Strahov Monastery

Last Thursday was another public holiday in the Czech Republic and, as such, we were wanting to get out and do some sight seeing. Having seen quite a lot of the main sights by now, we were looking for something different and new to check out. We decided to visit the Strahov Monastery which is just behind the Castle Complex, in Strahov.

I think the Strahov Monastery has to be one of the most under rated tourist destinations in Prague - it was quiet, full of interesting things to look at and best of all it wasn't expensive! We visited the monastery library which consisted of two separate halls, one called the Theological Hall and the other called the Philosophical Hall. Both of these halls were lined with magnificent old volumes, the Philosophical Hall being two stories high with secret staircases at one end on either side, hidden behind fake spines of books. This fact really interested us and we desperately wanted to explore these hidden staircases, but, of course, we were not permitted entry. The ceilings of the Halls were painted with amazing frescos depicting Biblical or other historical scenes. The fresco in the Philosophical Hall only took six months for the artist to paint and he only had one assistant!

The Theological Hall.
Note the globes in the centre for the Earth and for Astronomy
The book wheel on the left was used for studying multiple volumes at once as the reader could turn the wheel without the books falling off their stands

The Philosophical Hall.
The ceiling of this hall was particularly amazing
The hidden staircases are located at the opposite end of the hall in either corner

There are approximately 280 000 books in the library, covering a range of topics including theology and philosophy as well as science, biology and alchemy. We were only able to look into them from the door way as apparently having too many tourists walking through the halls causes excessive humidity fluctuations which was detrimental to the books. I think they just didn't want to have to sweep the floors.

As well as being able to look into the Halls, there were heaps of antique museum artifacts to look at including amour from the 13th century, collections of butterflies and beetles, wax collections of fruit and (my favourite) the xyloteka, a collection of 'tree books' made by Karel of Hinterlagen in about 1825. These were not actually books but book shaped boxes full of materials and specimens from particular trees, like leaves, bark, lichen and even insect pests found in the tree! The cover of the boxes are made from the wood of the tree and they are also covered in its bark. Unfortunately the boxes are behind glass in a cabinet so we could only see them through the glass. 

Strahov Monastery Gallery

The hall which you can look into the Libraries from, filled with interesting historical artifacts
That piece of amour on the left is from the Middle Ages!

There is lots more to see at the Monastery, however we figured out that you need to book a tour in advance to see these. Look out Mums and Dads, we are already planning your trip here when you come to visit! :)

Around and About

Not much has been happening for us over the last few weeks, we have been busy working and getting into the swing of things. The main reason for doing this trip was to live and work in another country - so I guess we are really living the dream at the moment! So far the experience has been fantastic with plenty of ups and downs, all that character building stuff people talk about. Here are a few little thoughts along the way:

We are both settling into our jobs nicely and are picking up more work by the week (which believe it or not is a good thing). It is a job that we are both really enjoying, even if we still find most of the grammar difficult to comprehend! It is such a rewarding job, I can see now why people who teach usually stay in the profession their whole lives. Meeting new people and hearing their stories is wonderful, I feel very blessed to be able to listen to their experiences. Most of our students are from businesses and are therefore all over the age of about 25, which means that they were all living through the communist occupation of the Czech Republic. The stories they tell are amazing, both good and bad. I have always thought of communism in a purely theoretical, factual way from what I learned at school. It is a totally different experience to hear the perspective of someone who has lived though it all.  I feel like I am learning more than my students are!

Yesterday was the 11/11/11, a special day all over the world, but in Europe it was St Martins day. There is an old saying that if it snows on St Martins day then "St Martin arrived on a white horse." I was eagerly anticipating snow, but alas, no snow yet. Most people don't think it will come for a few weeks yet, but that doesn't stop me checking out the window every morning to see if it has miraculously snowed over night. Both of us are already struggling with the cold weather and I think we will need to invest in some woolly socks and thermal singlets. Not suprisingly, it doesn't make us feel any better when our students tell us that this is 'warm weather' and wish us 'good luck' for winter!

There is not much else to add at the moment, but here are some photos we took last weekend. 

I think this was the last sunny and slightly warm day of the year so we made the most of it by a long walk around the city and up to the Castle. 

Fishing on the Vltava

Up at the Castle, a tree losing all of its leaves

St Vitus Cathedral

Looking down through an alley to Mala Strana