Melissa's Amusings: Germany Vacation

After having the castle/St.Vitus cathedral tower over us all morning, we get to see it up close in the afternoon. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, this UNESCO World heritage Site is THE largest coherent castle complex. This castle dates back to around 880. We pause at the gate for some pictures.

The castle guards are very focused and seem oblivious to the multitude of tourists posing alongside them, as if they were props for a portrait.

Then quickly pass through the 2nd courtyard.

A 1686 Baroque fountain and a well with a Baroque wrought iron cover are in the center of the courtyard.

We go through the passageway to get to the third courtyard, which is the 'center' of the castle. The magnificent sight of St. Vitus Cathedral greets us as we enter.

St. Vitus is Prague's largest and most important Church. This is the site of Czech kings and queens coronations and the remains of patron saints, sovereigns,noblemen, and archbishops are interred here.

Using the people as a point of reference, the cathedral is immense!!

I almost got a picture of it from top to bottom :-)

I think I am backed up against a courtyard wall and the camera (and my face) is just inches from the ground to get this angle.

After taking in how huge it is, I then am more impressed on how intricate the stonework/carvings are and how many!

I like the figures that stick out perpendicular from the corners.

Although, I think I prefer the creature type over these kind of creepy looking people.

Rose window from the outside...I wonder who the 2 guys are at the bottom of the circle.

Each little section is its own piece of art.

The bronze doors on the western side of the cathedral ( and is now the visitors entrance) have reliefs of scenes from the history of the castle, cathedral, and legends about St. Wenceslas and St. Adalbert.

The Golden Portal was the original entrance and has a restored 1370 venetian glass mosaic, depicting "The Last Judgement" over the archway.

It seems to me that just the exterior of the building is a 'gallery' of masterpieces...and then we go inside.

The nave definitely had an extreme 'WOW' effect. The sound of cameras 'clicking away' did not stop from the time we entered until we left.

I wonder if Geoffrey actually heard what the tour guide was saying...I know that I didn't.

Between the height of the nave and the smooth stonework of the arches..

to the statues, ceiling pattern, and almost floor to ceiling stained glass windows; I could have spent the whole 10-15 minutes (that we spent in this church) right here just to take it all in.

Instead we keep on going. Along the way I was able to get some pictures of the stained glass windows, which are considered an important artistic masterpiece of the church. Some are a bit out of focus, but I decided the colors and the patterns were too beautiful to leave them out.

Rose window from the inside

Many of the windows are works of prominent Czech artists. In articles that I have recently read, they say to especially look at the third window on the left because it was done by Alfons Mucha, who is one of the country's most famous artist. As it so happens, I luckily did take a picture of it and it is probably the best/clearest one I took :-)

Alfons Mucha's stained glass window- St. Wenceslas as a boy with his grandmother, St. Ludmila are in the center.

wayyyy too fuzzy!

Jim took this one...mine did not turn out near this well!

There are 21 chapels, each with their own unique ambiance.

At the Royal Oratory, a statue of a miner from Kutna Hora is on the pillar.

I am not sure what the significance of or why a miner ...sometimes the guidebooks leave more questions than information:-(

This elaborate tombstone with two tons of silver belongs to St. John of Nepomuk.

The rest of the pictures of the interior are just some of the ones that I liked :-)

music balcony

makes me want to try chip wood carving

A 'simple beauty' area

The tour guide (holding yellow umbrella) had an odd habit of fixating on one person while talking. She would stare very intensely at you and would not break the gaze the whole time she was talking. That was a very uncomfortable feeling.

Jim got caught and is now trying to figure out how to politely break the 'attention stare'.

Looks like Geoffrey's method of avoiding eye contact was to stare off in the distance...

...and mine was to have a camera constantly in use :-)

We leave the Cathedral and have a look at the backside along with the ornate buttresses.

We turn around and head over to St. George Basilica, which is Prague's oldest Romanesque structure. Although, the facade is from the early Baroque period.

Nowadays , the building is used for concerts.

Next time we are in Prague, it would be very enjoyable to attend concerts in all the beautiful venues we have been seeing!

The Romanesque interior has a more simple and subtle beauty to it compared to St. Vitus.The acoustics are supposed to be awesome and a concert here would definitely be a worthwhile experience.

We saw some very old frescoes.

I really like the fancy iron work.

We peeked into St. Ludmila's Chapel,

We had a quick look down in the crypt.

'Brigita'- a 16th century stone statue of a dead and decaying girl--a symbol of impermanence.

A chapel in the Basilica.

We exit out another door, which also has fancy carvings that is worth a look up .

A Renaissance tympanum of St. George's fight with the dragon.

The back view of the Basilica

In the 12th century the two towers were added on. The smaller one to the right was named 'Eve' and the larger one on the left 'Adam'.

On we go, following our tour guide ...

through the turnstiles...

Turnstiles seem a bit out of place here

to Golden Lane. This row of small dwellings were where the castle servants lived.

The people must have been shorter back then.

This is the inside of one.

The blue house, no. 22, was occupied by Franz Kafka sometime during 1916-1917. The houses were occupied until WWII.

Now most of them are shops.

We went to the upstairs area where there were displays. The boys spent more time looking at the torture,

armor,

and weaponry/tools;

Geoffrey's 'American Gothic' look

while I liked the 'period' clothing.

Looks like what Marie Antoinette would wear

Back outside we did a quick look at the houses,

I am wondering who's job it is to water the plants on the roof.

before going to the overlook.

If all 3 of them are taking a picture, it must be a very good view!!

A very picturesque scene of Charles Bridge/Old Town Bridge Tower and the Historic center of Prague could be seen from here.

It is fun to be able to recognize the different buildings that we had seen this morning from a bird's eye view.

After being on our own at Golden Lane, our meeting spot was the bronze naked boy statue. We got there in time to hear a different tour guide explain that the statue was supposed to represent 'hope' from the Country's youth.It was also mentioned that if you rub his penis, many years of good sex will be had. Looking at how shiny it is, many people are hoping it will be true :-)