Prague Castle

After our trip to Sternberk, we went to the Prague castle that tops the hill overlooking the city and the river.  St Vitus cathedral sits in the middle of an extensive castle complex that has been constructed by Czech / Bohemian kings for centuries.

One of the first great halls built on the hill.  It adjoins the throne room. 

One of the original churches on the site - dating back to 1200s with hundreds of years of rebuilding and modifications

Visit from Dr. Seuss?

This bike allows 6 people to pedal!

Sternberk Castle

We arrived at Sternberk and chose to go on the next tour that was given in Czech with English handouts because otherwise we would have to wait for 1 1/2 hrs for the next English tour.  The castle was beautiful inside and I really felt like I could imagine living there.  The furniture was arranged in a convenient fashion, not just set in the room for display.  I don't know whether we were allowed to take pictures.  I never saw a sign and the guide didn't speak English to tell me not to, so I have some interior pictures this time!  The castle is still occupied (although I don't think the rooms we saw were used except for tours) by the Sternberk family.  Apparently those castle that were privately owned when the communists took over were returned to the family heirs after the Revolution (IF the family were not collaborators with the Nazis).

This family tree was a gift to the current owner from his father.  The current owner (Mr. Sternberk) is at the bottom-center of the trunk.  His father George is on the far left branch, his mother on the far right.  The geneology goes back 5 generations (without brothers and sisters).  Pretty cool.

 These were children's toys and furniture (including the chaise lounge) that were in the castle.

 While we waited for the tour to begin, we observed a hawkmaster with his birds of prey.  Unfortunately we couldn't understand what he was saying, but we could still appreciate the beauty of the birds.

Traveling to Sternberg castle

Today we hired a car to take us to Sternberk castle.  Its a bit further out of town than the other two, and not as popular, so there were no organized trips to take us there.  Our driver, Peter, was quite friendly and chatted with us on the way there about the Czech republic.  He was only 10 during the Velvet Revolution, but remembers it.  He took one year of Russian, and then was able to change to English instead.  He explained that many of the older people struggle with the changes that have happened in the Czech Republic after the Revolution.  They remember when everyone had a job (unemployment is high 8-10% in the countryside) and a pension.  Peter explained that they don't seem to appreciate that now you are free to travel where you want and to speak your mind.  He has been serving as a tour driver for several years and particularly likes taking people to  his home town, and to Dresden.  After 9th grade, he had the chance to either go to Licium (high school), or to a trade school.  He chose the field of hospitality - tour guiding, hostels, gastronomy, etc.  He made the trip pass quickly as we drove to Sternberk.

Astronomical Clock

We got to see the famous astronomical clock strike the hour one day.  The twelve apostles move around as the hour strikes.  A (live) trumpter also played a fanfare from the top of the clock tower.  I read more about the clock after seeing it, but still can’t quite figure out how to read it.  This animation shows the movements of the different dials.

Karlstein castle

Karlstein Castle was our second stop.  We hiked up a path to the castle on the top, then got a tour of the inside (again, no pictures allowed).  There were not nearly as many historical items in this castle as in Konopiste, but the exterior was much more impressive.  This castle complex was built in a short 17 years for the purpose of guarding the crown jewels (Bohemian?)  It had three main buildings, each with separate protections.  The jewels were in the third building.  The Swedish army apparently gained entry to the first and second buildings in the 1600s, but failed to get to the jewels in the third building, so the castle maintains its record as being ‘unconquered’.   The first building that was built was the Well Tower, where a 78 m (over 210 ft) shaft was built to draw water up to the castle heights.  Its not truly a well because it uses water from the local stream bed, thus it makes the castle vulnerable to poisoning of their water source during a siege. It takes 2 men on a hamster wheel 15 minutes to lower and raise the giant bucket that brings up 70 liters of water.

After touring the castle, we walked down the other side of the hill into  a local village.  The views of the castle on the heights just kept getting better.  It was hard to stop taking pictures!

This shows the 70 liter bucket and the bottom of the giant hamster wheel that two men stood in to hoist the bucket up from the well.

Czech countryside

After Konopiste castle, we drove through the Czech countryside for about an hour on narrow, winding roads. We only saw about 20 cars during the drive, but probably passed twice that number of bike riders (heading out of Prague for a day’s touring).  David thought it would be a blast to have a motorcycle and I have to agree! Very pretty ride.  Our guide informed us that Czechs are very fond of fishing and gathering mushrooms in the woods.  We stopped for lunch at a local restaurant (hunting trophies appear to be quite popular décor - note the boar's head on the wall) and then headed for our second castle tour.

Konopiste castle

The first castle we visited was Konopiste.  It was first built in 1280 and underwent significant renovations over the centuries, some in Gothic, some in Baroque, some in Renaissance style.  The last inhabitant before it passed into state ownership was Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination in Sarejevo sparked WWI.

We got an extensive tour of 15 rooms in the castle that were filled with old furniture, paintings, sculptures, and a huge, impressive weapons collective and hunting trophies.  We were disappointed that no pictures were allowed (even without a flash), so I resorted to buying the requisite photo book at the end of the tour.  I really liked how the rooms were full enough to look lived in, but tastefully decorated so as not to feel like a museum cramming in every artifact it could without regard to how they look together in a room.   Our guide new a lot about the family line that lived in the castle.  In one room, she pointed out two chairs that had legs of different heights.  The rule of etiquette was that all people seated around a table had to be eye-height with each other, so some chairs were shorter than others to accommodate different heights.  The exterior of the castle was quite attractive.  It sits just above a lake.  Unfortunately we were not able to stop on the opposite side of the lake for pictures after the tour of the inside.

