Prague: Feb 17 (Strahov Monastery)

Just wanted to say thanks to S from choir who posted a really nice comment a few days ago. Seeing "Die Moldau" in person was really awesome - so often you hear music without ever being able to see what inspired it. And thanks for following my blog! :-)


Visited the Strahov monastery today. I decided to walk through the park to get there. “It’ll be good exercise,” I thought, “and I can probably skirt around that enormous hill.” Well…45 minutes later, I was there…but not after climbing straight up the hill. Carrying all my things. However, I got an unparalleled glimpse of the city from above…:-D


(Some of the pictures are a bit dark, but if you click on them, you can enlarge them and get a better view.)

Walking through the park (after the hill! ;-) Click to enlarge.

Someone on the path was nice enough to take a photo for me.

The city of Prague.

The Strahov Monastery.

Passing through the gate.

The library!!! :-)

 After taking about a million shots of the city and the monastery from the outside, it was time to tour the library. J Anyone who knows me well has probably picked up on the fact that I’m rather taken with medieval manuscripts. This probably has something to do with the fact that I’m slightly obsessed with calligraphy…I don’t really want to know how much I’ve spent to date on pens and inks. ;-) Anyway, they had some original manuscripts on display AND they allowed non-flash photography! Other highlights were the cabinets of curiosities and the library rooms themselves, which we could look into from the hall.

One of the manuscripts.

Close-up.

The library.

This was really cool. Each book is a guide to a particular tree. Guess what the spine is made of? The bark from the tree the book is about! You can still see the lichen...:-)

I had never seen this before -
a music score with a drawing of the
monastery itself in the first letter!

One of the cabinets of curiosities.

Shells.

Afterwards, I visited the monastery’s brewery, where they make their own beer! It’s really delicious! I also had a sausage and mustard while I worked on my paper (miraculously, they had a power outlet right beside my table…). It was very nice to stay there, away from the cold, until I met up with E, P, Tiny, and P’s mother, who came to meet me later that night.

Ornamental door.

Gate looking outwards.

I took WAY too many photos. :-)

Mass was being held here later that evening.

FOOOOOOOD!!! (Are you surprised? ;-)

The bad news was that rest of the crew had a rather challenging trip getting to Prague. It’s a difficult city to navigate, so they were pretty hungry by the time we met up. The good news was that we went to a great restaurant where we tried traditional Czech cuisine. I got beef svíčková (beef in cream sauce with cranberries and dumplings), which was really awesome. The great part about dining out with friends is that you get a chance to sample everything! J

Monastery by night.

Tiny and E!

P & his mom!

Another food pic. My supper. :-)