Biking home from tennis one evening, the sunlight caught this lovely field of bluebells so strikingly that I simply had to stop, hop off the bike, and snap some photos so as to share the beauty with you all 🙂
Two Prague icons which also featured in our first City Views post from Prague: the Charles Bridge (with marathon runners streaming across it) with the Prague Castle in the background. Once I get a bit more time to sort & organize things, I plan a “xx views of Prague castle” style post, so stay tuned. 🙂
This is a flowering tree that I’ve seen lots in Europe, but can’t recall from North America. In German it’s called Kastania, I believe, which an internet search tells me is Horse Chestnut. They’re quite lovely and — like the lilacs shown in a previous post – were in full bloom in many parts of Prague during my short visit 🙂
So that Sunday – Marathon Sunday for Prague – also happened to be what folks variously call VE Day (Victory in Europe, i.e. the day WWII finally ended with German surrender in Europe) or Liberation Day. I’d been in Amsterdam for the 5th, which here is Liberation Day, and then got to see the wreaths and camera crews still there after the Czech president was up here at the National Monument for a speech. This monument and building tower over the city on the other side of the river from the Castle. Many more photos to come in a special post dedicated to this really quite remarkable place. 🙂
It was Marathon weekend in Prague – yes, they’re coming back across the Charles Bridge in the above and bottom-right photos, shortly after the 9am race start; and bottom left is later, when the stragglers finished. (The announcer pointed out that Prague is generous because most marathons hold the course open for only six hours, whereas Prague holds it open for seven hours.) In between those two outings, I was up at the national monument (well off the race route, naturally), which we’ll show you in other posts to come :-).
This is the door that started this series. I just noticed one beautiful wooden door after another as we walked up the hill to the castle the first time, so I started photographing them, and finally realized it needed to be a series. More to come, and I’ll likely pay extra attention to nice doors, gates and other entrances in other cities I visit now, as well. Last time I recall paying so much attention doors was in a very different place, which you can see here.
The lilacs were in fabulous, magnificent, riotous bloom everywhere we walked, and we walked a LOT all over the city. These are from a walk along a bike path near the main train station (left), and from one side of the lovely gardens behind the castle compound.
(so much world, so little time....) 