Monday, March 31, 2008

Final Day in Prague


This is the main entrance ti the Prague Castle

Note the huge statue on the left with a man about to put a sword into a man while his big buddy on the right bludgeons another man to death. What better tone to set for visiting dignitaries back in the day!

St. Vitus Cathedral as seen from the Jewish Quarter across the Vltava River

I love a Cathedral that has an impending pig BBQ permanently displayed on it's gates!

Near the entry to the Prague Castle with the Strahov Monastery in the distance

The Municipal House is considered the pearl of Czech Art Nouveau

It is Prague's largest concert hall.

The giant metronome at the top of the hill used to be the spot where a 100 foot tall statue of Stalin once stood.

One of my best friends, Koreen FitzGerald, loves sun faces

Nerudova is the street the Czech kings would use to walk from the Cathedral to the Old Town Square after being crowned.

That is the Czech Republic's Parliament House in yellow on the left at the bottom of the hill.

A fisherman hard at work near the Charles Bridge.

On the Charles Bridge is the statue of St. John of Nepomuk

St. John was a 14th Century priest to whom the queen confessed all of her sins. The king wanted to know her secrets but St. John honored the seal of the confessional by refusing to tell the king anything. St. John was tortured and evetually killed by being tossed off the Charles Bridge. Touching the base of St. John's statue the well worn shiny part, will make a wish come true.

I wonder if her plane will get her back here in time for the Bergamo game?

Obviously some of the Czech movers and shakers are Husky fans!

Bob's Czech Cousin

As you may recall from an earlier vlog, Bob from Syracuse, who works as a doorman in Catania is the Elephants very silent owner. I met his cousin, Emil, today. Also a doorman at a food establishment here in Prague and also very quiet!

St. George slaying the dragon

St. George slaying the dragon yet again!

I never get tired of the paintings or the statues of this story but the Italian version is still better.

Prague's entry into the Ad-of-the-Day Contest

Maybe using the Czech language accent symbols would change the meaning of all this?


Prague's Famous Atomic Clock

I hope this refers to the clock's accuracy and not to some left over nuclear device from Prague's Iron Curtain days stored inside this tower in the Old Town Square where you find the clock.

RANDOM THOUGHT: At the Milan game last Saturday, Pepe Strano, our TE and Elephant administrator, had to collect the foreign players’ and coach’s passports as well as the Italian player’s “documents”. He had to place all of these into the individual plastic sleeves of a three ring binder.

The binder had to then be given to the referees before the game to check versus our roster. We would get the binder back after the game was over.

The Italian’s “documents” are their form of local ID similar to how we use our plastic driver’s license in the U.S.A. Italians still need an additional passport to travel into other countries. The “documents” look like a thin and somewhat smaller passport.

They make me think of the World War II movies where the escaped POW or the local Resistance fighter gets pulled over on the street by the Gestapo and is asked “Your papers, please”. Now I’ve seen some of our player’s papers. Very cool!

FINAL THOUGHT ON PRAGUE: If I had it to do all over again, in 1965, I would rather have met and fallen in love with Laurie here in Prague than in La Crescenta, California. Either way, I guess we might make a go of it.


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