2008 River Cruise: My Day Alone in Prague - Prague Castle

The next day my tour mates and I were having breakfast. We had a free day to ourselves and everyone else, it seemed, had booked excursions. I had not and explained this to G and N. They looked at me like I told them I was going to sell drugs in the lobby.

N: "What are you going to do today?"

Me (lying): "I'm not sure. I'll figure something out."

In fact, I knew perfectly well what I was going to do, I just didn't want anyone to talk me out of it or to give me shit so I chose not to share my plans. After everyone left for their excursions I got ready to go. I talked to the concierge and asked her how to get to Prague Castle. The directions were simple enough: take the subway three stops out and get on the tram going up the hill. She paused, looked at me with a little pity it seemed, and then told me to watch out for pickpockets. I rolled my eyes at her and then walked out of the hotel. I may be an American easy to spot five blocks away, but I can handle myself.

The subway was a piece of cake. Very easy to use, easy to figure out which direction you're going in. It was very much like riding on the London Tube even the trains were about the same size, that smaller size, like toy trains. I exited the station and found the tram stop right outside. It took me a couple of minutes to figure out which direction I was going in then I talked to a small group of tourists who were also going to Prague Castle. The young dark haired woman who was serving as tour guide said to exit the tram when they do since we were all going to the same place.

Riding on the tram gave me a nice little view of Prague. It was very much like riding MUNI what with easy to spot tourists, locals who looked curiously at me, unwashed homeless people sleeping in the seats, and students laden with book bags. To minimize attention to myself I chose not to take any photographs on the way up to the Castle. It was a beautiful day. Cold, of course, but very clear and sunny.

Once I got to Prague Castle I went straight to the National Gallery at Sternberg Palace. It was just off the main square located in front of the castle and not very expensive. There were very few people and I slowly wandered through the galleries. They had a nice little collection of art including a few paintings by Durer, Rubens, and Bruegel the Elder. It made me a little sad for although the building the collection is housed in is a palace they didn't have enough money to keep the collection in the proper temperature controlled environment, nor did they have a good control of the sunlight in the rooms. After my visit I found out that the Prague National Gallery collections are housed in several buildings around the city and I had only seen one.

I spent at least two hours walking slowly through and making sketches. Most of the time I had whatever room I was in to myself. After a while the security guards started following me around, taking turns, watching me. I suppose someone like me is a red flag for them.

The picture above is an excerpt from my sketchbook. The top sketch is a detail from Ruben's "The Expulsion of Adam and Eve", 1620. This was a small painting, perhaps 11 x 17. The signs didn't say what the medium was but it appeared to oil on canvas. Even so the original has a sketchy, watercolory feel to it. I love the movement in this small picture. You see Death grabbing Eve's hair in a strange kind of twisted dance. His other hand is grabbing Adam's arm but I decided not to draw him. On the far left of the original painting is a sketchy, much less defined picture of the Archangel Michael with his flaming sword and the gates of Eden.

The bottom sketch is a fragment of a marble relief from the 12 Century. It's a gryphon, of course. Since I went on my NYC/Washington D.C. trip alone I've been sketching gryphons wherever I can find them. I added the color later with my new watercolor pencils. You can double click on the picture to see more details. I took the picture at 8 megapixals so it's very large.

I went into one of the side galleries on the way out and wandered through to the end where there was a massive altarpiece with six huge panels. I couldn't find the sign with artist's name but I'm judging it was from the 16th century. At least it was in a darkened room. I spent a long time in that little room staring at this altarpiece. It was very interesting, the figures were brightly colored, and the entire piece had a cartoon feel to it. A security guard had followed me into the room and stood there as I looked and looked at the painting for close to 10 minutes.

I don't take photographs in museums anymore even without a flash but I found a nice website which will give you an idea of what the museum is like.

After I left I went out to the main square at the Castle. The light was perfect for some pictures of the square and the city:

Some very fine street musicians in the square. They are playing almost directly across from Prague Castle entrance.



As you can see Prague is a beautiful city.

To the left of these last two pictures is a big staircase leading to the bottom of the hill. I was happy I wasn't walking up them.

