Ireland/Czech - Day 6

Today was the first day of the conference (ECTS 2014), ostensibly the reason we are on this trip. I put on my monkey suit, checked in, uploaded my slides, and quickly checked out - the sessions today were largely irrelevant to me, and I had some serious vacationing to do!

Vysehrad - the original seat of Czech Royalty

Since our hotel is technically in Vysehrad, we decided to take some time to visit the fort, containing the Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul as well as the Vysehrad cemetery. The local legend is that Vysehrad was the first settlement in the area which later became Prague, though the direct linkage is unsubstantiated. Either way, this is one of the oldest settlements in the area, with spectacular views across the Vltava to Prague. Additionally, it was the seat of Czech royalty in the 1100s.

On the walls of Vysehrad - it was windy!

 We toured around the ground for a bit. There is a nice park with sculptures by Josef Vaclav Myslbek. We also poked around the cemetery, which is relatively new - the oldest burials were from the late 1800s. However, it is well known because a lot of famous Czechs, particularly artists and musicians, are buried here. (At first, I thought that “Rodina” was a very popular name in Czech – it turns out to be the Czech word for family or kin. Whoops.) The cemetery is adjacent to the basilica, which we poked our head into but didn’t pay admission. However, the doors to the basilica were really neat, so I took some pictures next to them. Apparently we missed the oldest building in Prague, which is St. Martin’s Rotunda – the only undamaged monument from the times of Vratislav I. It looks vaguely familiar, so it’s possible we walked by it unknowingly.

Neat doors to St. Peter and St. Paul - Are you allowed to have 2 saints for 1 church?

I think the Rotunda was behind me when I was taking this picture.

For lunch, we decided to go back to Cukrkavalimonada, since it had been recommended to us and it looked tasty when we were there. According to Google maps, the quickest way was to take a tram. This was our first (and I think last?) experience on the tram, which was fairly uneventful. (Public transportation in Prague is generally very nice.) 

English menu

We arrived and sat down inside. The restaurant is essentially Italian, though I don’t think they would bill themselves that way. (Officially, they serve “fresh pasta, salads, or pancakes.”) The house specialty appeared to be tagliatelle – Lindsay had it with pesto and I had it with bacon. Both were very yummy. 

Pesto Tagliatelle + Coke

I noticed on the menu that they had Elderberry Drink and Elderberry wine. I decided to order the wine (since it was smaller). I’m fairly certain that I got their home made elderberry lemonade - neither what I ordered (Elderberry wine) nor the other option on the menu (Elderberry Drink), but I’m glad I ended up with it. It was really tasty and had a giant mint leaf in it!

Elderberry drink!

I feel like we had to pay in cash, but it was very reasonable – maybe 400 CZK ($20 USD) total. In case you are wondering, Cukrkavalimonada means “SugarCoffeeLemonade”.

At this point, I really wanted to go back to the Strahov monastery to get into their library. We had been up on the hill yesterday, but were too late to get into the building, which closes at 5 PM. However, it had started raining when we were eating and didn’t show signs of letting up. I made an executive decision to just go for it – we had jackets on and I’ve been wet before. About 2 minutes into our journey, we ducked into a shop to buy some umbrellas. We ended up using these a lot for the rest of our trip, so it was a good purchase.

On the way with umbrellas!

Admission at the Strahov Library is 80 CZK, but it was nice to get out of the rain. There is an additional admission if you’d like to be able to take pictures (strange), so no pictures from inside. However, there are plenty available on the internet, so I don’t feel like I really needed to take pictures anyway. (In fact, the largest indoor photo is in the world is of the library itself - click here).

No pictures allowed, so I made Lindsay take a picture with our admission ticket. We were here!

Strahov Monastery was founded in 1143, and survived through a large fire (1258), Hussite Wars (1419-1434), Thirty Years War (1618-1648), Swedish invasion (1648), as well as the Nazi occupation and the Communist takeover. They have an extensive collection of old manuscripts, books, maps, and artifacts. We especially liked the various preserved animals, the books with bark bindings, and the map of “Europe as a Virgin” from 1592. 

Europe as a Virgin (1592) is on display in the Strahov Monastery. I think this is actually a picture of the postcard they have available for sale. Either way, #weird.

One of the premier pieces is the illustrated Strahov Evangeliary from the 9th century – roughly the same age as the previously mentioned Book of Kells, though the Irish book is about 60 years older (and prettier).

Strahov Evangeliary from someone who paid the photography fee!

 Of course, the main attractions are the two halls – the Theological Hall (“the library”) and the Philosophical Hall. They are truly spectacular. Some stock shots below from the internet, though pictures don't really do them justice.

