More exploring... Castle Pt.2, Mucha, Classical concert

    In the morning we went to get the most out of our two-day Prague Castle pass. We started out by walking through the gardens behind the castle. Then we went to some interiors of the castle that we hadn’t seen yesterday, including the Royal Palace, which is HUGE. Lots of Gothic architecture. We saw the Riders’ Staircase, where guys on horses could enter a hall, to fight, I assume. We also saw where they threw some Catholic dudes out a window, which apparently started the Thirty Years’ War.

    When we had taken in all we could of the castle, we went back across the river to Wenceslas Square and the shopping areas around there. The Square is more recently famous for the gathering for the end of the Communist movement in 1989, but also many other demonstrations and protests. There is a big street for shopping nearby in which we attempted to take advantage of the wonderful exchange rate (at this point in time, probably one of the few countries that actually favors the American dollar... stupid bad economy back home...), but after awhile, as usual, were exhausted from all the sight seeing, and opted for cheap crepes and sandwiches by the square and a good sitting instead.

    Something really special about today was going to the Mucha museum (after resting, of course). Alfons Mucha was the leading artist in the Art Nouveau movement. Getting to see so much of his work, his journals, and so many originals (since he was born in and painted out of Prague) was really cool. What made it even better was being there with Emily, who, again, was an art history major. She explained to us what instigated the movement of Art Nouveau, why it was important, and why it was so popular. Seeing original posters for performances of Sarah Bernhardt (very much beloved by the Prague community) was especially exciting for me. It really turned me onto the style, so much so that I was possessed to buy about 20 prints and postcards. At least the exchange rate was good...

    This evening I lured Emily and Jenn to go with me to another artistic adventure-- a classical music concert. Prague has such deep roots in classical music and composers, so I wanted to see how its citizens paid respect to the art form. The performance was in the Municipal House, which is an absolutely gorgeous building (and right down the street from our hostel!). The whole gig was slightly touristy for my taste, but everything sounded beautiful and resonated in such a different way in such a setting.

    I must also note that on the way to the performance, since we hadn’t the time to eat dinner, we got some pizza-by-the-slice near our hostel. I was not too excited about this, since I hadn’t been eating very healthy lately as it was, but it was actually pretty good, AND, let me tell you, for a very large slice ended up costing LESS THAN A DOLLAR in American money. Gotta love Prague. :)