Uncle Tom's garden project?

Tom has missed working outside with his hands, and he decided to take on a rather ambitious project. The neighbors have been complaining about the looks of the neighborhood so Tom organized some local Czechs, grabbed some tools, and went to work.

He thinks it turned out rather nicely!!!!!

Well, not really. The top photos are of what we call "the big dig". This is a construction project thay wakes us up at first light- I swear they start working now at 5 AM. They are building a major tunnel complex for the road and tram lines that used to run near our street. We are told that when it is completed, the area on top will be all park land, which will be cool!

And those gardens are the formal gardens at the castle. :-)

Older than Dirt!

Happy birthday to Tom - no pics of this great event, because no one thought to take any! We celebrated Tom's 64th birthday by inviting Chris, Laura and the children for dinner. (note that Elliot didn't eat much, ha ha)

I actually cooked - salmon topped with blue cheese, garlic mashed potatoes, and broccoli. Oh, and banana bread! The bread was my first attempt at baking here. I had to adjust the recipe a little bit- but I was pleased with the results. I may have to try my hand at more cooking!

Laura provided the dessert- a fabulous chocolate cake with chocolate/cherry topping. Sadly, we ate the entire thing- it went so well with the red wine!

Here's to another great year!

Na zdraví!!!

I think I can see the Czech Inn from here!

The weather has been so beautiful here that we have had to go out walking every day - we can't waste a moment of sunshine!



We decided to explore the parks on the castle- side of the river, and we found many beautiful vistas.



The view below was taken from Letenske Sady (Letna Park) which is just below our flat- a nice 10 minute walk. This park is huge, with a few beer gardens for refreshment, and great walking (biking/rollerblading) paths. We intend to spend a lot more time here.







This view was taken from Petrin Hill, which is yet another HUGE park. Our earlier blog entry "One Cool Old Church" was created when we explored one side of the park, the photos below are from another area of the park.

This time, we didn't walk all the way up the hill, as the funicular railway was operating and we took advantage of it. This view is from the mid-point of the trip up. As you can see, the trees are all in bloom!


We left the car at the mid-point and walked the rest of the way up. We discovered some wonderful gardens that are just beginning to come into bloom.






Near the top, there is the Church of St. Lawrence.

We love all the spires and towers that abound in this city. This area is also where Prague's version of the Eiffle tower is located. We walked to the base of it, realized that to get to the top required walking up thousands of stairs, and opted to go get a beer instead. So no wonderful photos from the top!

Faith Community Easter

Easter at Faith Community was a very special service for many reasons. The church is nearly two years old, and despite the number of folks who were out of town this weekend- the new location at the train station was full and overflowing.

Pastor Phil and Chris provided the musical accompaniment for the hymns, because the musicians who normally serve in this area were out of town.

Today was also the day that Elliot was baptised, and Laura's family (her Mom & Dad, brother, sister-in-law, niece & nephew) are all in Prague and were present for the baptism.

Tom did take photos, but they are on Chris' camera, so you will have to watch Chris & Laura's blog for photos of the baptism.

The proud Syvertsen family.....

Old Town Easter

Our new church home, Faith Community Church, holds its services at 4:30 in the afternoon. So, on Easter morning, since the weather was especially glorious, we decided to visit St. Michael's church (see earlier post) in town for a traditional Easter Lutheran service.

Now this is a real church key!! You can get an idea of the size of this key by comparing it to the tip of Tom's shoe in the lower left of the photo.




When the service ended, we noticed a different sort of parishoner approaching the altar. We have heard of Easter services where they release white doves, but grey pigeons??


This little fellow (or gal) seemed to be right at home- perhaps expecting to share in communion?

The only thing lacking were the lilies - I have not seen a single Easter lily this season.

Signs of Spring

The City of Prague is in full bloom- there are flowers and flowering trees everywhere. These tulips are part of the gardens at our tram/Metro stop Dejvicka.


Easter Monday is a holiday in Prague, and many city residents take advantage of the long weekend by leaving the area, so it is normally very quiet in the city. So we were quite surprised this morning to hear loud noise toward the back of our flat - it sounded like work going on of some sort, and we weren't quite sure what. We traced the sound to the courtyard in back, and discovered a sure sign of spring- the first lawn mowing of the season!!

