Calfan
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2009
Today marked the first full day of the ABD. Don’t quote me on this, but I think the meeting time to start the day’s activities was 8am. I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post that we had 42 in our ABD group, plus Jennae and Betti.
We started the day at Prague Castle with our local guide, Katarina. We took a bus (or should I use the European term “coach”?) from the Marriott up to the Prague Castle complex. Katarina took us through a different entrance gate than we had used when we visited Prague Castle on our own, so we appreciated the opportunity to get an additional perspective. There was a bit of a wait while tickets were purchased, etc. but it afforded an opportunity for photos and more getting to know you amongst the adventurers. We first visited the courtyard across from St. Vitus Cathedral. As most know by now, we weren’t able to enter St. Vitus because it was Sunday and a private mass was being conducted. After St. Vitus, Katarina led us into the Old Royal Palace where we saw the Vladislav Hall (the great hall that hosted indoor jousting tournaments, among other events). After the succession of the Habsburgs to the Bohemian throne, the interiors of the Old Royal Palace were used for coronation festivities, among other uses. Katarina also took us to the room upstairs where the Defenestration of Prague occurred. Again, no photos in the Old Royal Palace. After exiting the Old Royal Palace, folks had an opportunity to take a peek at St. George’s Basilica, and then we moved on to Golden Lane where there was maybe a half hour of free time. Just to refresh, Golden Lane is the lane of colorful cottages that houses the armory exhibit, some exhibits and shops and the torture chamber. Since we had visited Golden Lane previously, I used the free time to poke into a few of the shops and to visit the torture chamber near the exit of Golden Lane that I had not seen on our prior visit.
From Prague Castle, we walked over the Charles Bridge into Old Town. On our way to the Charles Bridge, we passed Prague’s version of the “bridge of locks” in Paris. Katarina paused to provide information about a couple of the statutes that line the Charles Bridge (there are 30 in total), including the statute of St. John of Nepumuk who was thrown off the bridge for not divulging the queen’s confessional secrets to King Wenceslas IV. This is the statue with the plaque that has been polished to a gold shine by many people rubbing it for good luck over the years. Tradition says that if you rub the bronze plaque, you will one day return to Prague. There is also another plaque that shows a dog and the queen, which is just as shiny from lots of rubbing, but has no special meaning, probably because not everyone knows the legend of John of Nepomuk, so they don’t know which plaque they should be rubbing. As mentioned in a previous post, the Charles Bridge was really crowded, since it was a weekend.
We reached Old Town Square just in time to see the Astronomical Clock’s mechanical performance at noon and pose for family photos in front of the clock. Katarina provided some information about the clock, but given the size of our ABD group and the crowds in Old Town Square, it was pretty hard to hear what Katarina was saying.
After the clock performance, we were turned loose for about two hours of free time in Old Town Square. Since we had been to Old Town Square a number of times by this point, we opted for a sit-down lunch and some relaxation. Other adventurers took advantage of the food carts behind the Old Town Hall for a quicker lunch to maximize their free time in the square. After lunch, we strolled around and did some more souvenir shopping. We found the street off the square that houses many of Prague’s designer shops (which leads to the Jewish quarter, for a little orientation). It was quite a jolt to see the prices at Cartier expressed in CZK since the exchange rate is 18 or 19 to 1!
After free time, we walked to the marionette workshop for our marionette making activity. The bodies of the marionettes had already been put together, with hair and facial features painted on. They looked very professional. Every adventurer picked a seat based on their preference for the gender of the marionette, hair color and outfit (and yes, a certain amount of trading occurred). The clothes for the marionettes were all handmade and were beautifully done. Essentially what the adventurers had to do to finish the marionettes was to string and dress them. The stringing part was actually quite challenging because the stings have to be appropriately taught for the puppet to move properly and the thread did not want to stay knotted. Luckily, there were a number of workshop assistants available to help with this process. The marionettes turned out great, and they were packaged up into paper tubes for later transport home.
After marionette making, we walked down to the Vltava River for a river cruise. Very relaxing (since most of the JAs sat downstairs, leaving the upper deck to the adults) with some great photo opps.
Then it was time for dinner at the Folklore Gardens, which is like a cultural center. The food was quite good, and we had the opportunity to sample some honey wine. We were also treated to a demonstration of Czech folk dancing, which was quite impressive. Some of the adventurers also got to try their hand at folk dancing. After dinner, the coach took us back to the hotel so adventurers could get ready for a 7am bag pull in anticipation of our departure from Prague the next morning.
