View of Prague Castle (and a bird) from the St. Charles Bridge.
Basilica of St. George inside the castle grounds. It was a grey day-I liked the color.
What else to say about Prague? The Gothic architechture around the main square reminds me of something out of Disney's Sleeping Beauty. The city is sometimes Bohemian, sometimes classically European, sometimes ultra-hip. Some local specialties that I especially enjoyed were wooden puppets, Pilsner Urquell beer, corn husk Christmas ornaments, and the tastey rolley treat that I put in the last post. A good Prague walked entailed me getting some coffee, walking thorugh the Sleeping Beauty area, walking through the old Jewish quarter, and then walking under all of the saint statues on the Charles Bridge and listening to the street jazz musicians.
Masses in front of St. Vitus Cathedral
AND NOW, Monica presents...Shining Moments in the History of Rational Behavior.
Once upon a time, in 1618, right before the 30 Years' War, the Protestants and Catholics in Bohemia had a little dispute (it was the order of the day). The Protestants wanted to build some chapels. Catholic officials halted the construction of the chapels, claiming they were building on Catholic land. The Protestants didn't like having their chapel-building interrupted, so they held a trial in Prague Castle accusing two Imperial governors of violating the Right of Freedom of Religion. They found the two men guilty, and proceeded to throw them and their scribe out one of the windows.
Don't worry, no one was hurt. They landed in a pile of horse manure. Divine equine intervention?
1 comment:
Prague is beautiful city with architecture going back to the middle ages. I was impressed by the Prague castle, the old town's powder gate tower and the famous astronomical clock. I had a chance to explore the Jewish quarter, also fascinating (the Spanish synagogue is not to be missed). St. Vitus's Cathedral rivals Notre Dame as a massive, buttressed church: it also houses the tomb of "Good King Wenceslas".
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