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shannon_aThe czechs are swinging.
step, step, rock-step.
In the beautiful garden of the Wallenstein Palace.
And the band plays on.
Nine Hours Earlier.
This morning, I land in Amsterdam on my way to Prague.
I've never been through the Netherlands before, and I'm amazed how beautiful it is: so verdant and green with all these rivers snaking through. It goes on my list of places I've seen as layovers that I'd like to visit.
Prague is less immediately gorgeous when I land, but the public transit is as easy as I'd discerned with my pre-trip prep. I hop on the 119 bus, and then I take a couple of subway lines, which isn't the most efficient route, but which keeps me off the trams when I'm carting a suitcase.
And pretty soon I'm about a half-mile from the Plaza Prague, and that turns out to be a pretty hot half-mile, because it's very warm in Prague. I learn my lesson (for the moment).
The hotel is entirely OK and unnotable, other than the fact that the toilet is in a separate room so small that you practically have to stand on the toilet to close the door.
And it has air conditioning. Whew.
It's 3pm, and now I just have to stay up for six hours or so, hopefully with some time out in the sun to help reset my biological clock
So I head to Stromovka Park, once the Royal Game Preserve. It's a decent sized park and quite beautiful with lawns you can actually walk and sit on and several lakes. It's full of people walking and biking and swimming.
I hike around the trails a bit.
I meet up with C. and M for dinner, and then C. takes us out to Wallenstein Palace. Apparently, there are special events going on the last two evenings of August, so I've just barely hit them.
Indeed, Wallenstein Palace's gardens are open despite the "late" hour, and I'm thrilled to see them because they're gorgeous. Lots of mythic statuary and peacocks and water features.
And what sounds like a band in the distance. We head in that direction.
We're momentarily distracted by the Dripstone Wall, an absolutely amazing wall off to one side that looks like dripping cavern walls, with natural looking features forming snakes and faces and lizards and other weirdities, but only if you look closely.
But after that we pay more attention to the band. They're playing Swing, and most people are sitting watching, but a few younger couples are step-step-rock-stepping. This mostly seems to be an August 31 event, but there's also some talk (and signage) about the fact that this is 30 years since the Czech Republic's rebellion where they gained their independence.
We hang around for 15 minutes or so until they finish up around 7pm and enjoy the concert.
My last stop for the night is the interior of the Palace, which turns out to be in use by the modern-day Senate for the Republic We see the room where they met for the first two years of the Republic, which sends historic shivers up my spine.
Then, we even get to walk into the current Senate chambers (and touring through several historic rooms).
It's a nice entry to the Czech Republic.
C+M head on to Prague Castle, where there are other August 31 events, but I realize it's getting close to time to crash, and so I head home.
And at last I hope to sleep ...
step, step, rock-step.
In the beautiful garden of the Wallenstein Palace.
And the band plays on.
Nine Hours Earlier.
This morning, I land in Amsterdam on my way to Prague.
I've never been through the Netherlands before, and I'm amazed how beautiful it is: so verdant and green with all these rivers snaking through. It goes on my list of places I've seen as layovers that I'd like to visit.
Prague is less immediately gorgeous when I land, but the public transit is as easy as I'd discerned with my pre-trip prep. I hop on the 119 bus, and then I take a couple of subway lines, which isn't the most efficient route, but which keeps me off the trams when I'm carting a suitcase.
And pretty soon I'm about a half-mile from the Plaza Prague, and that turns out to be a pretty hot half-mile, because it's very warm in Prague. I learn my lesson (for the moment).
The hotel is entirely OK and unnotable, other than the fact that the toilet is in a separate room so small that you practically have to stand on the toilet to close the door.
And it has air conditioning. Whew.
It's 3pm, and now I just have to stay up for six hours or so, hopefully with some time out in the sun to help reset my biological clock
So I head to Stromovka Park, once the Royal Game Preserve. It's a decent sized park and quite beautiful with lawns you can actually walk and sit on and several lakes. It's full of people walking and biking and swimming.
I hike around the trails a bit.
I meet up with C. and M for dinner, and then C. takes us out to Wallenstein Palace. Apparently, there are special events going on the last two evenings of August, so I've just barely hit them.
Indeed, Wallenstein Palace's gardens are open despite the "late" hour, and I'm thrilled to see them because they're gorgeous. Lots of mythic statuary and peacocks and water features.
And what sounds like a band in the distance. We head in that direction.
We're momentarily distracted by the Dripstone Wall, an absolutely amazing wall off to one side that looks like dripping cavern walls, with natural looking features forming snakes and faces and lizards and other weirdities, but only if you look closely.
But after that we pay more attention to the band. They're playing Swing, and most people are sitting watching, but a few younger couples are step-step-rock-stepping. This mostly seems to be an August 31 event, but there's also some talk (and signage) about the fact that this is 30 years since the Czech Republic's rebellion where they gained their independence.
We hang around for 15 minutes or so until they finish up around 7pm and enjoy the concert.
My last stop for the night is the interior of the Palace, which turns out to be in use by the modern-day Senate for the Republic We see the room where they met for the first two years of the Republic, which sends historic shivers up my spine.
Then, we even get to walk into the current Senate chambers (and touring through several historic rooms).
It's a nice entry to the Czech Republic.
C+M head on to Prague Castle, where there are other August 31 events, but I realize it's getting close to time to crash, and so I head home.
And at last I hope to sleep ...