hooray for being a tourist!

Spring break started off well, once it got going. Saturday we tried 3 different churches/museums, all of them were closed, and it was gray and rainy and bleah. So to console ourselves, we ate at KFC and decided to try another exhibit that we saw was actually open and not too expensive for student tickets. It was the Alphonse Mucha exhibit, right on old town square, and it was worth it. He was the art nouveau artist most famous for his paintings and illustrations, but he also designed jewelery, stained glass, and even a store front. He was Moravian, (that is, czech), but had most of his success in Paris. All they had in the exhibit were lithographs of his print work, but it was still worth it.

After leaving the Mucha exhibit, we continued on back to one of the churches that had been closed for a wedding, and luckily for us, the wedding was over and we could go in and take our tourist pictures. It was the church of St. Nicholas considered a Baroque masterpiece, and there will be photos coming onto my flickr site... I'm just a week or so (at least) behind at uploading them.

That night, after eating some take-out lasagna (would've been good... if it were heated up...), we went to a concert my drawing teacher had told us about. It was being held in the gallery where we've been sketching the spaces in it and the views from it, the Manes gallery. It was a piano and violin concert, and only cost us a dollar for student tickets, which we considered well worth it. They played some works by Czech composers, and some others, too, but both the pianist and the violinist were amazing. Plus you could really tell they were having fun. It wasn't a big crowd by any means, but certainly very persistent in the applause. No piece finished with out the performer(s) having to exit and reenter and bow again at least 3 times because everyone clapped for so long. Allison and I debated whether it was a cultural thing, to bow, walk off, pause, (still loud applause) walk back on, bow, walk off, pause (continued loud applause), walk on again, bow again, finally walk off and the applause ceased, or if it was just a very enthusiastic crowd. At the end they had to come back on 5 times. All considered, it was a satisfying day enjoying Prague.

Sunday we went to a park on the outskirts of Prague called Divoka Sarka, it's a beautiful kind of wilderness place with rocky hills that have been sliced through by creeks. There were lots of people walking, riding bikes, strolling children, but that didn't take away from the beauty of the place at all. And being a little chilly, it promoted walking a little faster than usual, so it helped us burn off our second fast food lunch in two days. It was nice to be out of the city, and to look up and see rocky mossy cliffs instead of city blocks. Not that I'm complaining about the architecture and history to be seen around Prague, I just like some trees and moss every now and then.

This morning I visited the Charles University botanical garden that's in the city, about 15 minutes by tram from our hostel, also from old town. There was one azalea blooming, and the snowdrops and crocuses (croci?) were out in full force. I had fun taking some pictures of those. Also to be uploaded at some undetermined time in the future. This afternoon we plan on going to the National Museum at the top of Vaclavske Namesti (that's Wenceslas Square), we read somewhere that it's free admission the first monday of the month.

Not sure yet about tomorrow, although we plan on sometime making sure we know how to get to the airport via the public transportation. We're pretty sure, but it'll be good to check before we leave the hostel with our bags and such at 8:30 am on wednesday. I am really excited about going to Germany, I'm sure we'll have a great time. Well I'm off to work on some of those photographs until we head off for lunch and the museum. Keep checking for more photos, they're on their way.