Prague

There is something nice about walking out of an airport in a new country and seeing someone holding a board with your name on it. Sometimes when we arrive late in a non English speaking country we have given ourselves a treat and organised transfers. It means we have a much more relaxed trip into the city, rather than trying to negotiate a rental car around in the dark or watching to see when we need to get off the bus. It also means that we can soak up the city's atmosphere from the taxi and enjoy the beginning of our next adventure. We arrived at our hotel with a positive impression of Prague - particularly as the taxi driver seemed to have the interests of his passengers (that's us) at heart (he slowed down when talking on his cell phone). We lugged our bags and tired bodies into the hotel and registered (from the discussions in Czech we suspect they had forgotten we were coming and our suspicions were confirmed when we found we weren't on the third floor as our booking had said). After saying a goodbye to the receptionist we tripped down a couple of small steps to the lift which we caught up to the 5th floor - uh oh - our room was on the 7th. Thank goodness we travel light. Up a couple of spiral stair cases and along a passage we found Room Number 71 (we rehearsed the trip later on when we found that there were smoke alarms but no sprinklers in the room and our room was situated right above a smoking room). We were pleased with our room with a view - if it wasn't for that little brick wall we would have seen nothing but blue sky and some clouds or stars depending on the time of day. But the view was even better when the next day Harry discovered by standing on the bed and twisting round he could see the spire on the top of the museum opposite - we even have a photo to prove it!! Onto unpacking and getting ready for bed. "Ouch" I said as I hit my head on the sloping roof - we were after all in the loft. "Ouch" (or another word meaning the same thing) said Harry as he hit his head on the sloping roof. As we both nursed our bumps we pulled the bed out into the middle of the room so that we could at least sleep in little fear of hitting our head in the middle of the night. But just to be on the safe side we left a light on cos there were two beams placed in strategic positions around the bed - just right for walking into.

Our hotel was only a stones throw away from Wencelas Square - not a square at all but a long stretch that covers a few blocks - some would call it an avenue and others a street or perhaps a boulevard. It is hard to believe that 20 or so years ago this was the place where uprisings occurred and where communism was overthrown. It has seen a lot this little stretch of land with beautiful buildings on each side. In 1938 there were demonstrations against Nazism, and 7 years later the Liberation celebrations. In 1968 there was the rioting against the Soviet tanks and in 1969 Jan Palach set fire to himself as a protest against the communist regime. Twenty years later this was the venue of the liberation of the country and the beginnings of the velvet revolution as communism collapsed. We learnt quite a bit about communism in the museum (that's the one which we could see the top of from our hotel skylight and which overlooks the square). I had never quite remembered all that my teachers told me about how communism was introduced - but began to realise with the devaluing of savings everyone became equal quite quickly. This oppression and poverty led people to focus in on their homes and families and not to venture out much. Unlike other Eastern European cities the locals seem quite open about their dislike for Communism - 'Czech people don't really like politics', 'that hotel was built in the communist area - most people think it is ugly', 'the tv tower is a monstrosity that was built with the locals being unable to comment on where, when and what it looked like' (incidentially the tower provided tourists with a lovely view of the city, but we tended to agree with the locals about its situation and look).

It is easy to see the tourist side of Prague as everything is within walking distance, lots of shows on offer (we went to an orchestra one night, music by Andrew Lloyd Webber another and saw Don Giovanni by puppets another), restaurants and lovely architecture to admire. We spent many hours wandering the streets looking at art nouveau architecture, secession housing and some cubism (the only place in the world where you can find this type of architecture - though we have seen other buildings looking a bit like it elsewhere). It all looked great from the outside but pretty sure inside it would be reasonably dark in the apartments. We also wandered through the railway station which was one of the few unkempt buildings with pealing paint on the ceilings and walls and we also wandered up the road by the river to see the dancing house which was built in 1996 by Canadian and Czech architects. There is something quite unique about this house which was named after Fred and Ginger as the house is meant to resemble a pair of dancers. Others have nicknamed it the "Drunk House" and I can see their point.

