Rome!

Now that l am staying for an additional 2.5 months l thought it was time to book the next trip, l'm going to ROME!!

My French teacher, Carole and l are off to Rome at the end of March for 4 days! As l keep telling people, if you want to travel and do it cheap, check out Groupon. When l knew l was coming to France l signed up to Groupon France to get the deals for here. Rome is a fantastic example of what kind of deals you can obtain if you sign up...  Return flight from Paris with three nights at a 4 Star hotel including daily breakfast, less then 400.00 Canadian!

Our hotel is located in the heart of the City within walking distance to all the sights! I am so excited about this trip, l have always wanted to go to Rome I look forward to visiting  the Colosseum, the Arch of Constantine, the Roman Forum and so much more!

So stay tune for plenty more blogging to come in the weeks ahead!

Decision is in!

So, after waiting for just over a month regarding my request for extension on my stay and a phone call made (thank you Philippe and no he didn't pull any strings!) l have been granted an extension. I am able to stay until June but have decided to come home in May, just in time for the long weekend! I have a garden to plant! :) I just have to show them that l have a return ticket for home and l am good to go, here that is!

I have decided to get in two more trips while l am here so my next one is........... ROME.. Hoping to book that within the next week or two, would like to take it towards the end of March. Second one l am thinking of going is to England but l also have a friend that lives in Holland who has suggested that l come for a visit there as well. l will have decide which of the two to do. Would love to do both, England and Holland but don't see that happening but it the right deal comes along, who knows what might happen!

So stay tune, plenty more blogging to be done! Which l am happy to report that my blog has received over 1600 hits to date! Way to go people!!

Prague!

When the plans were made for me to come to Europe, l asked Philippe to suggest some places that l should visit during my stay, Prague was one of them....  So with that being said, l planned a trip to visit the beautiful city of Prague.

I got a great deal through "Groupon",  41 euros a night with breakfast.  Hotel was clean and my room was spacious. Breakfast was decent, no hot foods served but that is ok (for me that is). I booked for 3 nights since l was basically loosing one day to travel. Flight was booked through Swiss Air... Hotel and flight, less then 450.00 Canadian! Got to love this European travel. I wish flights were this cheap back home!

I ended up doing this trip solo which was ok, l didn't have to worry about someone else's schedule or needs, just had to look out for myself.  With my flight l actually was in three different countries, France (Paris), Zurich Switzerland and Prague, Czech Republic all in one day! Again, got to love the fact that Europe is small enough that you can travel to different countries with an hour or two of each other. Not like Canada, where it can take you days just to travel from province to another!

                                              Zurich, Switzerland Airport

Something else you will see
as you travel through Europe in
their airports, a place to recharge
your cellphone etc. Item goes into
the draw, connect the item, close
the drawer, take your key and come
back once it is charged!

They still have smoking rooms here at the
airports and of course, sponsored by
Cigarette companies!

My plane to take me to Prague!

Interesting with these smaller airports,
can't say l have ever stood on the tarmac as
planes were taking off before... There
was one plane that was much closer to us
then this one so l wasn't ready with the camera.

My first glimpse of Prague!

Astrological Clock

One of many beautiful fountains located
throughout the city.

An old church l noticed during my
first day of walking around.

The streets of Prague

You are going to see fantastic architecture
throughout this trip!

Ambassador Hotel

What can l say but "Beautiful"

Looking up Narodni St towards the
National Theatre

H&M in a wonderful old building

Lovely!

You will see alot of bright colours here as
well!

The National Theatre

Looking down Narodni St

Sculptures throughout the City

The Jindrisska Tower

The Jindrisska Tower

Nice old advertisement dated
from the 50's on the side of a
building

The Powder Tower

The Municipal House
(Concert Hall)
Prague's most prominent Art Nouveau
building was built between 1906-1912

Beautiful detail on this building

You will spend a lot of time looking up!

Again, some fantastic sculptures

Amazing detail...

St. Nicholas Church

Stunning inside

Description of St. Nicholas Church

Baroque Organ of 1746 played by W. A.
Mozart, when he was in Prague,
 four years later it was played
 at a funeral Mass in his memory.

Old Town Square

Prague Police, love the sound of
horses hooves as they walk on the
cobble stone streets

So much beauty in this City

Even the street has character

Love the archway walk through

Another building with
a fantastic facade

Another view of Old Town Square

Church of Our Lady before Tyn

 This Gothic church was built in
1365 on the site of an earlier
 Romanesque church. Its magnificent
 multiple steeples are 80m high and
 dominate the square.

