An altogether quieter Boxing Day.
Instead of turning left outside the hotel, today we decided to turn right, and just follow our noses. We ended up seeing a bit more of what we assumed to be ‘typical’ Czech life, as well as some pretty amazing stuff – like this broadcasting tower covered with babies.
It turned out to have a cafe and observation decks, so of course we went up to have a look – and as a result, managed to see pretty much all of Prague in one go.
Coffee and biscuits in the cafe with a view rounded off a very satisfying morning stroll, with some very cool sights so we headed back to the hotel for a bit of a relax. I paused on the way back to take some photos of graffiti.
It’s not Berlin or anything, but there’s some pretty cool stuff if you go looking for it (photos link to larger versions on Flickr):
Kelly and Bobbie decided to go hit the shopping malls, which neither Jake nor I were terribly interested in. I mean… it’s not as if we live in a city with the largest shopping mall in Europe or anything.
I had a decent (and long overdue) nap and Jake headed off to explore the old town, where he found a couple of decent bookshops, alongside all those shops that sell glassware, painted eggs, Russian dolls and marionettes.
And then it was off to Smetana Hall at Municipal House, where we were to catch a performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, played by the Prague Vivaldi Orchestra.
The concert featured traditional baroque instruments, one of which we couldn’t identify other than being some sort of a mandolinish lute thing, which was actually unsatisfyingly quiet – but the concert was great.
It started off with Händel’s Fireworks, and then went straight into the Four Seasons. The encore was a short piece by Bach (that I missed the name of) and the acoustics were beautiful. A really nice thing to go and do – and I’m glad we made the effort.
We rounded the evening off with a bite to eat and a drink or two at a couple of Prague’s finer late night establishments.
We tried hot Absinth (without an ‘e’ in the Czech Republic, apparently) – which was just a measure of Absinth, topped up with boiling water from the kettle. Nice enough – and not the hallucenogenic, bohemian peril I’d been led to expect.
We also had a Becherovka and then an espresso to round the night off, while Bobbie and Kelly had a Baileys latte.
So… another late one, but we have nothing on the agenda for tomorrow, other than a stroll to find Wenceslas Square – which is the only thing we haven’t had a decent look at yet – so I think we can take it pretty easy again.
It’s not as cold as we thought it would be, and all signs of snow have disappeared. It’s really been a lovely holiday so far.
Right now:
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