All that is very interesting, but what captures my interest more is how the locals live. We didn't see alot of local life because we only travelled by tram on one trip and never needed to catch the underground. But we did venture to a park once dedicated to Lenin (his statue was taken down and replaced by a metronome just after the fall of communism). We sat for a while watching lots of teenagers skate board and discussed how there weren't many ramps like young people have in the UK and NZ. When we walked along we realised that the ramps they did have were steps taken from other places. 

So, we got very worn out by walking the streets (so much so we went back to the hotel and had an afternoon nap one day). We tried a walking tour and enjoyed seeing the city through the eyes of a local tour guide. The tour ended up at the palace sitting high above Prague. The palace is like a little village where kings, emperors and presidents have all lived and worked over time. According to the Guinness Book of Records the palace is one of the largest ancient castles in the world. There was a magnificent church which we wandered through, and some cute little merchant houses now boutique craft shops.

It was Easter and it seems that the Czechs have their own way of celebrating this Christian festival. Although there were a number of churches - some we visited (like the Church of Our Lady of the Snows - huge building and extravagant decor and statues which was commissioned by Charles IV in the mid 1300's for his coronation and the Church of St Nicholas where we listened to a concert but were more in awe of the Baroque architecture) there didn't seem to be a lot of the Christian messages on the streets (not surprising since this country has been under communism influence for so long). Instead there were brightly decorated trees in orange, red and yellow streamers, lots of floral decorations with lots of mimosa (I think) and painted eggs galore for sale. I did hear someone say that these festivals were only for the tourists at Easter time, and given the number of foreign languages and phrase books there were a lot of tourists. Prague is also a centre for the Jewish community. There is a heap of history here and we spent a day looking through the Jewish synagogues and buildings and where for the first time we saw Harry's surname on one of the walls - these were the names of all the lost Jewish people during the second world war. A sad way to see his family name but it it made it very personal. We spent some time in the Old-New Synagogue which is one of the oldest places for the Jews to worship in Europe. It was dark and quite unsettling even when crowded with too many tourists following guides with umbrellas and tall sticks. There is the story of Golem who was created by Rabbi Loew. Golem lived in the attic of the Old-New Synagogue. He was an 'animated anthropomorphic being created entirely from inanimate matter' another way of saying I think he was formed from clay and then became a living creature. Golem was created in the late 16th century as a protector of the Jewish community. But unfortunately as Golem grew he became violent particularly towards gentiles and people began to fear him. Some say, he became this way when he was rejected in love but who really knows. The Emperor begged Rabbi Loew to destroy Golem, promising to stop the persecution of the Jews. Rabbi Loew killed his creature and his body is in the attic which is not open to the public (there is a story that says he could come alive once again in the future if something happens). We also spent some time in the Old Jewish Cemetery. Here there are tombstones galore, many not standing straight because of age and cluttered together because here people were buried 12 deep as it was the only Jewish burial ground for miles. There is a solomnity here that you don't find in other cemeteries as it is impossible not to remember the lives of those buried here.

One of the squares (and it was actually fairly close to a square shape) which had lots of decorations also had the Astronomical Clock. So, one day we viewed the clock chiming and dancing and the next day we climbed the tower to view the crowds as they watched the clock and the trumpeter.

And then there is the river, which seems to be the place where tourists are encouraged to go for the night trip up the river with dinner, or the day trip to see the buildings from another perspective. It really doesn't offer much for sight seeing and we hear the dinners aren't worth going on. We did however decide to have a dinner with some local music just outside of the city. Harry and I committed the name of the little village to our memories but I am writing the blog so long after our trip that it has fallen out of our memories sometime during that time (I think it was something like Stredoklinky but don't hold me to that). We had a great night, entertained with traditional music and dancing including solos with the dulcimer which we first heard in Budapest. The owner of the restaurant showed us photos of when he first bought the property and how he had renovated it - I was so intrigued that we took some photos - and the owner was pleased. And that was our first visit to Prague.

