The south gardens

I like gardens. A lot. So this morning, our last weekend before we leave, Rich and I trekked on out to the castle - again! We headed directly to the south gardens. What a day! The sunshine was bright and the temperature very mild. Lovely. Really, really. So many gardens. So little time.

All you get is the brochure

Our friends invited us to come with them to a party so we did. It was on an estate our hosts rennovated and were continuing to rennovate. They invite artists to stay in this delightful setting and then ask that in return the artists perform. And they did.

So five musicians picked their favorite music to play and performed for a delighted audience of 15-20 people. They played Mozart and Tchaikovsky but they also played some Icelandic classical rap(!) and other very fun and impressive pieces.

And as you will notice from the picture, I forgot to bring my camera :-(

Sgraffito

Near Prague castle is a palace, among many. It is a bit above the castle and is decorated with sgraffito. Many buildings are painted convincingly to look like sgraffito, but this one actually is a scratched or carved design. It is crisp and very pleasing to see.

Blue Blooms

Someone had fun with this door in Kutna Hora. Heck, maybe someone fun had fun with this door. Maybe it tickles them to look out their windows and find tourists pausing for a peek and a snap. If I lived in a heavily touristed town I would be tempted to create a trap for tourists! Touristing behavior would be an interesting study.

No studying for me although I do hope to tourist more this (my last) weekend because my week has been too busy to take photos. Our time here is waning and my workload is waxing. I'd say that is poorly designed time except that I designed none of it and am abivalent about both sides of it!

Petrin Hill

I needed a good solid walk in peaceful surroundings. I love the green. I'd been to Petrin Hill before, but always close to the castle. This time I went on the other side. WOW. There was some museum at the bottom of the hill and all the paths around it and up the hill were cobblestone! There were lovely benches, a waterfall and even sculpture in a pond.

I chose the steepest route up and eventually wound my way around to the funicular to ride down. It was cloudly but it didn't rain on me, thankfully. Then Rich met me for lunch on Ujezd. I had quite an appetite!

Trains

Trains are fun. We've taken a few different kinds whilst in Prague. When we traveled to Kutna Hora we took a big train to the outskirts of the town and then a baby train shuttled us to the center (picture on left). They had roses blooming at the train station! Returning home we got stuck on the platform in Kolin. We had to switch trains and then the train was very late. And yet, there right on the platform was a window box with flowers. I'm in love with the love of beauty.

Looking Down

Puddles are so much free fun. You can jump sideways into them and splash all over without getting wet yourself and sometimes you can see beautiful things in them. Sometimes you can do both!

Every town we visit there are decorative sidewalks promenading somewhere. There are all sorts of patterns around Prague. This particular sidewalk is in Kutna Hora around a square.