Jim's Holidays

Tuesday, 19 February 2019

Prague in Spring

Saturday we three (me, Debbie, Lily-Rose) tube out to Heathrow for a late afternoon flight delayed by an hour (I swore I'd never fly BA again) so landing late in Prague. As there's 3 of us and it's getting on we Uber into town to the apartment which Maya has checked into already. She's excelled herself having shopped and makes us a delicious pasta meal. The lovely apartment in the Old Town is the same as Maya and I stayed in back in November. We hand over a bag of clothes and other food gifts (Marmite, pesto, crumpets) to Maya and yak away over a couple of beers and wine.

Sunday is a beautiful sunny day and although cold at first it soon warms up. I really didn't need woolly hat, scarf and gloves. After a leisurely breakfast we take a look round the old square then wander through the old town and Jewish quarter which is packed with tourists. So is Charles Bridge which we traverse and then go see the John Lennon graffiti wall which is pretty cool although not much about Lennon on it any more. Maya says it's opposite the French embassy presumably to give some protection to the original graffiti artists who would have been risking a lot in the communistic (that is arguable but I won't go there) regime back in the day when even pop music was banned let alone graffiti about liberally minded folk. We then climb the steep cobbled street towards the castle (which isn't our aim today) and lunch in a lovely restaurant that does a vegan take on traditional Czech meals in the roof of a building with views of the castle when you pop your head outside. A fantastic place and Lily-Rose is deciding how to deck it out as her bedroom. Back down the hill into town and we visit the Church of St. James the Greater or Jakob church (Kostel Sv. Jakuba Vetsiho) which was patronised by the town's butchers. Apart from a glorious inside and magnificent chandelier it's most interesting feature is a desiccated withered thief's arm. Apparently as he reached out to nick some of the church's gold a statue of the virgin Mary reached out and clasped his wrist. Next day the only way to free him was for the butchers to saw off his arm whereupon Mary released his arm. It was dangled near the entrance to dissuade other would be tea leafs. Then we wander up to the newer Wenceslas Square then back home via the trusty Albert supermarket. Me and the two girls go out for a wander in the early evening round the old square and side streets before coming home into the warm (the temperature drops fast at night with no clouds) for a stir fry and watch a DVD.

Monday is another beautiful cloudless day. Maya has to go to a lecture (it is a working week for her) and us three wander more around the old town and Jewish area. We meet Maya by the river and walk up to the castle via the traditional potato on a stick seller. There's no queue at the castle security checkpoint, unlike in November, and so easily go in and wander around the buildings. You can wander the streets and peek into buildings for free and as it's such a lovely day and the views so beautiful it seems and shame to be stuck inside. The most magnificent building is the St. Vitus Cathedral with a fresco of the judgement day on it's side. Inside is beautiful with amazing stain glass windows with sunlight spreading colours across the stone walls. Awesome. We get away from the numbers to the small palace garden where we have coffee before descending into town again. With hearty appetites we lunch at a fantastic Buddha inspired restaurant which Debbie says is very feng shui (rounded edges) and macro biotic. Tasteful water features too. I sample not so oriental vegan goulash and dark beer. We meander back to the apartment through the old square via one of the many Captain Candy sweet shops and good old Albert's. I decline to buy strawberries at our local market as they are £15 a punnet which at first I don't clock until I work out the exchange rate. Maya cooks another lovely meal and after the girls seeing how dads really think watching Outnumbered we settle down for the thoroughly more depressing DVD Vice which is about Dick Cheney and how the far right and enemies of liberalism have taken over the USA. Depressing but a great film.

Tuesday we have another leisurely morning breakfasting and chatting and packing before taking a taxi to Maya's pad with all her bags of goodies and then for the three of us back to the airport for an one time flight back home. A lovely trip. Thanks Maya!

Prague Old Square

Down river from Charles Bridge

On Charles Bridge

View over the river

View up stream

By the river

View of Charles Bridge

From the vegan restaurant

Jakob Church

The thief's arm - apparently

Spirited Away

Jewish quarter

Artwork

Jewish quarter

Potato on a stick

From the castle

Castle cathedral

Judgement Day....

