Being in a blogging mood, Marpig decided to get on with her 3rd day in Prague. The morning started again with a bf from the supermarket just down the road from the hostel Marpig and fren stayed
Wow!! Albeit simple, the fruit milkshake and Marpigz fav plain donut were fabulistic!! :D__
After bf, Marpig and fren walked through the Old Town Sq to the 1st destination of the day; The Jewish Quarter aka Josephstadt in German and Josefov in Czech. On the way, Marpig passed by a building with 4 "pple" supporting it... 好像很辛苦 :P
as well as the Clock Tower in the Old Town Sq
Oh yes, Marpig did talk bout the Astronomical Clock in summary and we had seen it at night (Praha Day 1) But since itz daytime, letz xamine it properly!!
Right, the top 1/2 of the clock tells time, month, whether itz daylight or twilight among other info such as position of sun and moon, etc... or so says websites. Itz too complicated and the actual clock goes so wols tt itz very difficult to appreciate the clock movements. Luckily, one could always find comp simulation of the clock at work, fast 4wrd!! Anyw, as it is, therez 3 ths Marpig noe. Concentric letters within the outer dark blue circle are ancient Czech time. Moving inwrds, the Roman letters rep 24 hours. The centre smaller circular disc are the horoscope signs tt tells the month. The lower 1/2 of the clock were added later. Still, itz a few hundred yrs old. It tells the day, month, yr and whenz a good time to plant and harvest!!
Notice therez 4 figures on the top 1/2 of the clock, 2 on each side. They represents wat were despised at the time of the clockz making. From left to right; therez Vanity (man with mirror), Greed (Jew with bag-o-金), Death striking the hour and finally, a "Turban-wearing infidel Turk" (so says Wiki)
Continuing to the Jewish Quarter, one would see shops selling fine wares such as these!!
which normally are for the eyes only!! Well, depends too since sm pple might be collectors but definitely not Marpig!! No lollies!! But yeah... itz so pretty... tsk tsk tsk Marpig should have gone to Murano (1 of Venicez islands) tt is faymoss for glass making!! Ah!! She should have bought one of those cute glass paper weight (refer to entries on Venice for pics) Sigh... nvm... any1 fancy going to Venice with Marpig?!
Anyw, one sees the Old Jewish Cemetery again!! This time in broad daylight so itz not tt 可怕!! :P
The number of visible tombs is approx 12k but in fact, therez much more bcos therez actually layers of tombs. Hence, the numbers in total could well be smwhere in the ballpark of 100k!! *scary~~*
Anyw, fren was really into the Jewish Quarter and wanted to visit all the remaining 6 synagogues, the Old Cemetery (Marpig am taking pic of it outside, through small openings in the walls) and the Old Jewish Town Hall. Being not so into the touristy pay pay pay, Marpig decided to go ard Josefov area while fren visited all the above mentioned buildings scattered ard the area
Wondering ard without a map (but keeping a lookout of landmarks), Marpig spotted the occasional non-known-to-tourist thingy ard such as,
Marpig understands why Communism is associated with Chinese... but...
wat has it got to do with Santa Claus?! Why why WHY?! (and z... duh :P)
Next destination after Josefov is~~ Vyšehrad Castle!! Other than being a tourist attraction (actually, not alot of tourists go there...) the next reason why Marpig went there was bcos of the game again!! :D
Itz a strange place, Vyšehrad. Cant even rem if therez sign posts but Marpig and fren couldnt find the path up to the castle at 1st (Vyšehrad is built on a hill) And so, Marpig went into a hostel/hotel to ask for directions. One would have to climb up a flight of stairs tt seems so daunting...
After conquering the stairs, one would come to a student accommodation area (therez a uni/college near Vyšehrad) and there arent any signs... hmmm... saw a few locals walking their dogs but not many, if not all, of them spoke ang moh. Luckily, Marpig noe how to pronounce Vyšehrad (need to do it with a bit of spatting sound ya noe!!) and the frenly locals pointed the direction to us :D
One would have thought, since itz on a hill, then it would be fairly ez to spot it even without any signs but no, ttz a wrong assumption bcos the Vyšehrad castle is no more. Yup, no more. You see the entrance...
But therez no castle, thank u very much. Reason being itz destroyed when the Hussites and the Catholic crusaders engaged in a series of battles. The only remains of the castle is the Rotunda of St Martin
Anyw, one could see the Žižkov Television Tower from atop the hill!! Marpig must take pics of the crawling babies!!
Right, Marpig was slightly carried away... letz come back to Vyšehrad. Therez definitely more than 2 thingy one would come ax in the area but Marpig am going to just touch on 2 impt/worth seeing places. Surprisingly or not, itz another cemetery Marpig am going to talk bout; the Vyšehrad Cemetery where many faymoss composers, artists, politicians, etc etc are buried
Itz totally diff to the eerie Jewish Cemetery. Itz almost like a garden with lotsa sculptures!!
For instance, the tomb above reminds Marpig of white choc...
And the graves are so well-kept and elaborate (didnt put up those elaborate ones). One interesting info is tt the Czech writer who invented the word, "robot" (he said itz was his brother who gave him the idea), Karel Čapek, was buried there. Therez also a BIG Slavín Monument in the middle of the cemetery (didnt take the pic but itz hard not to miss it)
And just bside the cemetery, is the Basilica of St Peter and St Paul (ya noe, churches, cemetery and crypts, they always come tog... *thinking* !! The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit!!)