We started the day at Prague Castle with our local guide, Katarina. We took a bus (or should I use the European term “coach”?) from the Marriott up to the Prague Castle complex. Katarina took us through a different entrance gate than we had used when we visited Prague Castle on our own, so we appreciated the opportunity to get an additional perspective. There was a bit of a wait while tickets were purchased, etc. but it afforded an opportunity for photos and more getting to know you amongst the adventurers. We first visited the courtyard across from St. Vitus Cathedral. As most know by now, we weren’t able to enter St. Vitus because it was Sunday and a private mass was being conducted. After St. Vitus, Katarina led us into the Old Royal Palace where we saw the Vladislav Hall (the great hall that hosted indoor jousting tournaments, among other events). After the succession of the Habsburgs to the Bohemian throne, the interiors of the Old Royal Palace were used for coronation festivities, among other uses. Katarina also took us to the room upstairs where the Defenestration of Prague occurred. Again, no photos in the Old Royal Palace. After exiting the Old Royal Palace, folks had an opportunity to take a peek at St. George’s Basilica, and then we moved on to Golden Lane where there was maybe a half hour of free time. Just to refresh, Golden Lane is the lane of colorful cottages that houses the armory exhibit, some exhibits and shops and the torture chamber. Since we had visited Golden Lane previously, I used the free time to poke into a few of the shops and to visit the torture chamber near the exit of Golden Lane that I had not seen on our prior visit.
From Prague Castle, we walked over the Charles Bridge into Old Town. On our way to the Charles Bridge, we passed Prague’s version of the “bridge of locks” in Paris. Katarina paused to provide information about a couple of the statutes that line the Charles Bridge (there are 30 in total), including the statute of St. John of Nepumuk who was thrown off the bridge for not divulging the queen’s confessional secrets to King Wenceslas IV. This is the statue with the plaque that has been polished to a gold shine by many people rubbing it for good luck over the years. Tradition says that if you rub the bronze plaque, you will one day return to Prague. There is also another plaque that shows a dog and the queen, which is just as shiny from lots of rubbing, but has no special meaning, probably because not everyone knows the legend of John of Nepomuk, so they don’t know which plaque they should be rubbing. As mentioned in a previous post, the Charles Bridge was really crowded, since it was a weekend.
We reached Old Town Square just in time to see the Astronomical Clock’s mechanical performance at noon and pose for family photos in front of the clock. Katarina provided some information about the clock, but given the size of our ABD group and the crowds in Old Town Square, it was pretty hard to hear what Katarina was saying.
After the clock performance, we were turned loose for about two hours of free time in Old Town Square. Since we had been to Old Town Square a number of times by this point, we opted for a sit-down lunch and some relaxation. Other adventurers took advantage of the food carts behind the Old Town Hall for a quicker lunch to maximize their free time in the square. After lunch, we strolled around and did some more souvenir shopping. We found the street off the square that houses many of Prague’s designer shops (which leads to the Jewish quarter, for a little orientation). It was quite a jolt to see the prices at Cartier expressed in CZK since the exchange rate is 18 or 19 to 1!
After free time, we walked to the marionette workshop for our marionette making activity. The bodies of the marionettes had already been put together, with hair and facial features painted on. They looked very professional. Every adventurer picked a seat based on their preference for the gender of the marionette, hair color and outfit (and yes, a certain amount of trading occurred). The clothes for the marionettes were all handmade and were beautifully done. Essentially what the adventurers had to do to finish the marionettes was to string and dress them. The stringing part was actually quite challenging because the stings have to be appropriately taught for the puppet to move properly and the thread did not want to stay knotted. Luckily, there were a number of workshop assistants available to help with this process. The marionettes turned out great, and they were packaged up into paper tubes for later transport home.
After marionette making, we walked down to the Vltava River for a river cruise. Very relaxing (since most of the JAs sat downstairs, leaving the upper deck to the adults) with some great photo opps.
Then it was time for dinner at the Folklore Gardens, which is like a cultural center. The food was quite good, and we had the opportunity to sample some honey wine. We were also treated to a demonstration of Czech folk dancing, which was quite impressive. Some of the adventurers also got to try their hand at folk dancing. After dinner, the coach took us back to the hotel so adventurers could get ready for a 7am bag pull in anticipation of our departure from Prague the next morning.