My attempts to get a picture without people in it was in vain. This was the best I could do.

Next post: My Day Alone in Prague - The Charles Bridge.

2008 River Cruise: (Sort of) Lost in Prague

Powder Tower in Prague. We should have made a left here, but we went straight instead.

After our Prague city tour and shopping around Old Town Square, me and my new friends G and N made our way back to the hotel. I had spent a couple of minutes with the tour guide getting directions. As it was I was the only person who knew which way to go. We started out going down the right street and reached the Powder Tower and kept walking. We made it to a major freeway intersection, crossed under the underpass, and realized quickly we were in the wrong place.

G and N became a little nervous and in a couple of minutes were starting to panic. I didn't know it at the time, but we were butting up against their biggest fear: getting lost in a foreign city. We started asking people passing by if they knew where the hotel was.

The first two people we stopped were two very nice young women. One spoke very good English. They didn't know where the hotel was but said it was nearby and offered to call it on their cell phones. We had no luck as they got connected to a woman in England (damn corporate hotel central reservations!), then we were disconnected. I managed to flag down a cab and we said goodbye to the two young women. The cab started shouting at us when we tried to get inside, "No passengers!" I closed the door and he drove off.

We crossed the street and met a delivery truck guy who couldn't speak English but was able to understand mostly what we were saying. G asked him if he could drive us there, but he refused as there was no room in the truck. She became angry, but we calmed her down. She kept saying all we had to do was have the hotel send a car to pick us up.

My two new friends were really starting to panic. I suggested we go back the way we came and start over again. I felt a little sheepish as I would have never allowed a situation like this to happen if I was on my own. I would have gotten a map and made someone mark off where we were starting and where the hotel was. Still, I wasn't afraid even if it was the late afternoon.

We finally met George, our knight in shining armor. George turned out to be from Oklahoma and he was an English teacher. He'd been living in Prague for over 10 years. He gently explained to G and N the best thing to do was get bus tickets and take right bus to the next stop. At this G and N became very agitated then I realized they were afraid of taking public transportation. I thought that was a little odd because we were only going to the next bus stop. George got us bus tickets, took us to the bus stop, made sure we got on the right bus, told us how to stamp our tickets, and sent us on our way. We tried to pay him, but he wouldn't accept our money, said we were insulting him by offering it.

He also told us not to take a cab under any circumstance because they're legendary for charging astronomical prices if you're a tourist. George was very kind and took so much time to help us with the bus tickets and helped me calm G and N down. Such a sweet man!

We met a lovely young woman on the bus who talked to G and N for a bit. I could see this was making them feel less afraid. Eagerly I looked around on the bus and paid close attention to our route. I love public transportation. Sure enough we drove right past our hotel and got off at the next stop about half a block away. It was getting dark when we walked back to our hotel, but I was feeling really good. I had enjoyed our little mishap.

When we got back to the hotel I found out that we should have made a left turn at the Powder Tower instead of going straight.

***
Later, I found out that G and N were well traveled but had never done anything outside of taking a tour. They'd never ventured forth on their own at all even when there was free time. On tours they take excursions but they're so afraid of being lost in a foreign city that they won't attempt to take public transportation even though it's much cheaper and a better way to see the inhabitants.

They also have a bad sense of direction. I know plenty of people don't have a good sense of direction, but it didn't take me long to figure out the reason why they never know where they are or where they're going is because they don't pay attention to their immediate surroundings. I'm always paying attention to where I am and looking around for landmarks when I travel. Sometimes I get turned around, but I can always find my way back to my destination.

G asked me later what I would have done had I been alone and gotten lost. My reply was it would have never happened. I would have been prepared with a map before starting out.

2008 River Cruise: Prague in the Morning

On my first morning in Prague, or Praha in Czech, our group had a city tour. The weather wasn't bad, somewhere in the lower 50s. I felt odd being alone but decided not to worry about it. In my usual fashion I stayed somewhat apart from people at first, but people in my tour group soon took an interest in me, particularly when they saw me attempting to take self-portraits.

