Praha

One and a half days in Prague was not really enough. It was enough time to see the sites, enjoy the food, and be utterly confused by the language, but I could have spent a lot more time in this city. After arriving in the early afternoon I jumped on the internet to get a quick idea of where I should go and what I should see. Luckily I also checked the weather and saw that my full day in Prague was also going to be full of rain. With that I decided to head out immediately and get as many good pictures of the city as I could just in case the next day was completely crappy. First stop was Charles bridge built in 1357…

The King of Bohemia was Charles IV, a highly educated man who was also elected as Holy Roman Emperor. It is famous for its design and for the fact that it was the only bridge in Prague until the 19^th century. One of the most famous stories is how the people of Prague successfully defended their city from invading Swedish troops who had already sacked Prague Castle on the other side of the river. Speaking of which, the tower in the last picture provided me with some awesome pictures of the castle, which is one of the largest castles in the world, and the bridge itself…

Here is another angle of the bridge from the shoreline…

The tower also provided me with an excellent opportunity to catch a picture of the city and why it is called the City of Spires…

One particularly unique spire is the Zizkov Television tower, which is literally crawling with babies, you can see the bronze babies on the side and all over the strange design of the building…

After getting a few pictures I took the advice of some Americans and hiked to the top of the hill opposite Prague. It was probably the best decision that I made during my stay. Number one: another awesome view of the city…

Number two: the Strahov Monastery has a restaurant at its center that brews its own beer!! Easily one of the best dark beers I have ever tasted and easily the best ambers I have ever had. The food was good and it was dirt cheap…

That reminds me. The Czech Republic is not on the Euro and the Crown is hovering around an exchange rate of twenty to the dollar. Very nice after spending so much money in Venice.

After dinner, I walked down to Prague Castle and took a few pictures inside. I’ll save them for later because I did return the next day to delve a little deeper into Bohemian history. It was a beautiful evening though…

I got back to the hotel and crashed. All this traveling is starting to take its toll on me. I am not tired of seeing new things, but I am tired of people, partying, and exerting energy everyday for sightseeing and getting to know people. I see lots of Australians, Kiwis, Canadians, and Brits. Many Australians are fairly obnoxious, but they are fun to go out with, if for no other reason than to watch the mayhem that ensues. What I love is that no matter what city you are in you run into travelers. The last seven countries I have been in the native language has been something other than English and despite what people say about traveling, those that speak it well are not that common with the exception of the restaurant and tourism businesses. People are usually friendly and usually try very hard to communicate, but rarely has it gone smoothly. So when you do find somebody who speaks English the friendship is usually immediate and the camaraderie between travelers is universal.

I will get back to the story of my travels. It was good for me to take pictures the first day out, because this is what day two was like…

The rain was stop and go, but I had to be careful with my camera. I did get a picture of the National Museum and St. Wenceslas (Vaclav) in St. Wenceslas square…

I didn’t go into the museum itself; I would have wanted to as a kid. It had meteorites, paleontology, archaeology, geology and all the other things little boys like while growing up. I wanted history and even though it is everywhere in Prague I had to go elsewhere to find it.

First stop was the Old Prague Square…

The highlight of the square is the Astronomical Clock…

As the name implies the clock shows more than just the time. It shows the month, the, day the location of the sun on its ecliptic, the location of the moon, and the relation of the zodiac signs to the sun, moon, and earth. It also has numerous moving figures surrounding it. The kings, the saints, and the skeleton…

Pretty cool. Every hour it goes off while a huge crowd takes pictures and video and then cheers the bugler who plays from the top of the tower. While I was watching this I spied a tour guide advertising off to the side: The Underground Tour. It was cheap so I decided to go along, especially because the included a free drink at the end. Turns out that Prague, like most cities where built right on top of the old parts of the city. So there are in effect, underground cities which take you back in time as you step into them. It was really fun…

What was really cool was that not all of the underground chambers are unused. A great many of them have been cleaned up and are in use by restaurants…

After that little adventure, I took a long leisurely stroll through the old town, across the river, and up the hill to see the castle again. Along the way I was seduced by a wonderful aroma into buying this pastry…

It is called Trdelnik and it is actually Romanian in origin. It was only a few cents and it was delicious. It reminded me of all the pies I made with Grandma Fichter. Specifically, it reminded me of how we always tried to maximize the amount of pie crust not in use by the actual pie, so we could then make little pastry candies with cinnamon. It was a good memory to have in old Prague.

