a concert of Jesus Christ Superstar....which was great (tenor was crap tho..compared to Tim Rice, Roger Daltry and Jon English who have played this role over the years) but the soprano was good. It brought back memories for me as i saw Jesus Christ Superstar in London in 1977..so have had a continuing love for the music ever since.
They also sang songs from Hair, Evita, Cats and Les Mis which was good...great to hear some English music too.
Prague is so cultural!
I have never seen so many concerts being advertised in my life! Flyers everywhere..and concerts on every corner..
The more we are here..the more we love it. There's a sense of lively culturalism here....everyone is so into it....a great place for art and music lovers.
But, we're off to Berlin tomorrow.....and i can't wait. From what we've experienced in Munich, Germany is a place that we feel very at home in..
So, Germany, here we come!
See you there!!
xx
PS Becherovka is Czech's National drink...and we've tried it, it's got a nutmeg flavour...and different to anything....sort of like a nutmeg laced vodka drink.
