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Street Prophets Friday: Last Saturday (photo diary) [1]
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Date: 2023-03-24
The weather was pleasant enough for a day out and about in our fair city. The trip itself combined two items: three tickets to a concert that Mrs the Werelynx had given her mother for Christmas, and my Fabulous Mother-In-Law’s fairly recently expressed desire to walk through Letná Park. Starting off from her apartment we took the subway downtown and got off at Vltavská station where we began our walk.
We headed west and up to Strossmayer Square, the spires of Saint Anthony's church were visible from the stairs.
The square is ringed with beautiful buildings.
We walked under an overpass and up through Strossmayer Square to get to the main street leading up to Letná. About halfway up the street we stopped for lunch at a little restaurant that had been recommended to us by one of our friends. It didn't disappoint, and no, I didn’t drag out my camera and take pictures of my lunch— not that I didn’t think about it.
After lunch, we continued to climb the hill.
We turned off the main road and walked past the National Technical Museum
And into Letná Park.
Letná Park sits atop one of the many hills that ring Prague's city center. It's a large flat stretch of land that has lovely, tree-lined walkways along the bluff edge overlooking the river and the Old Town and Lesser quarters and grand, open, grassy areas where oversized events are sometimes held. Like when the Rolling Stones needed room for 80,000 people or a little political demonstration (that I attended) which was moved to Letná because Wenceslas Square was getting too small.
You know, I almost called this diary, Saturday in the Park.
But we were just passing through.
And yes, I’m a sucker for a good horn section.
Prague Castle's Saint Vitus Cathedral peeking above the wild plums.
Old Town and the Vltava River
A winding path down to the river— which we didn't take.
The now iconic Metronome which replaced the impossibly crass and enormous Stalin monument that was built here from 1950 to 1955 and was demolished in 1962.
We walked down the stairs near the Metronome all the way to the river and caught a tram to take us just one stop to the other bank.
Lots of touristy boats.
We then had a leisurely walk south along the paths and parks that line this portion of the river.
A large statue of Josef Mánes, one of my favorite Czech artists, is the dominant feature of this park along the side of ...
… The Rudolfinum, a building housing a large concert hall and a gallery.
Mid-afternoon, we attended a concert of classical music at The Rudolfinum.
Before the concert began
Included in the program was the world premier of a piece for piano and orchestra featuring Seong-Jin Cho, an acclaimed young pianist.
After a piece by Bartók, we were treated to the spectacle of watching the stage hands clear a space so that an enormous elevator could rise out of the center of the stage and deliver a grand piano.
That must be the super-stretch model
The concert was mostly fairly modern and thus slightly disharmonic in parts, but there was no arguing with the superb performances.
After the concert the late afternoon sun was getting low and lit up the tips of the buildings on the street.
The Rudolfinum seemed to glow.
We caught a tram back to Fabulous Mother=In=Law's place, saw her to her door and then headed back across town for home— and some Vietnamese take-away for dinner.
Thanks for stopping by.
This is an open thread.
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