Across the river

Today after starting the morning in a neat coffee shop with an upstairs level that looked out on the street, Marni and I spent most of the day on the opposite side of the river. The marathon was going on in the morning, but we didn't have any trouble crossing one of the bridges to Divokasarka, the big hilltop park on the opposite bank. It was a steep climb, but the hillside was covered with trees and cobblestone pathways and there were nice flower beds and trellises at the top. The top also has an observation tower that looks kind of like a mini Eiffel Tower, and we paid to go up to the top. The panoramic view was pretty spectacular, because the hill itself is so high. It was amazing to feel how strong the wind was when we were climbing the tower stairs!

After that we went back down the hill (being careful not to fall; it was steep!) and headed to the Czech Museum of Music, which was just at the bottom. It was the one museum we both agreed we wanted to do, and it was a great choice! There were only like five other people in the whole place besides us! It was really a low-key museum, but very cool, especially because of Prague being a music city. Basically it was just a bunch of old and unique musical instruments on display. We saw some regular instruments or earlier versions of them (claviers, violins, French horns, clarinets, etc.), and also some really bizarre and unusual instruments like crumhorns, hurdy-gurdies, and a horn called a serpent. (Look it up--it's a cool-looking and sounding instrument!) There were also some amazing variations on violins, violas, and cellos--huge violas with 6 strings that sounded like a viola-cello combo, "violas d'amour" with 12 or more strings, and tiny mini violins called kits. There were headphones and recordings in almost every room so you could listen to what the instruments sounded like. The one bummer was that they didn't have recordings of all the instruments, and there were no instruments that you could try yourself. My fingers were itching to pick up a violin or guitar, pluck harp strings, or skim over piano keys! 

After we finished with the museum, we walked up to the other hilltop with the castle and St. Vitus' Cathedral. There were lots of pretty little streets with fun shops and Czech-food restaurants. When we finally got to the hilltop, we sat down for a snack and then tried to go into the cathedral, only to realize that we had to buy tickets in another building. The top of the hill has a whole complex with the cathedral, the basilica, the castle, and a bunch of other structures. From the outside it was obvious that the cathedral was fully Gothic. We got our tickets and then went in. It was SO beautiful inside! This one definitely was on par with St. Marienkirche in Lübeck and St. Bavo's in Haarlem. It has a big rose window, the classic two-storied Gothic nave with the high, pointed arches, and lots of cool statues and side chapels with sarcophagi of people from the 12th century on. The most amazing thing was the stained glass! Each of the side windows had been done by a different artist because reconstruction and restorative work went on for several centuries and was only completed in the early 1900s. There were so many beautiful colors! Our absolute favorite was the window which we both recognized right away as the work of Alfons Mucha. We stood and just admired it for at least five minutes. It was really an incredible piece of design, with such rich colors. 

After we left the cathedral, we quickly popped into St. George's Basilica, a smaller Romanesque church just behind the cathedral, because the tickets we had bought allowed access to there also. It was much simpler, built out of tan-colored stone with a small nave and rounded arches, but cool nonetheless. It had a relic box with bones inside! You could see them all arranged behind the glass. Not sure whose bones they were, though--we didn't have the audio guide to tell us.

By then it was about 5 and the wind was chilly, so we went in search of soup. We found a cute little restaurant about halfway down the hill that was tucked back into a patio courtyard. The prices drew us in--they had a special on goulash soup in a bread bowl, which is a popular offering at lots of restaurants here and which we had been hoping to try. It was delicious! The goulash was really good--it's a beef and vegetable stew with mildly zesty red broth. 

Then we crossed back over Charles Bridge--it was beautiful in the late afternoon light--and headed back to our hostel (with a quick stop by the supermarket for some bread). We refilled our water bottles, put away the stuff in our backpacks that we didn't need, and then set out again to enjoy the evening. We took a five-minute detour to look at the Dancing Building, and then went back to Charles Bridge and sat down to draw for a while. It was really nice! The clouds made for a spectacular sunset. When we got too cold, we crossed the bridge back towards the castle and found a café with a bathroom and some patio heaters. Marni got a cappuccino and we drew there till it got dark. Then we came back to the hostel. 

Lots of hill climbing today! I'm tired, but it was a good one!