 Pretty garden area with statuary behind the castle

Lake below the castle - the guide said it was one of the first electrified castles in Europe because of a turbine generator that was hooked up to a water wheel where the water runs out of the lake into a stream.

We're not in Kansas anymore

After breakfast today, we took an all day tour to two sites located approximately 40 kms outside of Prague. As we drove in a minibus to the first one, our guide provided us with various facts about the Czech Republic. (I think he had given the talk about a million times because he sounded SOOOO bored with the whole spiel…good information anyway).  I found it interesting that the collecitivization of farmland under the communists was so extensive that about 90% of agricultural land is now ‘agribusiness’.  A small portion of smaller farm plots were redistributed in the mid 1990s, but most fields are huge. This is quite a stark contrast with Poland, where the Poles were not forced to join their small plots together to such a significant degree.   The fields were planted with winter wheat, just like in Kansas, but they didn’t look quite the same.  The land was much more rolling, and there were pine and poplar trees on the edges of the fields.   

Old Town Square

After dinner we wandered around the old town square.  There was some kind of road rally event that was kicking off with lots of cars and people.  The old city is beautiful and well lit at night.  The facades of all the buildings are from many different historical eras.  Delaney and I had a fun time window shopping – admiring all the blown glass and Bohemian crystal, the hand crafted wooden marionettes, the wooden stacking dolls (I can’t remember the name of them right now), and the usual cheesy tourist items (shot glasses, t-shirts).  As Delaney stopped to play with an animated "weasel chasing a ball" toy, the shop owner confided in us that he sold more of that particular item than anything else in his store...go figure.

Breakfast - blah

Breakfast was uninspiring this morning.  We had a choice of cornflakes and milk, or chocoballs and milk, with OJ to drink.  With hostels you never know what you are going to get, but this was the weakest breakfast I’ve experienced in a while.  Hopefully we can spot a café to head to tomorrow instead!

Arrival in Prague

We walked to our hostel, 10 minutes from the train station if you don’t take a wrong turn (which we did). Prague is a city of narrow, twisty street that don’t ever run in a single straight direction, not even the main ones.  You start down one street heading the direction you want to go, only to turn 90 degrees and end up somewhere else.  Its part of the city’s charm. We checked into our hostel.  Our room is fine.  Clean and moderately roomy with our own bathroom (very orange with the standard 1 sq meter shower).   

After checking in, we went to a local Czech restaurant.  David and Delaney has schnitzel and onion mashed potatos, and I had roast beef with spinich.  We all shared an order of ‘bread dumplings’.  They were kind of like really soft bread without the crust, not the kind of dumpling I had imagined. The menu explained that the restaurant was "all natural" basically.  I ordered a Fanta to drink and they said "no Fanta" (this was a first for me in Europe).  They brought a 'homemade orange drink' instead.  Basically fresh squeezed OJ with seltzer water.

 I managed to make out that the third item down was chicken, and of course Steak was identifiable.  Fortunately we got an English menu before we had to order!

 Spinich and steak - tasty;  Beets - untasted.

Travel to Prague

Our long travel day went fine.  Delaney did pretty well with 10 hours of confinement on a train.  She read to herself, I read to her, she did some art, she watched some videos on our laptop, and we walked from one end of the train to the other multiple times.  After getting up at 4:30 to start the day, She finally crashed 1 hour before we arrived in Prague.


The countryside that we saw on the ride was quite beautiful for the most part.  Lots of forestlands (not really wilderness though), interspersed with small farm plots that were showing hints of green.  The Polish towns we saw on the West side of the country did appear more prosperous looking than in the East (as we had already been told), although it was difficult to say why they gave that impression from the train window.  We saw our first flowering fruit trees (plums?) and some yellow blooming forsythia.


The train got more crowded when we crossed the Czech border and the rail traffic increased significantly.  Delaney and I watched the tracks for a while from the back of the train, and there were parallel tracks the whole way, and often triple tracks or other lines breaking off or joining the one we were on.  As the Poles already know, their train system is in sorry shape compared to their neighbor's.
 

After 11 hours on the train to Prague, we arrived, tired but ready to explore the city (well, two of us anyway). Delaney refused to nap until we were about an hour from Prague.
The Hostel is comfortable and the staff friendly. English is spoken by most and we found that Czech is similar to Polish, so we can use a little of all three. In the first hour of arrival I have seen more Americans here than I have the entire time we have been in Poland. When we were checking into the hostel, a young man noticed my Kansas drivers license and commented that he would was headed to Kansas this summer for football coaching (soccer to us). His accent sounded either U.K or Australian.
We found a good restaurant that served local food and good beer (for me) and homemade orange soda for Carolyn and Adam. Delaney chose the pear juice. Chicken and pork schnitzel, mashed potatoes with onion, bread dumplings and spinach topped the plates and we all (most all) sampled a little of each. After parking Adam back at the hostel (he was much more adventuresome when he was 9) the three of us wandered around the area window shopping. We wandered into a chocolates shop and Delaney chose a bag of watermelon flavored hard candies made in store. They were very good. We wandered into another store behind another American family, and the clerk asked if we were with them. He did not believe us when we told him no, and when they left without us, he laughed and said he thought we were kidding.
This morning we are off to visit some castles (we heard they have a few around here :) after a quick breakfast. The weather is very nice, the high to get around 70.