The first stop you should make if you want to really know Prague Castle and Bohemia in general is the audioguide store inside the walls. They are cheap for the amount of information you are getting, it lets you bypass lines, and since a great many of the labels on things are in Czech, it keeps you from getting really confused. Then it is off to the main attraction inside the main courtyard: St. Vitus’ Cathedral…

At first I didn’t think that it looked like much, and since I never heard of the place before arriving in Prague, my expectations were really low. Perhaps that is why I thought it was so beautiful…

For the record, Notre Dame is still my favorite, but St. Vitus’ is a close second. (St. Peter’s in Rome is not included on this list, it simply can’t be.) St. Vitus was killed in 303 by Diocletian because of his Christian faith. The main saint of the Czechs, however, is St. Wenceslas. He is the “Good King Wenceslas” you hear about at Christmas. Raised as a Christian by his grandmother, another patron saint of Bohemia named Ludmila, he was murdered by his brother Boleslav. Eventually he came to be the most important saint for Bohemia and the Czech people. He is the symbol of their identity. In fact, he is considered the only rightful ruler of the Czech people, every king and ruler since him has simply been borrowing that title from St. Wenceslas. In fact, his chapel and tomb is the most richly decorated in the cathedral…

His crown is also kept in the cathedral, but is protect by a door with seven locks that is only open on very rare occasions. That is the door on the right…

After the cathedral I went inside the royal palace and the museum of the castle. No pictures in either of these places, but it was fun to be in the room where the most famous defenestration of Prague occurred. There were two big ones, the one I refer to happened in 1618 when Protestant noblemen deprived of their positions by the Hapsburg emperor bribed their way into the castle and through two Catholic regents and their secretary out the window. The three victims fell 30 meters to the ground. All three survived thanks to a pile of manure in the moat. They also survived the resulting gunfire by their would be assassins. Soon thereafter, the Emperor’s officials had twenty seven Protestant nobles executed in the Old Town square to show their power and dissuade further acts of dissension. It did not have the desired effect. Soon the entire country was up in arms, and that was only the beginning. The conflict, which started as Protestant versus Catholic in Bohemia and Moravia would spread throughout Europe and take on a dynastic war where the combatants were bent on each other’s destruction. The Thirty Years War was one of the bloodiest and most indiscriminate wars in Europes history. In fact, some estimates say that it wasn’t until WWI that anything came close.

Prague was full of history that I wasn't particularly familiar with so it was a lot of fun for me. The food was good, the beer was great, but it was pouring down rain at night so I didn't get a real feel for the night life. Oh well, now I am in Berlin and it is doing just fine in that respect.

Wien

Two nights in Vienna, but I only had only one full day of sightseeing. That is because in Venice I was exposed to a menace. Both my grandmas always told me, “sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite.” Well, even if your grandmother didn’t say this to you, by God you should take their advice. I usually do a cursory glance of the mattress and the headboard. Now I have added the electrical work to my list because that is where the little bastards were. I didn’t realize what the bites were at first. I thought it was heat rash from the incredibly hot weather and mosquito bites from the lagoon. After night number two there was no doubting what it was as I discovered some live ones. Strangely enough, it isn’t as bad once you discover the reason behind the bites. When you are just worrying it is far worse. When you know you have bed bugs you go to work. I went and did all my laundry at high heat and they sprayed and steamed my luggage and then they commenced with their genocide project. I wish them the best of luck in wiping the little bastards out; I lost count of the number of bites at 105.

Needless to say I wanted to be damn sure they aren’t coming with me. I spent my first afternoon in Vienna doing all my laundry again, using tape to clean every possible surface of my luggage, and I used spray and a large garbage bag to hopefully get anything I missed. Now I am just praying that I did a good job, that the little buggers aren’t at any of the remaining hostels I will be visiting, and that they aren’t still with me.

Enough of that. The rest of the evening I spent getting my bearings and noting the opening times of the places I wanted to visit the next day. Vienna has an awesome public transportation system and once you figure it out the city is yours for the taking. One thing I really loved about Europe north of the Alps is the food. These are people of my own heart. Fried potatoes, pork, and beer!! Wienerschnitzel is amazing by the way and the beers, I had many after my efforts to be rid of bed bugs, were also very tasty and cheap.

Now then, where to start with Vienna? Well, here is the so called Blue Danube…

This deep river was the northern border of Roman territory in Eastern Europe. In fact Vienna was one of the largest Roman frontier cities. Here is some Roman brickwork discovered right at the center of old Vienna…

Here is a little historical tidbit for those of you who watched the movie Gladiator. You may remember hearing the word “Vindobona.” That is the name of Vienna while it was under Roman rule.

That was actually the only exposure I had to Roman history while in Vienna. In fact, there wasn’t very much left from the period of the Romans all the way to the 18^th century. This is because in 1440 Vienna became the home of the Hapsburg dynasty. Between the Hapsburg efforts to extol their own virtues and legend, and the two Turkish sieges of the city in 1529 and 1683, very little of old medieval Vienna remained. Perhaps this is why the forty year reign of Maria Theresa is the first real bit of history that you see. In 1740 she came to power and instituted numerous civic and cultural reforms as well as innumerable building projects. It was for her that Mozart’s first concert was performed. Speaking of which, I was in the very room where the six year old prodigy leaped onto her lap and kissed her. It is in this building…

It is the Schonbrunn Palace, the hunting lodge. Actually that exaggerates slightly. It was just a hunting lodge for the Holy Roman Emperor in 1549, but extensive renovations and expansions eventually led to this being one of the primary summer residence of the Imperial Austrian family. By the way, most of the history I was told about was that of Maria Theresa’s Empire, and the Empire of Francis I, which was reconstituted in 1804 after the defeat of Napoleon. This last Austrian Empire lasted until 1867 when Emperor Franz Josef, largely due to his wife Elizabeth (Sisi), gave the Hungarians more recognition and became the Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Franz Josef died in 1916, and the Empire only lasted two more years until it was utterly obliterated by the victorious Allies of World War I. So, when I refer to those names later on in this post, you will know who I am talking about.

