Prague - Fun Stuff

After two graveyard posts it's time for some fun stuff.

This Kingfisher was on the building next to our hotel.



This duck was on a building that housed a restaurant called 'The Blue Duck'. According to my travelbook it used to be called 'the Little, Old Duck'.

A frog!
This is now a mexican restaurant, but for ages this was a restaurant by the name 'At the Green Frog'. It is said that the hangmen and executioners used to come here for a beer and food.

I also found this museum of medieval torture instruments. I wonder if that man is an executioner.

A beautiful sun.

I dare bet this is where the executioners are getting their beer and food now that they can't go to the Frog restaurant anymore!

I also spotted this creepy door that had all these heads on it.

And a statue that was hanging on a flagpole.

A smiley face.

This critter was in a park and was placed there as part of an ad-campaign for bug spray.

The facts of life ;-)

A poster for the Museum of Communism.

Saint George.

I saw this cool chair in a café where we had something to drink.

I even spotted a hippo for my owner!

And last, but not least:

At one of the restaurants where we had dinner I met another animal who was dining there as well. Dino and I had a nice chat about Prague before we both had to go our separate ways again.

Prague - Olsany Graveyard

I know, I promised to post this yesterday, but time flew and before I knew it Saturday had gone.

Anyway:
The Olsany Graveyard was started in 1679 as a graveyard for plague victims, but it has since then become a large graveyard which is still in use today. It has a Russian cemetery and a Jewish cemetery where Franz Kafka is buried.

We mainly visited the oldest part of the graveyard. There's not much money for repairs and such as there are so many buildings and monuments all over town that need fixing up and you can see this part of the graveyard hasn't been tended for in a long time. Lots of gravestones are covered in ivy.

There are also lots of tombs in the Olsany graveyard.
Some look a bit like churches.

Some are clearly in need of repair before they fall to ruin completely.

And some are already beyond saving.

The sight of this crumbling graveyard is both sad and beautiful.





There are many beautiful statues and sculptures on the Olsany Graveyard, but these too suffer from neglect and decay.





Some still seem to get some attention.

While others are beautiful in their decay.











All in all a beautiful, sad and impressive sight.
I could almost have spend our week in Prague just on walking around this graveyard alone I will confess.

Vysehrad and Graveyard

Vysehrad used to be a castle from where kings ruled the country.
Not much of the castle is left though.

The entrance gate is guarded by a creepy monster.

This is the Saint Martinus Tower I think.
It's a small, but beautiful building in my opinion.

Next to it is this stone standard.

There were saints painted on all 4 sides of the standard. Not sure what saint this is though.

A lovely view on the St.-Petrus and Paulus Church.

Next to the church there's a graveyard where many rich and famous people are buried, like Antonin Dvorak and Bedfich Smetana.

There are many beautiful statues and other monuments on this graveyard:

















What caught my eye most is the diversity in monuments and the themes that where used. Some where religious, others were all about mourning the dead, while others were a kind of tribute to the person who was buried there. All in all a very beautiful and impressive graveyard.

Tomorrow I'll show you pictures of the Olsany graveyard which we visited after this graveyard and where there were even more beautiful statues and monuments.