Bedford and Shuttleworth

Another weekend and another trip away again without Denise. We had this weekend booked before Denise had decided when to go back to NZ so rather than waste it I went on my own. Now I've been to Shuttleworth before when there was an airshow on and didn't quite explore the area properly so this was a chance to do some of the things Denise did while I watched Airplanes fly.  I had more time to do the exhibits in the Shuttleworth collection. Richard Shuttleworth (1909-1940) was a racing motorist, aviator and prolific collector of veteran cars and aircraft. His collection forms the nucleus of the Shuttleworth Collection. Pilot Officer Shuttleworth was killed in an accident, during WW2 whilst flying a Fairey Battle. Shuttleworth participated in his first London to Brighton Veteran Car Run in 1928. He often entered more than one car for this event. He participated 1928-1938 except for 1935 where: "R. O. Shuttleworth failed to send in his entry before the closing date but joined up with the others at Westminster Bridge with a Benz. His companion at the wheel was Charles Martin and their hairy goat-skin coats which dated from the same period as the car, were much admired." He won the Brighton Speed Trials on a Bugatti Type 51 in 1934, and again in 1935 on an Alfa-Romeo P3 Tipo B, breaking Sir Malcolm Campbell's course record. His greatest victory came in the Donington Grand Prix in 1935. He won the Mountain Championship at Brooklands later that year. In 1936 he had a bad crash in his Alfa-Romeo at the South African Grand Prix. The injuries suffered caused him to retire from motor racing. He used to fly to France to get parts for his racing Bugatti in his Desoutta 1 and land back at his private airstrip by-passing the customs checks,but they did eventually catch up with him.

I went to the Swiss garden and visited the Birds of Prey centre. I would show you a picture of a hawk landing on my arm but its hard to do those 2 things at once, however it was good to see them in a free type environment.

The eagles look quite a majestic bird even when they are just sitting on there perch.

The swiss garden was a particularly pleasant spot and all the Daffodils were out but nearing there end.

 

The next day I went to Woburn Abbey which has been the family home of the Dukes of Bedford for over 300 years and the current 15th Duke still lives there today. The Abbey was founded in 1145 and remained an Abbey until 1538 when it was dissolved by that man again Henry VIII aand the head monk was executed for treason. The grounds also house a Deer farm and nearby is a Safari park. The tour of the abbey includes 3 floors including the vaults with all the family silver, gold and service settings. the other floors include lots of furnishings from the 18th century and family momentos from 300 years. There is also paintings from Cuyp, Gainsborough, Reynolds and Van Dyck.

After Woburn Abbey I then headed off to the Whipsnade tree cathedral, expecting something special, I was disappointed all it was some trees laid out to form shapes if viewed from above and some hedges that were like a maze, so with that off I headed home.

Pembrey

Well with Denise in NZ it is my turn to add a little something to the blog. I had to keep up the usual activities and find somewhere to go, and this weekend it turned out to be in West Wales at a place called Pembrey. Now the attraction was one of my work colleagues has got into motor bike racing and there is a motor racing track at Pembrey where he was racing this weekend, so since most of our weekends are always busy this might be one of the only occasions that I will get to to see him racing.
The company we work for sponsors him and another biker, called Jamie,so it was a good chance to get some pics for publicity purposes.
It bought back all the familiar surroundings that motor racing circuits provide and it was an enjoyable time with Jamie winning all his his races and Nigel, who is a new boy to bike racing and still feeling his way getting into third in his class in the last race.

I didn't slum it like the others who, stayed at the track in tents or in the back of there van, I had found a nice hotel that was only 3 miles from the track so enjoyed a comfortable nights sleep and nice dinner.

Longleat

We spent a lazy Saturday at Longleat this weekend. It isn't far from Bristol and we were pleased after arriving quite a bit later than intended (sleep in and long lazy breakfast are our excuses) that the ticket allows us to go back and see bits we didn't see on Saturday. That took the pressure off time wise and so we spent a great deal of time wandering around the safari park and then driving through the parts we weren't allowed to walk (eg home to rhinos, lions, tigers etc). The safari park is laid out quite well, with lots of information about the animals and some interesting trivia along the way which always appeals to me eg.

• a snail can sleep for three years. 
• slugs have four noses and leeches have 32 brains. 
• a blue whale has blood vessels so large that a person could swim in them. 
• bats always turn left when leaving their cave. 
• bees have 5 eyes and no ears. 
• a mouse has the same number of neck bones as a giraffe. 
• the collective name for a group of rhinoceros is ‘crash’.
• 33% of a humans DNA is the same as a daffodils. 

