Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Sunday - Our last day in Prague.

We had a very easy Sunday morning with the chruch bells of Prague chiming away around us! Elaine had a bit of a headache and, after discovering that Nanny had been carted off to hospital back in Australia, we took advantage of having the internet on tap again to ring a number of people back in Aus. Being Sunday evening back there we got most of them and enjoyed our chat while catching up on Mum's condition.

Around midday, guided by the internet and the young concierge, we tracked down a purveyor of genuine Czech garnets - one has to be wary of those cheap Nigerian imitations!! - so that Elaine could buy a ring. The shop was near the "Museum of Communism" which was on our list of things to see so we went there next.
This is a simple museum with a range of old artefacts from the various eras but the photographic displays (with descriptions in many languages) were excellent. Arranged in the sequence -Background; The Dream; The Reality (lots of subsections here); The Prague Spring; The Velvet Revolution; Post Communism it really gave us the chance to answer many of the questions that had arisen in our minds about Communism both here, in Prague, and in Budapest. Actually having the chance to understand how Communism seemed the best choice for people in these countries after WW2 and how the reality was so different from the dream was very good for us as was remembering clearly the events of 1968 and 1988 and putting the events and people into sequence. We thoroughly appreciated this museum and we most glad that we went there!

On the way to a recommended restaurant/bar for an early tea - anticipating a quiet night - we happened to wander past the National Theatre Area and discovered that there are several Opera Theatres in Prague and that there is at least one opera on every night!! The tickets are also only around $60 each for excellent seats so we bought tickets for "Don Giovanni" which started at 7.
Changing direction we had a quick meal, home for a shower and change, walked the short few blocks to the "Estates Theatre" where we thoroughly enjoyed and excellent performance. This theatre was a little smaller that the State Opera the previous evening but still had all the loggia boxes on the many levels - we were in the "Stalls" in the main hall area this time. It was a somewhat modern staging (for a brief moment during the overture we thought we had come to a ballet!) but was very well done and, of course, the music was divine!!

An amble home through the quietning streets with an ice cream and a "Prague special rolled doughnut thingy", including a peck on the cheek in the full moonlight on the Charles Bridge, before home to bed!!! Paris will have to lift its game!!! 

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