East side view of the Town Hall

The most popular part of the tower is the town hall clock. Prague's Astronomical Clock is one of the oldest and most elaborate clocks ever built. It was first installed in 1410 and later the clock was rebuilt by the Master Hanus in 1490. The clock is composed of three main components: the astronomical dial, representing the position of the sun and moon in the sky and displaying various astronomical details, ‘The Walk of the Apostles', a clockwork hourly show of figures of the Apostles and other moving sculptures, and a calendar dial with medallions representing the months.

Old Town Square

Fresh pastries being made
right in front of you and boy
did it ever smell yummy!

Loved walking the narrow streets

The Old Town Bridge Tower in
the background

 The Old Town Bridge Tower,
 is considered to be the most beautiful
 bridge tower in Europe due to
 its rich sculptural decoration.
  

The famous Charles Bridge crosses the Vltava River in Prague. This 'solid-land' connection made Prague important as a trade route between east and west Europe. The bridge was originally called the Stone Bridge or the Prague Bridge but has been the "Charles Bridge" since 1870. The bridge that stands today is the third one to take it's place. First one was made out of wood and was wiped out by a flood, the second was made out of stone but it too was destroyed by a flood.

Thirty sculptures that decorate the bridge date mainly from the baroque period - from the 18th century.

Looking towards Malá Stráná, Prague Castle
 in the background

Vltava River view of Prague from the Charles
Bridge

King Charles IV's favourite architect and builder Peter Parler, originally built the present-day bridge. The initial idea was to build a functional construction for jousting tournaments, and for many years the only decoration on the bridge was a simple crucifix, but later the desire of the Catholics for ornamentation resulted in 30 statues being built (1600 to 1800 AD).

Bridge view

One of Thirty statues that are
on the Charles Bridge

The smaller tower, a Romanesque structure, dates back
to the 12th century, while its currentRenaissance shape is from 1591.

A period Guard

Malá Strana ( Lesser Quarter)
 district

The Stone Wall

Looking towards Charles Bridge

An American girl taking in a Japanese
manicure/pedicure! The fish eat the dead
skin off your feet and hands. If you
are ticklious, then this isn't for you!

Heading back to Old Town

Evening view of the Castle and rivewside

When you walk through the Old Town
Tower, this is what you see!

Prague at night

Went out for a Czech dinner and l had to
take a picture of the bar, different!

Old Town Square on a beautiful sunny
but cold day!

Just love all the old buildings here!

The Rudolfinum's Dvořák Hall is one of the oldest concert halls in Europe and is noted for its excellent acoustics. On 4 January 1896 Antonín Dvořák himself conducted the Czech Philharmonic in the hall in its first ever concert

Jewish Quarter

Jewish Synagogue

The Old Jewish Cemetery, dating from 1478, is Europe's second oldest ‘surviving' Jewish cemetery. Some 12,000 tombstones are located here, each crammed into a tiny space, with the oldest dating back to 1439. Indeed, because it was forbidden to enlarge the burial ground beyond the walled ghetto, the Jews were forced to bury their dead on top of each other - meaning that an estimated 100,000 bodies in about 12,000 graves lie here. .

Church of St. Gilles

Mozart's wedding stage from the movie
  Amadeus was filmed here

Love the ceilings!

The church was founded in 1371 

The Powder Tower

The 65-metre tall Powder Tower dates back to 1475 during the reign of King Vladislav II Jagiello. It was built to form one of the 13 entrances to Old Town. However, in 1483 the tower was left unfinished because the king moved to Prague Castle. The present Gothic look was shaped 200 years later. The exterior decorations, gravely damaged during the occupation of Prague in 1757, were reconstructed together with the gate in 1876. The gate acquired its name in the 17th century because it was used for storing gunpowder (originally called the Horská gate)

Nostiz Theatre

 Amadeus Mozart himself conducted his
 Marriageof Figaro in spring 1787 and
where here turned to in autumn the
 same year to conduct himself the world
 premiere of his Don Giovanni.
 The Prague symphony sounded
 here first, too This is the only theatre
 that still exists that Mozart
 has performed in. 

I joined the free walking tour
(you tip your guide at the
end of the tour) and this
 was our group, the "kids" were
from USA. Our guide "George" was
fun and full of historical information.
Throughly enjoyed the  tour and would
highly recommend.


I enjoyed this walking tour so much
l signed up for another one  The two
 young ladies, Lucy and her friend
 (sorry can't remember her name:( )
also joined the tour. So with a
30 min break between tours the
ladies and l headed to get something
hot to drink cause it was a cold day
in Prague but nice enough for these
long walks... Each tour is approx
2.5-3 hrs in lenght.