A frantic shot of the Vltava river taken while the bus rolled over one of Prague's many bridges.

Our tour started at the top of Prague Castle. You can just see it in the photo above on the distant right. The weather was cold, but splendid. As we all assembled outside the bus we had to wait for our local guide. While waiting two older women, cousins who were traveling together, struck up a conversation with me. They clucked in disapproval when I told them I was traveling alone and before I knew it they had adopted me. I'll call them G and N.

It was colder at the top of Prague Castle. I had to put my gloves on. Prague Castle is a complex of the main castle, St. Vitus Cathedral, lessor castles, gardens and halls. The President of Prague lives there and it's a place where most Czech government functions occur.

A properly stoic guard although I did manage to get him to crack a momentary smile.

We were just in time to see the changing of the guard at the entrance of the castle. I watched the proceedings with curiosity since I missed the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace when I was in London a few years ago. Our tour guide explained that the guards are properly stoic, that is not allowed to smile, move, or speak, just like in London. People took tons of pictures of them, posing and giggling. I was wearing my ray bans when I snapped the picture above. I got the guard to smile just for a moment when I lowered my sunglasses, smiled hugely, and said "Thank You" in sugar-coated tones.

We were herded into one of the many courtyards in the complex. While our tour guide did some explaining I wandered off a little taking care not to venture too far off. I was not yet familiar with my group and worried about losing them as there were other tours coming in by the bus load.

One of the courtyards at Prague Castle.

We went through a side entrance at last and I saw our first destination: the grandiose St. Vitus Cathedral. I was terribly excited. I love church architecture.

The real deal complete with all the elements to make you look upwards so you feel properly humbled before God.

The cathedral is massive, dark, and cold. All that stone and stained glass everywhere. We were asked not to use a flash so I took plenty of pictures, but many of them didn't come out.

A particularly splendid stained glass specimen, the Mucha window.

I kept wandering around and soon realized that my new friends G and N were a little disconcerted with this behavior. They didn't say anything, of course. On the tour we had these headsets so we could still hear our tour guide even if I wandered off a bit. These pictures simply cannot show the grand size and scale of this place.

This picture might give you a better idea. Note the flying buttresses, one of my very favorite architectural features.

Here's the front entrance of St. Vitus' with its rose window.

Although the spectacular chapel of St. Wenceslas (his relics are kept here) was undergoing renovations we were still allowed to take a peek inside. There are over 1300 semi-precious stones and paintings here and the chandelier is made of gold and more precious stones. I couldn't get a very clear picture but you can still get a general feel for this place.

Absolutely breathtaking...

We left St. Vitus for the front entrance of Prague Castle and the huge courtyard. I took pictures from the viewing area on the hill, but was shooting directly into the sun so none of them came out well, but I'll post better pictures in a later post.

I continued to wander around without my new companions and away from the tour group. I noted happily that they had a National Gallery in the complex which would inform my plans for the next day.

We made a pit stop at the water closet and while everyone was waiting around, I noted that G and N were chatting with people from our group. I was more standoff-ish until a nice man offered to take a photo of me since I kept trying to take self-portraits. G and N introduced me to a few people and I talked them for a while. Then we piled onto the tour bus and made our way towards Old Town which is situated on the other side of the river from Prague Castle.

On the way to the Old Town Square we did get to see a bit of the Jewish Quarter (the Josefov) in Prague, but only just. The tour guide was moving too fast. G loves cemeteries and since N is Jewish she wanted to see the synagogue and the cemetery, but both were closed up tight. I was as disappointed as they were.

Old Town or Stare Mesto is where the Prague was first settled as our guide told us. We had been told by the tour guide that we would have a few hours to explore Old Town after the tour and then we could make our way back to the hotel on our own since it's within walking distance. I was getting antsy. I was feeling the confining effect of being on a group tour.

The Old Town Square is very beautiful.

We were told about the history of the Square and surrounding buildings. The tour was finished up by giving us a short history of the world famous medieval Prague Astronomical Clock which shows the positions of the Sun, Moon, and some planets.

The beautiful clock.

