Our Christmas trip to Prague is finally here! We travelled from Naples to Prague yesterday via Rome and had a very good trip all around. Luke was a great flyer and slept for most of the time in the air. It was a special day for us because it was Luke's 11 month birthday. One more month and he will turn the big ONE! Can't believe how fast this year has gone. Wonderful and sad all at the same time. There seems to be a lot of that bittersweet combination involved in parenthood.
Our plane landed in Prague early in the evening, but it was already dark. Even so, we were impressed with beautiful buildings and bridges we saw as we entered the city enter. No snow as we expected, but it was cold and wintry, about 28 F. We arrived at our apartment to be a warm greeting and an even warmer, very nice flat. It's much easier for us to stay in an apartment with Luke since we need a kitchen and an extra room for him to go to bed early. Our apartment overlooks the Church of the Snowy Virgin Mary (rough translation) and its gardens. The entrance to the flat is through a photography gallery. Par for the course since Prague seems to me to be the active art capital of Eurpoe.
You can't go 100 m without passing a gallery in this city. I've never seen such an arts scene in any city before. Theater, dance, opera, symphony, sculpture, painting, ceramics, even marionnette theater (not children's puppet theater!) are on every corner and tucked into any available space. And then there is the architecture, the most obvious artistic strength of Prague which actually houses these venues and all the cafes, and shops. We have yet to see an ugly building in this city. Every direction promises to be a good view no matter if your tastes ran from the Gothic to Modern.
Tuesday, Dec. 18, was our first full day in the city, and we took in the sites of Wencelas Square in New Town, Old Town and its popular Square, and part of the Jewish Quarter. Ben is a good navigator and planned a nice walk around these areas so we could enjoy the Christmas markets and some of the major sites of interest such as the Astronomical Clock. We stated off with a "breakfast" of Bavarian sausage from one of the street vendors in Wencelas Square. Ben and I agree that Prague has the best street food of any place we've ever visited. Needless to say, we loved the sausage and sampled mulled wine and some type of roasted cinnamon pastry later in the day. We saw the Astronomical Clock in action at the top of the hour and noted the lower dial shows we are in the sign of Capricorn, Luke's birth sign which he shares with my Daddy and Uncle Harmon. Luke visited with the manger animals of the Christmas story; they had a petting zoo of with sheep, a donkey, a long-haired pony, and a goat in admist the Christmas market booths of trinkets and food.
All the shops sell Czech crystal and garnets, Polish amber, and Russian lacework for the tourists to consume. Even though you suspect it's not a good value, you still can't help looking at all the wares. We resisted today but will probably give in later in the week. We'd like to find a special Christmas present for Luke's first Christmas, so maybe we'll spy a handcrafted toy or hobby horse here.
We tried to go to a Christmas concert at St. Giles Church for an afternoon show, but Luke was not very cooperative. I was able to see half the concert while Ben tried soothe Luke in the vestibule, but he gave up and we had to go. The concert was an organist, a soprano, and a violinist; sounds like a small trio but their sound was tremendous. I only recognized two selections, Ave Maria and O Holy Night, but it was nice to attend a classical music concert here in Prague, shortlived as it was.
Can't wait to explore more of the city this week!