A neo-Gothic church built in the 19th century as seen from the tiled entrance floor below
it was rebuilt in the 20th century after a fire. At tt time when Marpig was visiting, therez a mass going on and itz phototaking is not allowed but whack it!! U noe how Marpig am like, a defiant freelance photographer whoz motto is 宁可杀错也不可放过!! And so, Marpig took a pic of the altar through 1 of the holes in the screen!!
After the cemetery and the Basilica, therez nth much more to see although Marpig so likes the feeling of strolling ard the lush castle grds and admiring the view of Prague and the Vltava River
With the sun setting (itz almost winter u see) Marpig and fren decided to head back for a traditional Czech dinner (plus... u wont really want to linger ard a castle grd tt once saw many bloodsheds...)
下了山 and walking on 1 of the many bridges ax Vltava River, Marpig took a pic overlooking Charles Bridge (Old Town on the left)
Oh, therez another attraction which Marpig only saw from afar and ttz the Prague Metronome. Itz HUGE (as 1 can estimate the sheer size of it from the pic above) and itz functional albeit Marpig has no idea why would any1 wants to noe the tempo instead of time... guess itz to let pple walk with a rhythmic bounce? hahahaha :P
Anyw!! Dinner!! Marpig had been eyeing this particular restaurant which she and fren passed by on previous daes!! Itz not xpensive, by the UK stds and omg. Itz food on the menu definitely looked delicious!! In addition, the restaurant has quite a nice atmosphere and lotsa antique ard. Anyh, these were wat Marpig and fren ordered!!
From left to right; fren had the goulash and chicken wiener schnitzel while Marpig had a Pilsner Urquell (fabulistic!!) and smoked pork with white cabbage and old Bohemian pancake (the pancakes are scrumptious!!) The appetiser in the middle (1/2 eaten by Marpig already) was smth of a slab of cheese with garlic, chilli (therez also the green pepper) ttz swimming in olive oil. Cant rem how it tasted like but itz fine, just a tat too rich
After. No waste!! hahahahahahahahahaha *echos*
Once again, itz a stroll after dinner along the river again!! Notice Prague Castle up on the hill and Charless Bridge in pic above
Other than the Old Town Sq, therez often the "shopping street" or similar in all cities to visit and Wenceslas Sq aka Václavské náměstí is 1 such place in Prague. Itz the New Town Sq as opposed to the old one
As usual, a little bit bout this sq. Much like the Parliament Sq in London, itz a place for demonstrations, celebrations and public gatherings. It used to be called Horse Market (Koňský trh) bcos it once provided accomodation for horse markets in the Middle Ages
The sq is bout 45ooo sqm measuring 750m long and has 2 obvious and distinct landmarks;
The National Museum Building and the mounted statue of St. Wenceslas
The museum was founded in April 1818 and currently housed 14 million thingy associated with history, arts, etc etc. Although Marpig did not go in (Marpig am very selective when it comes to museums) pics from the web of the main entrance reminds the entrance in a DS game Marpig am playing (Phoenix Wright: Justice for All)!!
The statue has an inscription tt says, "Svatý Václave, vévodo české země, kníže náš, nedej zahynouti nám ni budoucím" which means "Saint Wenceslas, duke of the Czech land, prince of ours, do not let perish us nor our descendants"
As Marpig and fren continued strolling to walk off the dinner, Marpig saw a local fast food joint in the street tt sells sausages and other wat-nots. Guess wat, Marpig bought a totally sinful burger tt has nth but a slab of deep fried cheese and mayo!! (The burger shown in Menu 2 in the pic)
Gosh!! Itz not oily but abs fantastica!! oh boy!! How can smth so simple be so delicious?! :D___
Anyw, notice a subtle style for these Prague entries? Marpig am taking pics of thingies both in the day and night (e.g., the Jewish cemetery) Being the Unique Marpig, she likes trying out all sorts of funny stances :P and the reason for her taking pics of the same thingy in the day and night is to capture the diff feelings/atmosphere; ya noe, even people changes with time :)
B4 showing the day pic of the faymoss Dancing House aka Tančící dům (also nicknamed by others as the "Drunk House") designed by Croatian-Czech architect, Vlado Milunić and Canadian architect, Frank Gehry, herez a pic of it "dancing" in the moonlight...
Taking this pic was a leetle bit tricky. Luckily itz late at night and the house is located in downtown Prague, hence, therez not too many cars coming by this way. Notice tt yellow line? TTz an electrical cable!! Darn!! Tried standing at diff locations and without any fanciful gadgets but just Goldie (1 of Marpigz STYles: capture beautiful ths with simplicity!!), Marpig took the pic above by standing in the middle of the road junction. Of cos, therez an island. So no worries, therez no dangers (unless sm drunkard decides to crash into the island!!) Those lights created by the cars are a result of longer xposure time. Ya noe, therez often pics of cities with lights from cars tt formed lines? Yeah, ttz how the pros do it. So, next time if any1 of u want to write smth using lightsticks, u noe how to adjust yr camera to capture the word!! But be quick too lah!! :P
*Whew* next up will be the final dae in Prague b4 Marpig drags her trotters onto her 2008 xmas trip to 한민국!!!!!!! :D
A stone statue with Foldie resting bside it!!
So how does the path looks like? Well, lotsa pple and families are cycling, walking, etc much like ECP and ABC :P
Above is the Bristol and Bath railway path!!
