Fatheads or Mirror Maze Petrin Park

What started as a planned easy day discovering Petrin Park was foiled by the dreaded "closed" Funicular Railway(until next Friday!) Think of Scenic Railway, but longer(just had a flash memory of Brendan climbing up the Scenic Railway after getting stuck down there after the last train!!....then a memory of abseiling down the Three Sisters after being stuck on the second sister after dark...also with Brendan!!!).
From Ujezd Street tram stop it was up....up.... up, past the closed Funicular station, up...up...to a fantastic view across Hradcany ....up...up...up to where you get off the funicular....up...up along the Hunger Wall (allegedly commissioned by Charles IV in 1360 to give the poor employment during a period of famine, 1200 m of it has survived)...up...up past an observatory to the Mirror Maze (50Kc adults/under 10 free) and the Observatory Tower which is a small version of the Eiffel Tower (60 m high) built in 1891.
Unfortunately by the time we arrived visibility was about 50 meters so we decided not to scale the 299 steps to the viewing platform of the tower. The Mirror maze was great fun, especially the room full of distorted mirrors. M chose his favourite, below, which he has aptly named "fatheads":

Vysehrad - the first seat of Czech Royalty

On Easter Saturday we visited the Vysehrad surrounds, exiting from Vysehrad metro walking west until we hit the entrance to the fortress, the Tabor Gates(C17th).Past this gate are the ruins of the Gothic Gate 'Spicka'(C14th), then the very regal Leopold Gate(C17th).
Leopold Gate

Through the gates you come to the Romanesque chapel, Rotunda of St Martin, which is said to be the oldest building in Prague(C11th). N discovered that the door handle into the rotunda is shaped like a chook with outstretched neck.
St Martin's Rotunda

From there we turned left down the very pretty K Rotunde street.
K Rotunde to Sobeslavova Street, with the churches twin spires in the distance.

The fortified walls run along what is a steep drop down to the Vltava river. From this vantage point we could see all the way to St Vitus Cathedral in the North and the mountains in the South.
Vltava River with 'Libuse's Bath'Gothic ruins(defense bastion of the medieval castle)

South down the Vltava

The Church of St Peter and St Paul was founded late C11th, but burnt down and then replaced C13th, then rebuilt into Neo-Gothic style in 1885, with its twin spires being added in 1902. Frescoes adorn every wall and the ceiling of the church, with larger than life sized angels in relaxed pose holding the archway pinnacles effortlessly with the tips of their fingers, while their pure white, feathered wings float behind them.
St Peter and Paul Church


Doorway into Church

Night at the Theatre

M wanted to see a ballet at the Narodni Divadlo(National Theatre) over the Easter weekend. The only tickets J could get that might interest the whole family was the "Taming of the Shrew" on the Friday night, 'box' tickets (550Kc each/$30AUD). On Thursday night J read N the story, as it was explained in Tales from Shakespeare (for Children)- Taming of the Shrew off the internet. The theatre is not far away from where we live by tram or metro, but we have to change once using either one and it takes about 30 minutes from door to door. It was a still,warm night so we were able to go out without heavy jackets (after checking my assumption on the underground weather history I can tell you it was around 11 degrees between 7-9pm).
N sat on the edge of her seat for the whole performance, turning around once to comment that she thought Bianca was being given too much stage time and that the story was suppose to be about Katharine!?!


Box seats across from our seats.


Dome ceiling as seen from our box seats.

Prague Zoo

Today N & J, with Isabella in tow, visited the Praha Zoo(70Kc/40Kc)(about$6AUD). The zoo is in a major upgrade/modernisation mode. There is work being done in every corner of the park, expanding outwards, making it one of the largest areas of zoo to walk around I have ever had to tread.
N has now visited so many zoo's - Praha, Central Park(NY)(x2), Bronx, Tiergarten(Vienna), Sydney's 'Taronga'(x3), Western Plain(Dubbo),Melbourne (R.A or M.D will have to remind me of the three we have visited there?),then there's Featherdale(x so many times I can't remember), Symbio, Mogo, Wonderland(now closed)....
Here is a sample of what we saw:
Monitor enjoying a bath

Meerkat on guard ..... we love the Meerkats

Polar Bears

Giraffe's enjoying a stroll

Let's have a closer look at the expression on that Giraffe's face

A Pudu(Czech name), isn't it cute!

Views from Old Town Bridge Tower

All shots were taken on a mobile phone.