Theological Hall!

Philosophical Hall!

On the way down the hill, we stopped at a few tourist shops as well as a legitimate antique shop. Lindsay has promised me that if she ever gets super rich, she’ll go back to that antique shop and buy their candelabras. (Only 100000 CZK each!)

Having tired of being rained on, we decided to stop somewhere and get some coffee on our way to the next stop. We ended up at U Zlateho (run by the same people as U Prince from earlier – maybe should have been a warning). We got some cappuccino and a banana desert while sitting under the awning with the heaters. We had a very nice time people watching, and Lindsay enjoyed one of her favorite things about outdoor seating in Prague – blankets! We did end up gaping a bit at the price – 139 CZK ($7) for each ‘jumbo’ cappuccino! To be fair, it was legitimately jumbo. On the other hand, we didn’t intend to order the Big Gulp of cappuccinos. Either way, “I’m on vacation” says I.

Lindsay with Blanket and Banana Dessert

Our next stop was the Klementinum, one of the largest building complexes in Europe, including an Astronomical Tower with the longest running weather experiment in the world, the Mirror Chapel, and a baroque library. We had passed through the Klementinum on our tour, and I had noticed that it was open late (until 11 PM), so we decided to save it until now (about 6 PM). The Klementinum was founded by the Jesuits at the urging of the Habsburgs, in an attempt to Catholicize the Czech Republic. 

The Klementinum from the Sky. Charles Bridge is just out of view in the upper left corner.

When we arrived at the complex, it wasn’t obvious where we should go. I headed for the library, which seemed like a logical place to start at the time. We got into the library, but it seemed like we might be in the wrong place. Nonetheless, the sign said we had to leave all of our belongings in a locker or with the coat check person. I decided to get a locker, since it was only a 50 CZK deposit. The person that was supposed to rent me a locker was very confused and didn’t speak much English. However, I was clearly not in the right place – “Students only!” 

Can we come in here?

We retreated back to the sign to try to figure out what was going on. As I rounded the corner, I noticed the giant blue sign that said “Tours Here”. Whoops. We walked into the office and found two people sitting behind the counter. I generally asked if it was possible to poke around – the good old self-guided (see: free) tour. At the time, I didn’t understand what the person meant when she replied, “7PM”. In my attempt to clarify if that meant at 7PM or before 7PM or if they were going to shoot me at 7PM (not very friendly Jesuits), the other one loudly shushed me, exclaiming “There is a concert!”. Apparently we were in the antechamber of the Mirror Chapel, where they hold concerts from 6-7 PM. Whoops. 

Mirror Chapel - not my picture, obviously...

“No worries”, I thought to myself as I left the chapel and headed over to the other door I saw – figuring this to be the entrance to the Tower or the Library or something. Unfortunately, when I opened the door, I only found semi-discarded counters for selling tickets and some generic stage prop stuff in an empty hallway. I thought this strange, but decided to press on a bit and see what there was to see. As I got about halfway through the hall, three people appear at the end of the hallway and start walking towards me. This was encouraging – maybe there was something to see at the end of the hall! Quickly, I realize that only two of those people were tourists. One of them was a tour guide, who was giving me the “Why must I work with tourists?” look while slowly giving me “the hands”. I asked if there was anything to see and she said “Tour only!” while quickly hustling me and my embarrassed wife out the door. Outside, the guide abandoned us, but we met up with another (lost) tourist couple who were equally perplexed at the situation. I briefly informed them about what I had discovered - “Don’t go in this door, there’s nothing to see and they don’t like it. Behind that door, you will find hostile tour guides with nice music. Either a tour or a ritual beating of tourists is at 7 PM.” Since we apparently couldn’t see anything else without paying for a tour (220 CZK / $11 per person), we decided to move on. Since then, I have developed an amusing grudge against Klementinum Jesuits.

Beware ye all that enter!

One of the locations in Prague that we had heard a lot about but hadn’t actually visited yet was Wenceslas Square, one of the main city squares named after the patron saint of Bohemia, Saint Wenceslas. Apparently, it used to be a horse market during the Middle Ages. Now, it’s full of shops and people. It’s also the site of a lot of celebrations, demonstrations, and general public gatherings. 

Sausage in Wenceslas Square! It was tasty.

Our tour book told us to make sure to check out the Kronus Palace, a shopping mall with a spectacular dome of stained glass from 1910. We did, but honestly it was only ‘meh’ compared to the rest of Prague. 

Kronus Palace Dome  - meh

Although the night was fairly young (probably about 9:30p), we decided to head home since I had to wake up early the next day.