War Memorial
Memorial to the Second resistance
movement against Nazi aggresion and
 occupation of Czechoslovakia during
 years 1938-1945.

The Strahov Monastery was founded in 1143 in Prague, and it’s still functioning as a monastery today. The monks make beer, grow strawberries, and run a library with 200,000 volumes. The majority of the works were printed between 1501 and 1800, and the library has over 1500 incunabula (books printed before 1505) stored in the vault!

View over looking Prague

Prague Castle to the Left

Beautiful views

St. Vitus Cathedral in the background

Simply, beautiful!

Many Palaces located on this side
of the river

View towards the Prague Castle

Light stand that still runs on fuel

Prague Castle

Prague and Me on a wonderful sunny day!

Castle guard

 It is the largest ancient castle in the world (570m long and on average 128m wide). It is also where the Czech kings, Holy Roman Emperors and presidents of the Czech Republic used to have their offices.

Inside one of three courtyards located in
the Castle (II courtyard)

The "Royal Well" in III courtyard

St. Vitus Cathedral
 Is the biggest and the most important church in the Czech Republic. It’s the seat of the Archbishop of Prague and the place where saints, kings, princes and pmperors of Bohemia are buried. The coronations of the kings of Bohemia were held there until 1836. It’s one of the best examples of Gothic architecture.

The Rose Window

St. Vitus Cathedral is over 600 yrs old but
it wasn't completed until the 20th Century.
It is the only Church that is known in the
world that you will find Statues
dressed in suits engraved in stone on it.

Inside

South side with the tall tower and Golden Gate

Bell Tower

Golden Portal

 The large mosaic above the entrance was made in a Bohemian glass factory with the assistance of Italian artists. It depicts the Last Judgement. Jesus is surrounded by angels and the kneeling Czech patrons – St Prokop, St Zikmund and St Vitus on the left and St Wenceslas, St Ludmila and St Vojtech on the right. The mosaic covers an area of 82 square meters

East Side of the Cathedral

St. George Basilica

Leaving the Prague Castle

Guards located at Main Entrances

He doesn't look like he is having a
good day!

Prague view from the Castle

Charles  Bridge

After our 3 hr tour it was decided that we
would end the tour here.... with a beer!

"Keith" our tour guide (on the Lt) is
from USA. Came to Prague for a
holiday, fell in love and the rest as they
say "is history"! He was a lot of fun,
throughly enjoyed this tour as well.
Thanks to our new Swedish friend (on the Rt)
we all enjoyed a glass of beer on him!

7 hrs of walking completely on this day, my last day
Prague. Enjoyed the evening lights as l did some last minute
shopping before heading to my hotel. Time to get
 change and get something to eat.

My last dinner in Prague was at "Golden Tikka", indian restaurant. I looovveee indian food and l have to say that this was one of the best meals l have
 ever had...Story behind me coming to this restaurant....

 The night before when l had gone out to a Czech restaurant, l had a lovely meal but l just couldn't handle the cigarette smoke and finding out that it would pretty much be like that any where l go l decided to just buy a bottle of wine and head back to my room and enjoy a glass or two! with out the smoke... So l get the bottle but when l was buying it, l was debating, do l get one that is a screw cap (as l didn't bring my cork screw with me on this trip) or do l take a chance in the hopes the hotel will have an opener. I make my purchase, cork.... and headed back to my hotel, well l am sure you can guess, they didn't have a cork screw and nor was the restaurant that was in the hotel open either. So off l go with bottle in hand (no paper bag) to find someone who could open it for me. Hence the restaurant, l entered the restaurant with my wine feeling like an idiot for having to ask but l did anyways. The gentlemen were so kind, no problem in opening it for me, apparently l could of bought a bottle of wine from them, who knew!! :)  l was thrilled to have the bottle opened l told them l would be back the next night for dinner and boy am l ever glad l did! I told the gemtlemen that l would write about them in my blog so here it is! If you are going to Prague and you love Indian food, you HAVE to go here, Konviktská 9, Praha 1
www.tickka.cz

I really enjoyed my stay in Prague, even though the weather was cold (for here), thank god l was dressed for it! Prague is a beautiful City as you can see in the pictures. I can only think, if it is this beautiful in the winter, l can only imagine what it would be like during the other seasons. I hope some day l will get a chance to return to this magnificent city but l will come when it is a little warmer! :)

Sunset over Paris as we fly in