theDIBB - It's Czech, mate: Day 3 Squares, Wildlife, and Violins

Day 3 Squares, Wildlife, and Violins

A better night's sleep was had and I didn't spend time in the night having a huge coughing fit, so that was a bonus. We convened again for breakfast and were once again impressed with the spread, filling our boots with all kinds of breakfast goodies. There was an incident with the coffee machine when I tried to add a little more hot water to my coffee. I wasn't expecting it to dispense nearly a whole cup full and had to let most of it drain away while standing there and looking embarrassed. Felt even more red-faced when the rest of the family pointed out the HUGE stop button that I could have pressed. :blush::blush::blush:

Once everyone was ready (spoiler alert, that took longer than expected), we set off to walk to Wenceslas Square. We headed down the river and across a different bridge this time. On the way we had to take a photo of Paul next to this poster.

This is NOT because of any special interest in Pole dancing. Rather, it is our nickname for him since a server in Wendy's near Cape Cod failed to understand his accent and recorded his name as Pole, much to our hilarity.

There were lovely views across the river in the morning sunshine.

And we saw the famous Dancing House.

Wenceslas Square is mainly known for protests, including student Jan Palach setting himself on fire in 1969 to protest at the Soviet Invasion the year before. There is a memorial to him in the pavement outside the National Museum.

There is a large statue of Wenceslas on a horse at one end and there were a few Easter Market stalls but to be honest, not much else. So I took a terrible photo of the statue as the sun was in the wrong place for it and we headed off for Old Town Square.

It wasn't a long walk and we were soon there. Again the Easter Markets were on but this time there were a lot more stalls. Unfortunately, it was Paul's turn to feel a bit under the weather and he was getting pretty tired with walking. Also, the square was very busy and led to a combination of his least favourite things - crowds of people and stalls selling tat (in his opinion anyway!).

Fortunately he had his lovely sunglasses so we found him a bench to sit on and enjoy the sun and the kids and me had a potter around the market. I was getting tempted to buy some painted wooden eggs at this point but my family very sensibly asked me what I was going to do with them and when I had no answer, the purchase was forbidden. And rightly so to be honest.

There is a statue commemorating Jan Hus who was burned at the stake for heresy/disagreeing with the dominant church. He got an apology from the Pope centuries later but it really was a bit too late for that. Hus also believed in women's rights, so respect to him.

There was a platform which gave great views over the crowds. I'm not sure if it is a permanent thing or just there for the markets?

After this we went to collect Paul, ready to watch the Astronomical Clock do its thing. It is the oldest such clock that still functions and is quite a feat of Medieval engineering. As the clock strikes the hour, the various figures move and there is a parade of Apostles appearing in the windows.

We waited with the crowds and quite enjoyed the performance. Could have done without the crowd of football fans chanting as the clock struck the hour as it really did take away from the whole thing. Slavia Prague were playing Feyenoord in the Europa League later on that night and there were a lot of fans around.

Getting away from the crowds, we headed for the Church at one end of the Square, Our Lady before Tyn which is a great piece of Gothic architecture. It took us a while to find the entrance :blush: but we did have a nice wander around it once we did.

The main highlight was the tomb of Tycho Brahe, Danish astronomer and Absolute Lad. As well making very accurate observations even without a telescope, he lost part of his nose in a duel with another student over who was the best mathematician. Obviously he would have looked quite strange with only half a nose, so he had a prosthetic made out of metal because that looked much more normal and nobody would have noticed . . . He also owned a pet moose which unfortunately got so drunk at a party that it fell down the stairs and died.

After this we carried on walking and found ourselves outside the Rudolfinum Concert Hall where there is a statue of composer Dvorak.

We were pretty hungry by this time, so found another branch of the Baguetterie Boulevard and had more delicious sandwiches.

Paul tried to make a case for crossing back over the river via a different bridge but we had all bonded with Charles Bridge and wanted to hang out with St Vitus again, so he was overruled. And joyously, the Wok Man was there again, playing tuneful melodies on his Wok so Paul could listen to him.

As we had agreed that the bar we went to yesterday was not great, we went with Paul's suggestion to get some beers and drink them by the river instead. So we got some drinks and headed for a little island in the middle of the river to sit in the sunshine.

It was really lovely and we sat for ages watching folks go by in boats.

Big respect to the woman who was sitting back in a giant swan and enjoying a beer while her kids did the pedalling. Top parenting right there.

We also saw one of the local coypu who live near the Charles Bridge. They are a bit like beavers but without the flat tails and are very cute.

After a brief snooze, we packed up and headed back to the hotel so Paul could have a proper rest. After a Dad nap, we headed to Petrin hill to have another beer and some snacks. Hannah did not decant any wine and just brought the bottle then proceeded to swig from it in the park, much to our horror. She just laughed at us, pointing out that students don't dirty glasses if they don't need to and we had to concede that she had a point and also, we were drinking beer straight from the cans so what was the difference?

I realise this report make us sound like a bunch of tramps just drinking tinnies in parks but to be fair, there are plenty of reports that feature numerous cocktails so it isn't really any different!

We did have some crisps as well and there was a hilariously naughty dog who kept bounding over as soon as we so much as rustled the pack. He was just being a bit of a chancer and his owner was very apologetic but we did end up waiting until he was distracted before we passed them around again.

It was nice just sitting in the sun and laughing together, one of the lovely things about a holiday, especially with the kids at Uni now. We don't get as much family time as we used to so we really appreciate it when we do.

After this, it was time to get changed for the evening as we had concert tickets. We headed for a restaurant near the hotel to eat quite early and had a lovely Czech meal at Stara Praha with some great service. It was mostly meat and dumplings, with salmon for Hannah and filled us up nicely.

Then we walked to Municipal House where the concert was being held.

The concert itself was in Smetana Hall which is a fantastic Art Nouveau concert hall.

The concert was Prague Chamber Orchestra performing Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Pachelbel's Canon, Brahms Hungarian Dances, and Sarasate's Gypsy Opus. I know some classical music fans might consider this a bit populist and for tourists, but to be honest, these pieces are all popular because they are great pieces of music. As a violin student it was wonderful to watch professional musicians play with such skill and joy.

(I say "violin student" - I've been learning for about 3 years and good lord is it a difficult instrument to play!)

The tickets were pretty cheap for the back rows and these were full, with far fewer people sat nearer the front. But I had figured that with great acoustics, you would enjoy the sound wherever you sat. Paul may have snoozed a little during the quieter bits but to be fair, he'd been on the go all day while not feeling 100% so we'll forgive him. And I only coughed a couple of times, so all was good.

We all really enjoyed it and had a relaxing walk back to the hotel, seeing Prague all lit up.

It is such a beautiful city.

We called to a real ale bar to give Paul a treat being as he had sat through the cocktails the night before and he enjoyed trying the local craft beer.

Then it was off to bed and the news in French after another really full day.