Castle cathedral square

Castle cathedral window

Castle cathedral gargoyles which spat on us

One of the St George reliefs

Another St George

View from the castle vineyard

Castle vineyard

Over the hills

Monday, 12 November 2018

Prague in Autumn

An easy journey with no queuing at Gatwick or Prague and soon enough I've arrived at our spacious and chic apartment (with lots of ominous looking bolts on the doors) which Maya's already checked into and has the bare necessities for the evening. Lovely to see Maya and she's my guide for the weekend as she's spending a year at the university here as part of her philosophy course, very appropriate. It's evening so the two of us wander out around the local squares and looking up the river from one of the bridges with a view down to the Charles Bridge. We eat at a vegan burrito place and then sharing a bottle of wine in a bar. Next day is Saturday and the place is heaving with tourists, as I nip out to change some money I'm confronted with a sea of them coming towards me and I nearly have to turn round to go with the flow. Our apartment opens out onto a pedestrianised street with market and I buy my souvenir of a Fly Agaric mushroom nut cracker with a picture of the town hall on it. After breakfast we wander over the river where there are dozens of swans and up to the castle where the clouds part for a few minutes just in time to take a couple of photos down the river and beyond. The queue to the castle is crazily long so instead we walk through the park that overlooks the river, quite high up here, a bit like Budapest, and stop for a beer in the beer garden. Then we walk back down and over the river to go through the Jewish quarter but as Saturday we can't visit the synagogues. Back through the back streets to our local Albert supermarket for dinner provisions and then back for a quiet evening of pasta and films. Sunday we breakfast then go up the town hall tower with the astronomical clock which has fantastic views over the city (our place is close to the green onion church) and well worth the fee and climb up the steps. The main synagogue queue is too long for us to wait for so we trundle back home and then set out again just as it starts raining. Doesn't last long and we walk out away from the city to an area opposite the river which Maya knows has big avenues and quirky bars and cafes. The old centre is a mix of boulevards which big buildings reminiscent of Paris but also criss-crossed by smaller streets with the buildings crammed together. Prague escaped destruction in the 20th century wars and many of the building remain as they were with gorgeous sculptures on the outside and wall paintings on the inside (and some outside). It has loads of big churches and civic buildings and is a very beautiful city. Where we've come is more spacious with wide avenues and the buildings are slightly smaller. We climb up a bit and see a couple of big churches set in their own grounds, rather than forming part of the normal street like in the old town. One modern church with big open area in front of it is hosting a wine festival with lots of stalls selling local wines. We get a hot wine each and also a bottle for the evening. They seem to like a drink here and are hard at the wine even though only early afternoon. There's a stage and we watch a popular local band who have two violins, double bass / cello and a strange piano like instrument but which is played with glockenspiel type sticks hitting the wires. Turns out it's a traditional central European instrument called a cimbalom (or cimbal). The music is a lot like early silent film music and Maya and I imagine what would be going on such as romantic interludes, police chases and baddy getting the girl, before the hero woos her back. It's a bit like I think of traditional Russian or Romany or Jewish music and the crowd love it with dancing breaking out every so often. After that excitement we wander off and have a burger in an odd little place a bit like an old school hippy cafe. Good food though. Unfortunately the vegan donut place next door has sold out. Maya's certainly landed on her feet food wise here! Next we wander through a park that has fantastic views over the Prague suburbs and out into the countryside. There are a couple of wood buildings here one with a kids party in full swing and we stop at a wooden terraced place for a beer to watch the sunset over the vineyard sloping down from us and over the suburb's tower blocks. A lovely end to the day. Although we still have a good walk back home via the supermarket for an evening of rice cookery lesson, introducing Maya to the Young Ones (it does seem dated but still very funny in parts) and the watch Woody Allen's Bananas which despite so many corny jokes still hits the spot. Monday it my last day and Maya has to return to her shared room. After another leisurely luxurious breakfast we wander down one of the picturesque streets past the opulent Opera House and get a couple of trams out to where Maya lives as it's on the way to the airport. We climb quite a long way out of the centre and she must be quite high up here. I pop into see Maya's pad, very cosy but I've seen worse, then we jump on the metro where we part ways as I'm getting the bus to the airport. A lovely weekend - thanks for your tourist guidance Maya! I'm jealous that she's here for a year as it's a fantastic place to spend a year away from London and Colchester.