While you all are probably caught up in the marketing and fundraising going on during these last couple weeks before the general election, we are pondering how it all went down a thousand years ago.
If there is anything thing to praise organized religion for, it’s that they really know how to raise a bunch of money, and they really know how to market their beliefs to the little people — hence allowing them to raise more money. Smart. Real smart. We’ve seen evidence of their success in over 10 counties now, and today we saw yet another impressive representation of their ability for them to finance and build some really amazing structures.
St. Vitus Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral located within Prague Castle that was first built in the year 925.
It has undergone several upgrades since then as has the castle itself. Actually the castle as a whole is sort of ugly in my opinion. From the outside it looks pretty impressive…
…but inside the castle walls it’s a giant hodgepodge of new…
…and old developments all mashed together with no thought whatsoever given to continuity. Here you can see the cathedral in the background with a much more modern building in the foreground, and then some modern art version of an obelisk off to the right. Bleh.
You can still look past the eyesores however and appreciate the beauty of the ancient architectural accomplishments.
As well as the meticulous stained glass craftsmanship that went into the creation of the colorful windows.
It’s not hard to imagine how 1,000 years ago, people could so easily be manipulated into believing there was a higher power, and the church was a direct link to that higher power. I mean for goodness sake, just look at that building! No being of this earth could possibly design this cathedral! Right? I can’t say I really blame the peasants of the day for falling for the scam. Here, take my pence too.
Heck the gods even had the foresight to predict The Empire Strikes Back and foreshadowed it’s creation with this mid evil replica of Han Solo frozen in carbonite.
Damn they’re good!
And if that doesn’t convince you… well then, you just get stabbed and beaten into submission before you start to believe.
On to happier thoughts and images…
Autumn is in full swing and the colors throughout the city are eye-popping!
It’s starting to get cold and gloomy at night now.
Time to start planning our escape to Asia where we can wear shorts again. It’s hard to believe we’ve already been in Europe for 3 months now, and within a couple weeks we’ll be in Hong Kong! That’s just crazy talk!
Today’s source of entertainment was a journey back in time to the days of communism in Czechoslovakia.
And what better place to experience what is was like than the Museum of Communism. You know the one… it’s the one located next to the casino, right behind McDonalds. Ya, that communist museum. 🙂
Next to some of the statues and paintings of Marx, Lenin and Stalin…
…were some recreations of environments at the time the communist party was in power. Like this grocery store with a total of 2 kinds of canned food to choose from…
…complete with the advertisement for Kofola, the commie version of cola…
Or this replica of the Berlin Wall
The most disturbing part of the musuem was the recreation of the school house where the description on the wall explained how the children were taught from a very young age how to hate people that had great wealth or ventured outside the norm.
Ahhh, there’s nothing like a good ol’ fashion brain washing to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside!
Of particular interest was that 20 years into the Communist regime the Czech government begin to ease restrictions on freedom of press, art, and speech. This did not please the Soviets, and led to the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, which was designed to crush the liberalizing reforms. Any sign of disapproval of the regime was persecuted by secret police and opposition moved underground or became limited to isolate acts of protest, such as the suicide of Jan Palach, student of Charles University, who lit himself on fire, and burned to death on Prague’s Wenceslas Square in 1969.
Arriving in the Czech Republic was a bit of an adventure (isn’t it always??). We had mapped out our route from the train station to the hostel and according to Google Maps it was less than a kilometer away. Easy. We failed to inform Google however which of the 3 train stations we would be arriving at. So what should have been a short walk, ended up being a disorienting treasure hunt looking at the sides of buildings for street signs.
Looks like we weren’t the only ones looking for a sign.
Eventually we found a tram stop and were able to point ourselves in the right direction towards the hostel. At the hostel we picked up a map and from there on, navigating was a non-issue.
Today we navigated our way through the city center towards the famous 15th century Charles Bridge.
Along the way we encountered numerous stores selling marionettes…
…along with theaters that were advertising puppet shows. Sort of odd, but ok. By far the most impressive store on the ave was this mega-mart-o-matryoshkas.
There was a matryoshka for just about every character known (and unknown) to mankind. From The Simpsons to The Chicago Bulls. You name it. They got it.
After marching across the bridge past some of the statues…
…and street performers…
…we walked up to the bell tower…
…of St. Nicholas Church…
…to take in an amazing view of the city of Prague!
After taking it all in, things started to get a little strange. First of all as we crossed back over the bridge, there was a giant inflatable purple bunny floating down the river past the National Theatre.
The cheshire cat must not be far away.
We didn’t find the cat or a caterpillar, but we did find Vanity, Greed, Death, an infidel and The Apostles all hanging out at the Astronomical Clock.
We hung around until 6pm to watch the animitronic contraption unfold into it’s wild circus of dance.
And if things couldn’t get any more bizarre… on the way back to the metro we heard (and felt) the defening bass of that oh-so-annoying euro house music down a cooridor. Not being ones to ignore our curiosity, we followed the sounds to see where all that noise was coming from. As we drew nearer, we saw some flashing strobe lights, and some local youths dressed in the oddest apparel.
