Continue Sightseeing and Mozart in Prague
——-
Then we went to St. George’s Basilica and Convent. First we toured ourselves through the Old Royal Palace. That was real unusual for a palace. The seat of rulers until 1300’s or later when Hapsburgs redid, moved moved to a newly built palace.
Its first floor was all wood smoothed out by wear from horse hooves jostling, including the horse rider’s staircase. All stone natural color with high gothic ceilings and no color or painting on the walls. Each room had a huge old tile oven of a different color, but that was it besides plain wood furniture.
The gothic cellar was damp, cold and bricks crumbling in tiny passageways. An overhead third floor was warm air, wood, sun shining in with models of the castle as it appeared in the 12th and 14th, then recent centuries.
St. George’s Basilica had a Baroque double (mini) staircase on the front alter, along with some relics and some bones mom found in one of the chapels. Anyway we soaked it all in.
The St. George’s Convent was a new experience, as it hosts a part of the National Gallery Collection. We perused the early 1st level of Gothic 14th Century and all madonnas, trinity, in bright blues, reds, and green rumpled flowing robes. My favorite was a Blue Madonna.
They all had starry backgrounds of gold stars in a burgundy or blue dark pretty sky. Would love to add one of these to my collection! Also saw some nice stone statues of saints and altar pieces; painted frames done in the “beautiful style”; and a special rare carved frame with some metal work around it.
Our next necessary stop after closing the museum was coffee. Not so good, but a nice spot right before the bend onto the Golden Lane.
Mom and I had coffee, her and dad had strudel (moms was complete with stones, as her drink yesterday also came with glass) and I had a mediocre Eis. Nothing like the one in Vienna.
So most all of the shops in the Golden Lane were already closed. They are now artists workshops. We photoed in front of Franz Kafka’s House, what I remember most from Prague last time. We also enjoyed the view over Prague from the hilltop, right after climbing down the stairs from all the adorable, mini, colored houses.
Before that café stop we also found the nice, newly open museum store with great gifts, including a nice pair of blue and gold cuff links.
We took our photo portraits above the city there, and each sat on wall overlooking town, while the other tourists waited in line behind us to enjoy the view.
By now, we were all getting weary (foot weary that is) and we decided to look for a concert in a church naive. We happened upon St. Francis Church on the other side of Charles Bridge and a very nice friendly Czech older man sold us the tickets and told us where we would sit (he reserved our seats) for 390 CK Czech Krowns and we had two hours to mosey around.
We could hardly carry ourselves much further than the crystal arcade and the exchange centers- where they were blaring out Joe Cocker in the nice marionette shop on the bridge and Chris Rhea as well from the fluorescent- lit arcade and Asian shops.
Once more, we changed money (dad got rid of some dollars). After sitting on a bench near the Vlatava River with our shoes off, got motivated enough to go get a beer (Malè Pivo) each at a nice expensive American tourist “Corona Bar” on the river terrace. The waiter displayed a bad demeanor and we took out our own pistachios, and started eating them. Surprised he didn’t charge us for those too.
We laughed and drank as we watched the four little old ladies next to us eat their Schnitzel and drink their white wine, before rushing on to a theater too.
Heading back to the church was so beautiful at sunset. I well remember Chris Rhea ‘Girl if you think it’s over” blaring out from the marionette shop. A nice sentimental atmosphere, which soon switched to a quiet church all in gold baroque, paintings of dark Baroque bible scenes; marble columns, side chapels ornately decked out, and an old gold-trimmed organ on the right, above the choir.
There was an organist, an oboe, and an alto singer. They performed Vivaldi, Bach, Teleman and it was excellent. We were surrounded by the beauty of Baroque days, mysticism, and the majesty of the church. I loved hearing the stateliness of the organ once played by Mozart himself.
Surrounded by all that opulence with not too many people at the concert, it was quite intimate. We kept waiting for people to clap, but they never did until the end. The jolly friendly Czech man was wishing everyone Dobro Nutz – and training an older American woman on rolling her R’s properly. She still seemed to have some difficulty nonetheless.
After the concert, it was soon time to eat again. We headed for a crepe place called “Bar Bar” that was in ‘the book.’ It was over on the Mala Strana side of the bridge. We crossed over and walked along the river on ground level through a park (once again passing pissing men) a Prague Paradox it seems. “Go where you will.”
We found “Bar Bar” amid a winding cobblestone lane of small buildings, right down the way from a few larger American business hotels and terraces, and also saw the river boat dinner cruises. Our waiter was very nice and friendly. We had one of the last empty tables, drank Budvars (now we’ve tried Staropramen, Budvar and Pilsner Urquell, also one other).
Dad got a cheese, apple, sour cream and cranberry ‘Paris Crepe.’ Mom had a bleu cheese and almond crepe; and I had the spinach and cheese one. Theirs were better than mine, but they were all good. Not too smoky either. That’s where mom tried to order a mixed beer, but got a dark (it wasn’t Bud). We all split the chestnut 🌰 dessert crepe too, which could have used more filling.
We managed to find our way over the bridge (not Charles Bridge) but went right to our hotel. Finally we know the way from the other direction, passing the Pushkin Café, the T-shirt display, the church where guys were peeing right around the corner (St. Guile’s) and the lost couples were asking the taxi drivers for directions. We also passed the crystal shops, late night fluorescent palaces run by bleary-eyed clerks with the pretty Art Nuveau designs and the hand cut turquoise and clear vases.
Wednesday 26 May, 1999