Another Old Church

On Maundy Thursday, we went to a communion service at the Lutheran Church in Prague, St. Michal.

This church was originally built in the 1100's. Although it has been renovated a few times in its history, it is not heated (except for some heaters under the first 3 pews). and no, there are no restrooms either.

It is such a humbling experience to worship in such a place , and to think about the many thousands of people who have passed through the doors over the centuries, each with their own hopes and dreams and personal struggles. When you think of the troubles they must have faced: wars, famines, disease, just the daily struggle for survival, etc., it helps you to feel thankful for the times we live in and the many blessings we have.

The plaque on the wall commemorates the times that Albert Schweitzer (an accomplished organist) gave concerts at this church while in Prague.


It is difficult to photograph the exterior of the church because the streets are so narrow.

The interior of the church is very interesting- especially the ceiling construction. For anyone interested in architecture, the "Y" shaped truss-work in this building is VERY rare.

St Matthew's A-Fair

Prague has an annual spring carnival - kind of like the McLean Firemen's Field Days - only bigger. This is one of the best known and popular fairs in Prague, and it is allegedly the first spring fair in Europe. http://www.matejskapout.cz/

The carnival is held on the Prague exhibition grounds which has beautiful permanent buildings, and dancing fountains, which we have to go back to see. It is on the FAR edge of the park that is close to where we live.

Some friends claimed that we could walk there one evening- so walk (and walk, and walk) we did!

The colors were glorious...

This haunted house was quite elaborate-the house talks to the tree, and those eyeballs move, as does the tree's lips and eyes. They even speak in English!

The rides looked scary- but the teens were enjoying them..

I used to love the swing rides at carnivals like this- but this one was a little over the top. See the video of this ride at the bottom!!

Another beautiful evening in Prague!

Why I don't Miss CNY

I was just looking at a few CNY sites that happened to post the weather. Is it true that it is only about 30 and snowing?

We are having great weather here, and we have been enjoying our wine on the terrace. It is definitely spring here, with green trees and flowers. I have planted flower boxes on the terraces and we have two trees in pots - lots of candles and a great view.

Pics to come.

Yes we DID!

Get up at 5 AM to be part of this crowd....


Talk to strangers who took our photo (and by the way, Chris & Laura were able to spot Tom as they were watching this on Czech TV.)

Watch in awe as this guy climbed that light pole to unfurl his banner - he was from Greenpeace, and his banner has something to do with climate change..

Stand in this mass of people from 7 AM until the speech was over at about 11 AM...

Amuse ourselves by watching the security teams on the roof and in the upper windows of the buildings....Those aren't cameras on that roof!

Run into people we know - friendly staff from the Czech Inn.....

Enjoy being able to say "We were there!"

And this last comment is for Ian - did we mention that we live only a 10 minute walk away from the castle??

One cool old church

On our trek up the hill, we spotted this structure in the distance. We thought if we could just get that far, at least, we would have had a good workout.

We weren't sure what it was, even when we were standing on the porch under that overhang.



Thankfully there was a description of the building in English posted on the wall. If you can enlarge this photo by double-clicking, you will see that this very old church was donated to Prague by a small village and moved to its present location.


The building in its entirety.....

The church was not open, but Tom managed a photo of the interior through the window.

Another great find!

Prague- a romantic city

The weather here has been been wonderful, so we have been out walking every day. We went to Petrin Park, which has the funicular (not open yet) that runs up the hill to an observation tower that was built to resemble the Eiffle Tower. We had never been to this area before, so we enjoyed our walk. Of course Tom will tell you that I made him walk 10 miles that day - all uphill both ways ( but I think it was only about 6 miles). These benches were on the grounds of the Musaion, which was a museum of Czech folklore. Some guidebooks call it the Kinsky Summer Palace. Since we started our walk at the foot of the castle, by the time we got here we were ready for a rest. I hope those bright red shoes didn't get the same workout our sneakers did!

The museum...

When we left the museum, we climbed to the top of the hill. It was worth the trip as you can see.

This looks like quite the Lover's Leap, but these two didn't jump.