Looking West over Charles Bridge towards Hradcany.
Looking East towards Old Town Square and Vinohrady. Just right of centre, way off in the distance, is a huge tower which is very close to where we live. It takes about 15 min on public transport to get from home to Charles Bridge.

Looking South down the Vltava River.

Best Friends

The day N had her stitch out. You can see the blue antiseptic they used on her cheek. (Mobile photo)

Bouldering, Biking, Beer & Broken Bones

M went sightseeing & found

Bouldering Competition

plus an outdoor show next door with 2005 MTBs, road-racers, all the gear and more.

If I had $10,000.00 AUD would have picked up a nice 'Stinky Supreme' MTB ( http://www.kona.cz/2k5_kolo.php ). Watching too much Extreme cable TV.

The girlies bouldering was first. Very nice. Was down to 2 girls in the end. Power vs Stick girl - the latter won. There were casualities - one girl hit the ground hard & broke an ankle.

Stomach was grumbling & moved upstairs to the onsite beer garden & restaurant. Couple of pivos, chicken salad & kava later then men's comp started. Ho hum until this guy comes out - had to look twice - that's not Warwick ! The red pyjama pants looked familar - went back downstairs & took a picture (from the mobile phone) .........you make your own decision.

Jigsaw Puzzles, Chess & Cheap Red Wine

Work is like a giant jigsaw puzzle or global chess game - recruiting, training, host and running limited support services without dropping the ball(s) and not drowning my sorrows in too much Chilean red wine ! Having a master plan (that everyone agree with - oh the pain), moving resources around the board (world), keeping the game from stalling, knowing when to move forward, defend or retreat has been good blood free fun - so far :-)

For those who climb, it's starting to feel like being 3-4m runout with the last piece of protection being a 'psycho' nut in soft sandstone with the multiple cruxs til ya clip the rap chain - but it's only grade 15, right....well in your limit but things are a little shaky and last nights red wine starting to ooze from sweaty torn finger tips..........reminiscing about Blue Mountains climbing. Maybe we'll re-live those fun days on Czech sandstone in the summer just to see if the feeling still holds true.

12 people for March, 20 by end of April. If all goes to plan 30 by end of July and running our 12 hour shift - looking forward to that like a whole in the head.

The team gets a taste of late night work on Good Friday - while you Aussies scoff hoards of Easter eggs we'll be working our arses off. Covering all the other locations who celebrate Easter except the Americas. We start at 12am CET on the 25th of March and end at 2pm CET, then New York takes over. Lucky me, I've drawn the short straw and will start at 12am aswell - bugger. At least we still have a long weekend as Czech Republic celebrates Easter Monday. We'll get the bastards back when our Czech national holidays kick in.

So, some of you may receive a phone call from a bloodshot Aussie during your day off..........be kind.

M

St Agnes of Bohemia Convent

Yesterday I went out for the day with Isabella (girlfriend of 'The Tiger')from Romania. We visited the St Agnes of Bohemia Convent(founded by Agnes, sister of King Wenceslas I in 1234)and located near the Jewish Quarter. It is now used by the National Gallery to display, chronologically, a collection of medieval art from Bohemia and Central Europe. To say the collection is huge is an understatement. After nearly three hours I still had not seen the complete collection.
The Destna Assumption 1450

Mucha Museum

On Sunday, in sleet and slippery streets (not bitching, just setting the scene!) we decided to visit the gallery of Art Nouveau master, Alphonse Mucha . I didn't realise he was Czech and the phenomenal amount of works he produced in his life time, including a stainglass window for the St.Vitus Cathedral (Prague Castle).

Weather

Thanks for all the photos in the sun and rubbing in the fact that we are freezing while you are enjoying summer in Australia. We have discovered that this is the coldest March in 45 years in Prague. Most mornings are around minus 7 to 10, with it warming up to a balmy minus 1 by 3pm. Snow is still thick on the ground and the ground is very slippery.

Congratulations to Dr M D who made it into the SMH on the 4th March ..... go girl!!!

Thomas the Lionheart

For the little beachbum who wants to slay dragons.

Stitches at Krc Nemocnice

Today I had a call from the school. Protecting a snowball she had made N was pushed to the ground by a boy and face-planted the slippery-dip. She gashed her cheek and was being sent by ambulance to Krc Hospital. M organised a taxi from work and we both went to the hospital which was about a 20 minute drive. Luckily her maths teacher, who speaks Czech, accompanied her to the hospital and became our interpreter. She had to get one stitch on her left cheek, right on the cheekbone. She was very brave and didn't cry. It cost $30AUD.