We couldn’t quite figure it out, so we walked along further past colorful vans. Each one more colorful and odd than the one before it…
All of them were just lined up on the street next to old town square. Each van with it’s own unique decorations. And each van with it’s own crowd of about 25 youths trailing behind it. And each van blaring it’s own unique mix of drum-and-bass or other various forms of electronica. The music was so loud I could barely hear myself think. But I was able to find someone that could hear me…
…so I asked him what all the hubub was about. He explained that it was a protest against the goverment for their privacy violation policies involving RFID chips, CCTV cameras, and other various big brother like activites. Now that’s something I can get behind! So I strapped on a pair of stilts and quickly whipped up a head-mounted CCTV cameara out of some cardboard I found in a nearby dumpster and joined the march.
Apparently the way to protest something in Prague is to stand so close to thumping woofers that your heart skips a beat. YEAH!! That’ll show em!
We’ve seen a lot of treasures on this trip so far. From the Crowned Jewels in Scotland, to the treasury in the basement of the Cathedral of Seville, we have seen some serious bling. But nothing prepared us for what we saw today at The Imperial Treasury here in Vienna. The treasury is accessible through the Swiss Courtyard of the Hofburg Palace where we were only a few days earlier. There are over 1,000 items on display from the Holy Roman Empire and the Austrian Empire.
Behind the vault doors…
…are some of most impressive pieces of royal regalia I’ve ever laid eyes on.
Like this extremely detailed embroidered crest.
And these royal robes that are…
…well… fit for a king!
The Imperial Crown of Austria.
A whopping 492-carat Aquamarine!
Or a super-whopping 2860-carat Colombian Emerald!!!
gahh!
They even have a “Unicorn” sword
(actually its from a narwhal, but who’s counting?)
And the Holy Lance that pierced Jesus’s rib cage…
and this agate bowl that held his blood, that some even regard as The Holy Grail!!
Beat THAT Fort Knox!! You ain’t got nuthin’ on Vienna!
Yesterday we tackled most if the inner ring of Vienna, so today was dedicated to seeing some of the sites outside of the ring. Bianca and friends live right down the street from Schönbrunn Palace and it’s literally a 5 minute walk to this UNESCO World Heritage Site. Location, location, location!
We first took a tour of some of the exquisite rooms inside, including a music room where a young Mozart performed for the emperor of the time. We weren’t allowed to take photos indoors, so you’ll have to use your imagination. Just close your eyes and imagine the most elaborately detailed and well furnished palace. Yeah, it was kinda like that… only better. Really, it’s a must see. We only took the “Imperial Tour” which covers about 30 rooms with a self guided audio tour. If I were to go back I’d probably select one of the other tour options to see more.
Once we finished with the tour inside, we went outside…
…to explore the backyard.
I’m not sure if you can even call it a yard as it covers an area larger than a small city at 500+ acres! I thank my lucky charms I wasn’t the son of Emperor Leopold I. Mowing that lawn would have taken a lifetime!
With so much land at the royal famines disposal, they had to find things to occupy the grounds. Not one to be outdone by the entire city of Madrid, the emperor had numerous fountains installed.
In one direction you will find perfectly trimmed trees leading the way towards the Obelisk Fountain…
In another is the Round Pool.
And in the Round Pool is a perfect living replica of a duck decoy!
The obelisk sits atop a giant spitting mouth spewing water.
(note: giant spitting mouth is pictured on the left).
Continuing along the path to the right is of course, yet another fountain. This one is the Roman Ruin Fountain.
…and to the right of that fountain is the Neptune Fountain.
And behind the Neptune Fountain is a large hill that lead up to The Gloriette…
…which of course must have it’s own fountain of sorts.
Those royal families really know how to live it up! Just check out the view of the palace from atop the hill where The Gloriette sits, overlooking all of Vienna.
I don’t know if you’ve ever been a member of a royal family, but if there is one thing they teach you in kingdom class, it’s that you simply can not have a palace without it’s own zoo with pandas.
I mean come on! How can you call yourself a king if you don’t have pandas running around in your backyard? Seriously!
When you have this much land, and you start to run out of things to do with it, you are forced to get a little creative. And that’s when it dawns on you… I need a labyrinth of shrubbery!
Ha! I bet the king of Switzerland doesn’t have one of those!
Nor does he have a childrens sweatshop playground for the little royal rug rats.
I tell ya, this whole “keeping up with the Henry’s” thing has just gotten out of hand. It’s exhausting and it’s making me hungry. How about some Sri Lankan cuisine?
Eaten the traditional way… sans forks. Just devouring it like savages, using our meat paws to paw meat (and rice).
It’s not easy, but it’s fun. Almost as much fun as sipping on some sturm at a winery up in the hills of Vienna with our friends…
…and learning some new Austrian vocabulary.
We spent so much time trying to say the word “knopf” but our mouths just aren’t designed to say it. We are defective. It’s really quite difficult. Try it yourself. It sounds like you are saying “knopf” but the N is replaced with the popping sound you make when your tongue snaps off the roof of your mouth. And don’t forget to include the K sound at the beginning of the word too. Make sense? No? Oh heck, just forget it! I can’t describe it. Just watch and listen to these two sister do it.
