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| The National Theatre is something the Czechs are proud of. |
As you look around from the Charles Bridge, the gleaming Golden roof of a building catches your attention. The roof gleams even more when it is nice and sunny. It looks spectacular at night.
It looks quite near but it took us a good 20 minutes to reach there when we walked down to it. The building is The National Theatre of Prague and I was told that it was constructed in late 19th century with most of the contributions from Public. It was supposed to be a symbol of Czech national revival at that time and today it is the most important cultural symbol of Praha (Prague). There was no show running at the time of our visit but concerts, drama , Opera and Ballet are regularly held here. The story is that just days before the Theater was scheduled to open in 1881, it was completely gutted by fire. But the Czechs collected money in 6 weeks and rebuilt the entire Theater in 2 years and it opened with great fanfare in 1883.
The Astronomical Clock
It was around 11.45 PM when we reached the Old Town Square. We were pretty stunned to see hundreds of people gathered together and looking up at what is known as the Astronomical Clock. We didn't know what was happening so we also stood along with the crowd.
As the time turned 12, a lot of things started happening above the dial of the clock. The dial also has significance and meaning but I will let that pass. The wooden figures of Apostles appeared from inside and many of the sculptures begin to move at the same time. The golden cockerel crows and the clock chimes the hour. This happens each hour but at 12'O Clock it happens 12 times ! With the show over, the crowd dissipates and involves itself into many activities which are happening at the square. I meet up with Kunaal and we pick up a Beer each and move on to board the Hop On & Hop Off Bus for a city trip.
Hopped On but did not Hop off
I think we just wasted our money by taking this trip. Prague is not a very large city and most of it is walkable. Secondly, if you do a bit of study, you can manage with their efficient tram system which is quite affordable. You could buy a full day pass for the tram and use it all over the city. There were around 8 stops and as we had boarded the bus quite late, we did not get off at any stop. It is another matter that we got a fair idea of places so in the next few days we walked to those places or rode the tram. As the bus took us to some of the high points of the city, I managed to get a nice picture of the city from the top.
Once this trip was over we trooped back towards the square for a delayed but well deserved lunch.
At the Old Town you would think that Tyn Church and Astronomical clock are all that is there to see . Ask the lovers of architecture and they will tell you that they could spend days together admiring and studying the buildings and houses around the square. Houses such as 'At the Blue Goose', 'At the Golden Angel' , 'At the stone table', 'Storch House', Kinsky Palace' etc etc. Buildings of different periods and different eras co-exist here. For us ordinary tourists, they were a visual delight but for the experts - each building was a gem.
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| A lot is happening all the time at the Square to entertain the tourists. But it is the buildings and architecture which takes your breath away. |
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| Our kids also participated in all activities at the square |
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| Street food at the square |
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| These foods are very popular |
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| Tyn Church is a Gothic Church. |
Was this Church an inspiration for castle in Disney's Sleeping Beauty ? Difficult to say but this church again is a landmark of the city and it is lit up beautifully at night. It is a Gothic Church with Baroque interior. You do get overawed by this superb structure.
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Tyn Church lit up at night.
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Each building is classy
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Racism Exists
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| Mattoni- A restaurant only for fair skinned ! |
Our plans for lunch at a prominent restaurant at the Old Town Square were hit as we were not allowed to take a seat. A lame excuse was given that the restaurant was only for hotel guests. It was a little later when an African woman realised that she was being discriminated against as everyone else but dark skinned people were being allowed by the restaurant to enter, she became hysterical. When Jyoti confronted the owner and asked him about this discrimination his reply was : "This is my place and I will do what I please !"
Such incidents leave a bad taste in mouth. But we consider it as an exception as at no other place did we feel discriminated against.
We visited Old Town square almost each day. But other parts of the city like Winceslas Square, Lesser Town and the Castle were not ignored. Will write about them in the concluding part soon..................
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