After getting directions so we could make our way back to the hotel, G, N and I left the tour group. G had been in Prague eight years earlier with her daughter and they had found a vegetarian restaurant just off the Square that she claims was the best vegetarian food she ever had. In the spirit of adventure, we set off to find it. After some twists and turns we finally asked a clerk in a jewelry shop down one of the side streets and she gave us general directions. I found out quickly that G has a terrible sense of direction, but we managed to find the place and she was very happy.

In front of the restaurant. If you take the street directly opposite the Clock and wind your way down the narrow street you'll see it off to the right side after the equivalent of a block or two.

The restaurant was very stripped down, cafeteria style. We gathered our trays and started piling food on our plates. N was very skeptical, apparently she's not a very adventurous eater. Each dish was labeled in English, but sometimes what the card said didn't correspond with what the food looked like. No matter, we pressed on. By the time we got to the cashier it became clear that this was a place were locals like to eat lunch. It was very cheap and we were the only tourists. The cashier barely spoke English, but we managed to pay for our food and find a table. The other folks at the tables looked at us in surprise as we passed them.

Here's a picture of my plate. Don't ask me what the food was. All I know is the soup was a lovely carrot soup.

The food was spectacular. As G promised it was the very best vegetarian food I've ever had. I couldn't believe it! Eagerly we gobbled up our food while N sat with us. She barely picked at her plate. I guess she didn't like it much. Most of the food was in a kind of casserole style with plenty of grains. Yummy! I highly recommend it (if you can find the restaurant) for a delicious, off-the-beaten-path experience.

After our meal the three of us wandered around the various gift shops around the Square. My feet were cold so I looked for socks, but there were none to be had. The search for socks became a running joke between the three of us. I bought a couple of things but wandering the gift shops isn't really my deal especially if you keep going into one gift shop after another that keeps selling the same shit over and over. I soon realized this seems to be how many people visit other countries: they go on a tour and afterwards go shopping in tourist gift shops. Yick.

After wandering for a while the ladies decided we should make our way back to the hotel. We thought we were following the proper directions, but I turned out to be wrong.

Next up: Sort of Lost in Prague

2008 River Cruise: Introduction

In early 2008 I decided I would take my long awaited trip to Europe. I wanted to travel with someone else. I knew I had to see Nuremberg, Germany because I needed to see the place where my novel is set. My original itinerary was to fly into Amsterdam, go to Ghent and Bruges (in Belgium), take the train to Colmar, France to see the Isenheim Altarpiece, do a bit of wine tasting in the Alsace wine region, and finally spend the remainder of my vacation in Nuremberg and Ansbach, Germany.

I couldn't find anyone to go with me. As the time got closer to when I was supposed to leave I got more and more nervous about going alone. I've traveled on my own just fine, but was intimidated about going to the Continent by myself. I had read an article by Arthur Frommer about river cruising earlier in the year and decided to do that. I would still be able to see Nuremberg or at least get a decent overview of it and then go back on my own if I determined that would be a safe thing to do.

I selected a cruise down the Danube River with Avalon Waterways. It was very expensive because I paid the single supplement so I could have my own cabin, but I can tell you now it was worth every penny.

Below is the Itinerary
2.5 days in Prague, Czech Republic
Take a four hour bus ride to Nuremberg, Germany and board the boat there.
A half day bus tour of Nuremberg then back to the boat, boat leaves Nuremberg.
Arrive in Regensberg, Germany, take morning tour, afternoon at leisure
Arrive in Passau, take optional excursion to Salzburg, Austria, meet boat in Linz
Arrive in Melk, Austria for tour of the Abby
Arrive in Vienna, Austria for morning tour, afternoon at leisure
Arrive in Budapest, Hungary, morning at leisure, afternoon tour
Fly home

On top of everything this was a special wine cruise where we had tastings and special wine lectures/tours almost every day. No need to worry about drinking and driving!

One of the first things I realized was that I could easily travel in any of these cities by myself. It would be helpful to know some German, but I felt so comfortable and so many people speak English that I knew I could take those places on my own. Even though I'm still unemployed and ever broke, I'm definitely going back there on my own.

Next post: Prague in the Morning