Touristy stuff, The Marriage of Figaro and Czech Philharmonic

We were scavenging. 

We were supposed to take a picture with a sailor at the 

Charles Bridge, but he didn't want to be in the picture 

so we decided to take a picture NEAR him. It counted.

Ok so I finally got the chance to be touristy (fanny-pak, Hawaiian shirt, straw hat, socks+sandals, etc) but not really. We went on a scavenger hunt around Prague, which was surprisingly fun. It was a competition to take pictures of different landmarks and then figure out a puzzle (the answer was Cinderella--really stupid, but the rest was great). I sort of forget all that we saw but I'll put up the cool stuff. The Charles Bridge was so neat--statues of favorite Czech saints and such all along it. It's been my desktop background for the past couple months and to see it in person was surreal but there were sooo many people. As I said the final answer was Cinderella and we had to take a picture of this slipper behind a glass. The shoe was old and dingy and looked as someone just lost their nasty shoe. LAME. Otherwise the scavenger hunt was great.

Charles Bridge

We also got to go on a tour of the Prague castle. Well, technically it was the grounds of the Prague castle, because it cost about 300kc to go inside. It was spectacular and St. Vitus Cathedral is breathtaking. It is neo-Gothic architecture and absolutely gorgeous.

Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral 

from across the river.

St. Vitus Cathedral

So they had extra tickets to The Marriage of Figaro. Ummm I snatched those puppies up (actually only one so I guess it was just a puppy). It was sooo good. Rosina, the countess, was amazing. Her voice was just absolutely pristine. She sang a B or C like it was no big deal. Perfection. It was also really funny and the theatre was beautiful.

Estates Theatre

Last night. Czech Philharmonic. Can't breathe. It was amazing. It was the final concert of the Dvorak festival, so obvi, they played Dvorak. They began with Dvorak's Hussite Overture. The opening of the piece gave me chills. Not going to lie...almost cried. It was the most gorgeous woodwind choir. It's what I live for. There was another great moment when the orchestra is fortissimo on the V and you'd think it's going to I, but instead the trumpets begin a chorale. Utter brilliance. Then they played a Chopin piano concerto (no. 2...I think). The pianist was maybe 26. He was sooo good. His movements were so fluid and his physicality was not overbearing or too little. And being Chopin the piece was an amazing display of his finesse. Then. Dvorak. Symphony No. 7. Incredible. For those of you familiar with the "New World" symphony of Dvorak, No. 7 is like it just a notch lower on the epicness but a notch up on the difficulty. SO GREAT. It's pretty much the reason I came to Prague. But then. They closed the concert with Ravel's Bolero. So ridiculously overplayed and repetitive. But nonetheless a fantastic concert.

The Rudolfinum. Where my dreams come true.