Yesterday, I had a bit of a half day off before my concert in Prague and so it was a nice opportunity to just go for a bit of a stroll and explore the city and then have another bit of a stroll after the concert to see the night views. Seeing as most of the night shots were much more attractive than the day ones, it is the one that is featured on the top, but I'll just be doing the blog in the rough time order that I did during the day. It's also my first time trying to do a proper travel related blog with lots of photos, but here goes!
Most of the route was just a bit random, I wasn't aiming to visit anywhere in particular (except the Concert Hall, Rudophinum where I had to be at a specific time!). So, there aren't the usual tourist sights, and more just a little taste of the city, with some tourist sights if I happened to stumble across them. It was a walk that was mostly around the Jewish quarter, seeing as that was where I had to be for work and it was also where a restaurant was recommended to me by my neighbour (you'll have to wait for the @tasteem review for that!). The day section is first, but I think I prefer the photos in the night section!
The Day Walk
It is quite pleasant walking in this area of Prague, with the nice stones and the cobbles just giving a great feeling under the feet (unless you are wearing heels, I wasn't...). The streets are wide and the buildings are quite beautiful to look at! Traffic was light, I"m not sure if that was normal or not, but it also made for a great city walking experience.
Okay, I couldn't pass up taking a photo of this cake! Who wouldn't want that for their birthday?
There is the Kafka memorial, which is a bizarrely interesting sculpture at the intersection of a number of roads. Born in the Czech Republic, he is also buried nearby at the New Jewish cemetery in Prague.
I'm much more used to seeing "scary" gargoyles on the tops of buildings, so these little dumplings were quite a hilarious change!
Again, I am just in awe of the style of buildings that they have here (well, in the older quarters at least). Coming from a new country like Australia, we just don't have these historic architectures, and well... Holland isn't really that famous for that sort of thing either, although there are some pretty curious new architecture there!
Hey, why not just have a photo shoot on the road and block the traffic? I took this picture when there wasn't any cars trying to pass through, just so that you could see what was going on... however, immediately before there were several irate drivers trying get through!
Another street shot that just shows off the majestic old buildings. I love how in Central Europe they have the buildings painted in these different colours, it makes for such a nice sight compared to the concrete greys of the more modern areas.
This is the Maisel Synagogue where there is a permanent exhibition. I didn't end up going inside, as I didn't have enough time, but it is one of the actual tourist areas!
The Rudolfinum, otherwise known as my place for work later in the day! It's a beautiful looking building with a beautiful stage (also a very nice acoustic to play in!), but it has a terrible terrible maze of a backstage area, but that is a post for another day!
However, I was early to the venue, so I decided to keep walking a bit to see more sights from the Mánes Bridge nearby!
The side of the Rudolfinum, taken from the bridge.
It was funny to see this lone fisherman in the river, amongst the tourist boats and the hustle and bustle of the bridge above him. Just in his quiet little world... although, I'm not sure I would be keen to eat fish from a city river....
Now I believe that this is the Waldstein Palace which is the home of the Czech and an original Baroque palace. I did make a better photo in the night section of this post. Next time, I will definitely make an effort to come here, after all, I do play mostly music from this era of history!
I've honestly not ever seen quite so many swans in the same place at one time! Coming to Europe, it was weird to see white swans.... in Australia, we have black swans and the white ones are unusual. I still find it strange!
This is the view of the older Legions' Bridge taken from the Mánes Bridge. The other bridge had many more tourists walking around, I guess it was a better route for sightseeing. What I found interesting was the different styles of the tops of the buildings on the left of the photo.
Connected?
Okay, I've seen some bizarre sculptures before, but these are pretty strange?
So, that finishes the day walk and it was off to do the General Rehearsal, and then play a concert....
The Night Walk
What can I say, the difference is just night and day! I love the way the buildings have been lit up for the night, they really just look much more beautiful! So, this was the Rudolfinum from the night time after the concert.
... and the Waldstein Palace from the other side of the river. Again, the lighting makes it much nicer, even with a phone camera.
Again, the streets of the Jewish quarter were much more stunning at night time. It really starts to look like a modern fairytale!
On the way back I decided to take a quick detour to the Old Town Square. This first shot is of the tower with the old Astronomical Clock. Unfortunately, I overestimated the abilities of my phone camera for night shots, and so this distance shot is the only one that turned out okay...
On the opposite side of the Square is the Church of Our Lady before Týn, it is the church that is towering above the smaller buildings in the foreground. It's a pretty impressive sight, but it is a bit of a pity that there are the buildings directly in front!
... I'm not totally sure where this was, by this time I was a bit lost! However, I did think it was a nice sight to make a photo of! However, I had to start tidying up the walk, as it is going to be a long day of travel today, and also...
Things were starting to get interesting with the locals...
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