Puti's and Keiko's journey to Prague and Vienna
APRIL 04: PRAGUE
National Museum
We bought the train tickets for Vienna one day in advance from the main railway station. The station was a curious combidation of the old, already deteriorating station building and the new building that had been built underneath it, partially underground. We got only one ticket on which the fare of both of us was marked.
Our visit to the National Museum was not too lucky: the main building was closed for a long maintenance project, and the side building had some kind of smallish exhibition of science history; good for me but perhaps not so satisfying for people hungry for art. Plenty of space was devoted for the Czech scientist Jan Purkyně (also spelled Purkinje) and his scientific findings.
We managed to find one painting, too.
Strolling
We wandered along the Václav Plaza and viewed the style of the buildings. In a mall we found a cafeteria combined with a chocolate shop and had tea there. Not too far from the place there was the Charles Square (Karlovo náměstí) towards which we continued. On our way we saw people erecting an Easter pole.
St. Ignác Church
St. Cyril and Methodius Orthodox Cathedral
This church should not be confused with the Roman Catholic church of nearly same name.
We visited the underground crypt of this church. It was a memorial of Czech paratroopers who defended themselves in the crypt until Nazis managed to break in and kill them. The statues are those of the dead Czech soldiers.
The Dancing House
The building is in office use and therefore not open for tourists to photograph inside.
National Theatre
In the yard of the National Theatre there is a monument to honor Václav Havel, the highly popular ex-president of Czech, and also the last president of Czechoslovakia. The monument is heart-shaped when viewed from above, and it is made of recycled candles.