The area has quite a lot of history associated with it - not surprising really - and we will go back and look at the house and the few other bits and pieces we didn't have time to see on another day. In the early 13th century the area was occupied by an augusitine monk who lived on the priory that is now the safari park. 300 years later along came Queen Elizabeth I - the first royal visitor and then almost 200 years later Capability Brown was asked to use his green fingers on the landscape. The gardens, lake, rolling hills and a forest are fairly typical of other gardens he has designed. Not long after that the house became haunted by the ghost of the wife of the Second Viscount of Weymouth -the Green Lady (Lady Louisa Carteret) who mourns her murdered lover. Thomas Thynne inherited the house from his great uncle and he was rather spoilt and obnoxious child from what I have read.  He first married when he was 20 - but that didn't last long cos he decided to tour Europe without her. She died (probably not from a broken heart) and two years later he married Lady Louisa - she had 3 boys as quickly as nature would allow and died soon after the third one had arrived. Soon afterwards Thomas left Longleat (hopefully with his three sons) and the house fell into disrepair. So, what about the murdered lover?  In 1915 the owners decided to install central heating - not a bad idea given the winters England has.  A skeleton was discovered and all it was wearing was some boots made in the 18th century - they think that he was the footman and the Louisa's lover - murdered by Thomas after he found out about the love affair. There are other ghosts. That of Sir John Thynne, the first owner of Longleat. He turned the run down priory into his home but just after the renovations were completed in the mid 1500's the house burnt down. Not long after Sir John died in 1580 and his ghost is seen to wander the halls late at night with the third ghost also called John (who was killed during World War I - tour guides have seen him reading books in the library and have mistaken him for a visitor). Lets hope that the 2 John's and Louisa party sometimes when the stars are out and all good people are asleep in bed.  Anyway, back to the living...
In 1966 the first lions arrived at Longleat, and later came the tortoises, tapirs, camels, goats, gorillas, giraffes, rhinos, hippos, sealions, flamingos, pelicans ... a bit like Noahs Ark arriving two by two. Longleat was the first safari park to open outside Africa. The locals weren't too keen about lions wandering in their back yard but the objections must have been overruled cos that is exactly what they are doing now.  First of all there is the white rhino standing in the field peacefully chewing their meal of grass. Although, they look cuddly in their oversized skin they are apparently quite dangerous - can't see but can smell more 30 metres away (even if we use odourless deodorant) - they wouldn't eat me though cos they are vegetarians!! Anyway, the rhino isn't white - his name comes from a mistranslation of the African word 'wid' which means wide in relation to his mouth.

Then there are the camels - oh so comical and looking nothing like the ones that we rode in the Sahara (never again by the way!).  There are two species at Longleat  - the Bactrian (think B for two humps). They have short legs for walking on hilly ground and a long neck.  They moult and their hair comes off in lumps which give them quite a comical appearance as you can see from the photos.  And then there is the Dromedary (think D for one hump) who are longer and thinner than the other sort and have feet with two toes on each to help spread the weight when they are walking over soft sand.

 

We then went for a little boat ride on the lake and watched the sea lions chasing food.  As soon as the boat leaves the jetty its a signal to the sea lions that it is feeding time - the snacks are small as they are only allowed 3.5 kilos of fish a day and they would get this easily particularly during the peak season.  The sea lions (who have ears by the way which makes them different to their seal cousins) are fed salt capsules so that they can live o.k. in fresh water.  The boat took us past Gorilla Island (could be the next Peter Jackson movie) where Nico lives alone with his 35 inch flat screen tv.  He is a widower and is living quite happily on the little island with his tv for company and entertains himself by throwing things at the sea lions when they get quite near - sounds a bit like a cantakerous old man.  When Nico and his wife moved there many years ago they were given a little black and white tv. but after suggesting they preferred colour they now have the most modern - better than our own entertainment centre.  I forgot to ask if he used the remote control.  Anyway, all this information was given to us by a wonderful young girl with the most colourful hairstyle (I always wished I had the courage to do something like it).  To finish the day we had a little train ride around the pelican houses.