Back to the Schonbrunn; it is a fairly large complex…

It isn’t as big as Versailles and that is why I think I like it more. You are not as overwhelmed by the decorations, showmanship, and splendor as you are when at Versailles. Indeed, Franz Josef had a tiny little bed, Spartan decorations, and to hear them tell the story he was a very devoted and widely beloved leader of the Empire. Apparently he rose before 4:00 every morning, said his prayers, and worked until he was totally exhausted.

Another thing I recommend to anyone who is traveling in Europe during the summer. If you are going to a big palace or some other grand location, set aside time to visit the gardens. I have never been disappointed with a stroll through the gardens and these had some unique and particularly breathtaking views…

I also needed to make up for the fact that my picture taking in this city was very limited as to what I could take pictures of. Neither the Schonbrunn, nor the Hofberg allowed pictures inside. The only place that really did was the Cathedral of St. Stephan…

They are busy cleaning the out façade, you can see the difference it is making. Still it is somewhat irritating to have to look at scaffolds and in this case, “billboard” replacement views. Inside was pretty though…

The building itself was completed in 1511 after 250 years of work. During World War II, a Wermacht captain was ordered to destroy the Cathedral. He disregarded them, but as Russian troops entered the city, looters caused a fire elsewhere in the city. It was carried to the cathedral by the wind and caused the roof to collapse.

Right around the corner is Mozart’s largest set of apartments…

Again, I was not to take any pictures inside the building. In this case the policy was particularly stupid because there wasn’t anything to take a picture of anyways. The whole apartment was an empty shell and only a few artifacts and papers were inside. Thank goodness for the audioguide or I would have been really at a loss.

Next I was off to the Hofburg to see the Imperial Silver collection, the Sisi Museum, and the Imperial apartments…

The Hofburg has several sections that were built at various times. The earliest was in the mid-1400’s and the latest was in the 20^th century. It was the primary residence of the Imperial family.

It was a shame to not take pictures this time because the silver collection was huge, and extraordinarily elaborate. Several tons of gold and silverware were housed inside the museum. Next it was upstairs to the Imperial apartments and the Sisi museum.

Remember that Sisi is the nickname given to Franz Josef’s wife Elizabeth. The Sisi museum tells the tragic story of Franz Josef’s wife Elizabeth. The two were cousins married at the ages of 23 and 16 respectively. There is no question that Franz Josef had fallen head over heels in love with “[his] angel Sisi.” He worshipped her, and she was at least very fond of him, and probably loved him dearly as well. She was never truly happy with the life she was forced to lead as the Empress. She hated crowds, she hated ceremony, and she hated the feeling of being on display. Her life was an up-and-down ride of reclusiveness, bold assertiveness, and finally depression. They lost two children, one to suicide, and an Italian anarchist assassinated her in 1898. The museum exhibition was designed to associate the person attending with the complexities and mysteries of her life, not to provide answers.

Next I went to a museum. I went to the cultural history museum instead of the natural history museum. Guess which one is which…

That is Maria Theresa in the second picture. Not much to share about the inside of the museum really, just another museum with stuff for me to enjoy. I strolled down past the Parliament building…

I especially like that last picture. It really captures Vienna; a city of beautiful buildings and hideous metropolitan vehicles and trams. Oh well, one can’t have everything…

Another little tidbit, the Austrian flag has a story behind it that is particularly heroic and gruesome. Duke Leopold V was fighting in the Crusades. After a terrible battle in which he fought for his very life his white tunic was covered with the blood of the fallen. When he removed his belt the pattern was red-white-red. He made this his new coat of arms. It was adopted by Austria in 1240 by an ambitious Duke who wished to gain independence from the Holy Roman Empire.

It was a further stroll to my next and final sightseeing destination of the day. It was actually very small and only took me about five minutes to walk around inside…

It is the apartment where Beethoven stayed when he wrote Fur Elise. I just couldn’t go to Vienna and not stop here to take a picture for Grandma Dial…

That was a full day. I got back to the hostel, dropped off my things, then walked a block and a half to arestaurant for some wienerschnitzel and beer. it was a good day in the heart of the Osterreich. Now I am on a train,writing this for later posting. I am watching the Austrian countryside and the Bohemian hills go by, marveling at the beauty and enjoying the mashed potatoes in the dining car.