Halbarad Online

Prague Pictures, Post the Fifth

2006-09-30T17:02:00.000-07:00

Finally, some of the pictures from our walking tours. The city is divided into several quarters, or towns, which we visited over the course of our stay.

We started out in the Lesser Town, with Wallenstein Palace:

Also of note in the Lesser Town, the Church of St. Nicholas:

We proceeded in the following two days to visit the Old Town. Some important sights here include the Rudolphium, where I later caught a performance of Beethoven's 5th Symphony by the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn.

The main landmark within the Old Town is the Old Town Square. This is a huge square, containing the Church of St. Nicholas (another one by the same architect... except this one's Protestant), the Jan Hus monument, a view of Tyn Church, and the famous astronomical clock.

A view from the top of the clock tower of the city:

South of the Old Town is the New Town, where we saw Wenceslas Square, the National Museum, and the National Theater.

Between the Lesser Town and Old Town lies the famous Charles Bridge, which has many (copies of) statues of various saints:

Closer to the castle, lies Strahov monastery, which houses an 800 year old library:

I've already posted my pictures of St. Vitus Cathedral inside Prague Castle. Here is the outer courtyard, the palace building, and a picture of our group (well, a fraction thereof) leaving through the lower gate.

Finally, towards the south of town, lies the old fortress of Vysehrad, which also contains the national cemetary and an old Rotunda of St. Martin.

We were fortunate that public transportation is very good in Prague. We bought a weekly pass, which was good on all trams and the subway system (and the bus system, although we never needed it).

Oh, one last remark. The beer in Prague was excellent. I'm not normally a beer drinker, but it's actually cheaper to order beer than water at a restaurant. And the beer was really, really good... particularly after a day of walking around and singing. Of note, U Fleku is a brewery and restaurant, with an internal garden. The dark beer (exclusively served here) was exceptional.

Prague Pictures, Post the Fourth

2006-09-30T15:52:00.000-07:00

A few more pictures of Prague:

The monestary where we stayed for most of our trip, run by the Franciscans:

The room was very pleasant, and had a nice view:

The monastery actually connected to the Loreto Chapel:

And right across the square was the Cernin Palace:

It was a very pleasant stay, as the place is generally used as a retreat house. We had breakfast and lunch every day there (following a morning rehearsal), and in the afternoons we went out into the city with our translator and guide, Sonya. Then in the late afternoons, we generally had our mass service that we sang at, followed by a late dinner.

Prague Pictures, Post the Third

2006-09-27T21:15:00.000-07:00

One of the most interesting churches (that we did not get to sing in, unfortunately), was the St. Vitus cathedral in Prague Castle. Work started in 1344 on this cathedral, but it was not finished until 1929. And it was only within the last few years that the Catholic Church regained ownership of this cathedral from the state (... and promptly started charging admission...).

A few (ok, several) pictures that I took of the cathedral:

First, a view of Prague castle on the way to the cathedral:

A view of the cathedral from another entrance to the castle:

The church was very big, and surrounded by Prague castle. As such, most of my pictures are fairly close range of the exterior.

Front:

Side:

Towards the back of the church:

View down from the tower:

The inside of the cathedral contains many side chapels, the tomb of St. Wenceslas, and a royal crypt. Needless to say, it is huge...

The front altar:

The ceiling:

The big stained glass window at the entrance:

Example of stained glass window:

A side chapel (St. Wenceslas):

A large pipe organ across from the St. Wenceslas side chapel:

View of the city from the bell tower (over 200 narrow, winding stairs up), with St. Nicholas Church on the right in the Lesser Town, and the Charles Bridge running over the Vltava (Moldau) River:

Prague Pictures, Post the Second

2006-09-27T20:04:00.000-07:00

We sang at numerous churches throughout Prague.
The first was at vespers in the St. George Basilica in Prague Castle, as part of a choral festival:

Our second day was a Sunday morning mass at the Church of Mary Below the Chain, an old church built for the Knights of Malta:

The third day was daily mass at St. Voitech (Adelberg):

The fourth was at St. Ignatius (yay, Jesuits):

Next was St. Giles, run by the Dominicans (boo... ^_^):

Then St. Margaret at the Brevnov Monestary (which btw has an excellent restaurant with good beer):

We sang next at St. Ludmila:

Saturday, we finally had a day of rest.

And finally on Sunday morning, we sang a few motets for the early mass in the chapel of the monestary where we were staying...

and then another mass at St. Ignatius.

Going to mass over the course of the week, I was very grateful whenever the priest decided to say the mass in latin, rather than the vernacular. Seeing as how none of us understood czech, the use of latin in the liturgy really brought a greater sense of participation and inclusiveness... which is ironically the argument often brought up for the general use of the vernacular. In this particular case, I felt a much better appreciation for latin as the universal language of the church.

Just my two pense...
(editted 10/6/06 for a less rantish tone)

Prague vacation

2006-09-27T16:34:00.000-07:00

I recently returned from a 10-day visit to Prague in the Czech Republic, as part of a church choir tour. I am a member of the St. Ann Choir, which sings Gregorian chant and Renaissance polyphony as part of the Catholic liturgy. We were invited to Prague by a former choir member, and spent the 10 days singing daily mass (various propers and motets, plus masses of Lasso, Byrd, Senfl, Josquin, and Victoria) in many churches in the city of Prague, with the help of local priests (saying mass in either czech or latin). Our schedule was on this poster which was distributed throughout the city.

I will be gradually posting pictures that I took while in Prague, using a recently purchased Canon SD600. To start, I have two (composite) photos of the Lesser Town, Prague Castle (prominently St. Vitus Cathedral), the Vtlava (Moldau) River, and the Charles Bridge.

Welcome

2006-09-27T16:23:00.000-07:00

As everybody else seems to be blogging lately, I thought I'd add my own... also as a means of hosting some vacation photos. Shoutouts go to Vraxx, Rawrasaur, my brother, and my dad for inspiring me to at least put something up online since my geeky college webpage oh so many years ago.

For expectations on this blog: I will not be updating this blog very often, mostly just when I have photos to share, and eventually some publications to link to. Perhaps a few rants on the current state of gaming or graduate life...