Economic Indicator: Water : Beer

You've heard of the Big Mac Index (BMI) comparing cost of living via known global product. Well, I think there should be one called the Beer Index (BI) where you compare average beer against average non-bubbly bottled water prices.

• Standards: 0.5 litre beer vs 1.5 litre bottled water
• Some countries have various std drink portions, therefore they've been proportionally adjusted
• Average beer type - primarily light full strength eg Carlton Cold from Australia
• Higher BI means lower cost of living & you can drink more for less !
  

Australia

Beer: Carlton Cold (o.5l) = $3.43 AUD
H2O: $4.00 AUD
BI: 0.86

Czech Republic

Beer: Pilzner (o.5l) = $25 CZK
H2O: $15 CZK
BI: 1.67

Austria

Beer: Karlsberg (o.5l) = $2.90 EUR
H2O: $2.50 EUR (Evian $5.00 EUR)
BI: 1.16 (0.58 - what a scam !)

So far, Australians are getting ripped off for bottle water & should retaliate by drinking more beer & converting to rain water filtered water systems :-)

Countries to be added in the future: France, London, Germany, USA, Canada & maybe Greece. Others are quite welcome to post comments on their findings from other countries.

Stay tuned..................macro-economics at its worst.

Vienna

When you fly into Vienna at night the landscape is prodominated by the electricity power stations lights just south of the airport - like a Christmas tree with too many fairy lights. A thick layer of snow covered everything and it was still snowing. From the airport you can catch the airport CAT train for 16Euro each or taxi straight to the Hilton for 35Euro(paid at the airport). How easy is that!

Day 1.
Bought a Vienna Pass for 16,90 Euros/adult, an accompanying child free with every ticket. The Vienna Pass entitled us to free metro, tram, bus for 3 days, plus concessions into sites.
After completing our reason for going to Vienna by 10:30 we walked, then trammed it to the Kavalier hotel. From there we walked to the Schonbrunn Palace, the summer residence the Habsburgs inhabited for 600 years. The imperialistic palace is surrounded by extensive manicured gardens, with maze garden, long tree lined paths/roads and zoo. But as you can see in the winter is covered with snow and bare, but still beautiful.


To walk around 40 rooms of the Schonbrunn cost us 25Euros which included an English audio guide that explained what each room was used for, talked a little about the decorations (most of the rooms were decorated in a rococco style from the time when Marie Therese was the matriarch). The majestic rooms gave you a feel for life as it was for Empress Maria Therese and her 16 children, and also Elizabeth(Sisi) and Emperor Franz Joseph I. Hanging on the walls were portraits of the royal family or fashionable art of the time, like decorative ebony panels from the east and collages created by the royal children. There were Rubenesque frescoes on the ceiling, crystal candeliers and extensive use of gilding. The crowning jewel of the original furniture on display was Maria Theresa's king size wedding bed, complete with canopy and curtains in an elaborate gold and silver embroided red velvet. Mozart played his first concert at the age of 6 in one of the rooms in front of Maria Theresa. Tour the bedrooms .



A short stroll from the palace was Tiergarten Schonbrunn(the zoo)- 10 euros all up, with its prized exhibit....a koala! For Austrians maybe but for us the first animals to catch our eyes were the playing Pandas, romping and tackling each other in the five inches of snow in their outside enclosures. It was extroadinary to see how a zoo copes with snow. Most of the animals had heated inside enclosures and access to the outside if they desired to brave the minus zero conditions.
Even the elephants.

Day 2.

St Stephans Cathedral.

As the Germans say "supa". Intricate stone statues adorn cathedral walls and pulpits. The stainglass windows at the front and behind the huge church organ at the back were beautiful. We ventured up the north tower, C13th gothic spire, to capture the city view over the roof tops.


From St Stephan's we walked throught the grounds of the Hofburg Imperial Palace to Kunsthistorische Museum (Museum of Art History) to marvel at its classical collection - Rubens, Breugal, Vemeer .... Eygptian.

Then across the gardens to the Naturhistorisches, with its collections of minerals, stuffed animals/birds, dinosaur bones and artifacts, including (I was very excited!) the Venus of Willendorf.

Day 3.

By now we were all pretty tired ...but... we soldiered on to the Belvedere.

The Osterreichische Galerie Belvedere holds a famous collection of Gustav Klimt, in particular, "The Kiss".
Just as beautiful was their Monets, Manets and Renoirs pieces. Exhausted we made our way back to the centre of town to wander the streets, have a coffee and window shop, making a quick detour to Mozarts home(near St Stephans Cathedral) which is scaffolded at the front for renovation until Dec 2005.