A good day all in all, not quite as good to me as yesterday, but still a fun day. When I woke up, again too early, I thought I should do nothing too hard, and I actually went and ate breakfast and took a shower. The shower was all right, but I had to hold the spout, and that was a little different than what I am used to, but it was very nice to be clean again, though I must confess Vienna spoiled me with how nice it was. After this little event, I actually updated my computer with yesterday’s entry, which as you may see was a rather long one to write. About 11:00 or so, I thought I would get underway and go explore more of the fair city of Prague. So, I set out, and thought to head north, this took me across the Vltava river over a different bridge, but it led me straight to a nice hill that was a bit steep. I walked up the hill and discovered a nice park. I wanted to go more toward a secluded area like I had been to the day before, but it was hard to find, so after a while I actually ended up going on the north side of the castle, it was breathtaking, I know now there is no better time to go to Europe than Autumn. The leaves were radiant with colours and they seemed so alive, but the best part was being near the castle in all of its quaint charm and listening to medieval music. Doing this gave me such a yearning to share my experiences with someone in a completely innocent manner, to immerse myself in the time period, mixed perhaps with fantasy, yet to be completely enchanted by both the surroundings, the music and the company. I realise how sappy this must all sound, but it made me long to share these experiences, places and feelings with my friends, both whom I left behind, and whom I have lost.
As a complete sidenote to this, something I feel I must write now, because I may lose the memory otherwise, right now, I am on a train to Berlin, leaving the Czech Republic, and I thought it would be a good idea to play a symphony from Antonin Dvorak, the Czech Republic’s most famous composer, the symphony is his Symphony #9 ‘From the New World’, which he actually wrote in America, I think perhaps New York or Philadelphia, this is a piece that is filled with longing and desire for his home country, the one that I am now leaving. It is such a beautiful land, and I can understand how he misses it, because the piece is filled with definite Czech sounds, and really omit any sort of American folk tunes and such like that, but the ironic thing is, how much I am thinking about my home country here and missing. I really like the Czech Republic, do not get me wrong, but I just sympathise with Dvorak right now, and the ironic thing is that our places are switched around really. I know this is a bit off course, but I felt it was necessary to make that point right now.
It was perhaps one of the nicer things I could have done in Prague, and it just felt so mystical to be in such a place at such a time and be listening to that music. Moving on, I then went up near the castle again, and I felt somewhat bad for not seeing something very different, but my feelings of doubt or regret were soon curtailed by the sound of what seemed to be very patriotic music. This was coming from inside the castle, and at first I did not think I could get in there, because all of the entrances were cut off, but then I soon discovered a route in, I went to where I found a passel of troops were standing at attention in front of what I thought the day before and more so now was the Czech President’s office in the castle. There were some high ranking officials at the entrance of this place, and there was a man in a suit, that I think I have in a few pictures, so I’ll have to figure out who he is later, but I am fairly certain that he was the Czech President. Anyway, they had a band there playing national anthems and tunes of the Czech Republic, and when they did the military personnel would march in step and then walk out in formation to another region of the castle, then they would say something in Czech, and a colour guard would march off as the band played again, finally the military would walk back in, and the president disappeared into his office, it was really a very neat thing to see, and I had a good spot on top of the wall, near a building toward the back, where I could see everything very clearly. A group of Americans were standing near me and they were asking what was going on, and I decided at that point to pull out my map which has some information of that sort on it, so when I did, I found out that the 28th October, according to my map anyway (as today was the 27th) was the big Czech national day called Revolution Day, and so it made a lot more sense to me why this would be occurring, and it made me rather glad that I was here at Prague Castle to witness it.
After that I just walked back up the same hill I did the day before, and sat just thinking and enjoying myself in the same rose garden I was at the day before, I felt bad though, because my foot had a blister on it, and I really meant to keep off of it and not walk as much, to rest up for Berlin. I also wanted to see other things, but I wanted more to remain outside today, because it was very sunny, and I wanted to enjoy every moment of it that I could. Anyway, I found myself eventually heading back for the hostel, via the Charles Bridge, but I also discovered with some satisfaction that I knew my way around far better than I did the day before. I only had 100 Kn on me (about $4.00) and I did not want to withdraw any more money, so I just bought a couple of sandwiches and some other things, quite a good deal really, and then I got back to the hostel. When I got there, I just really wanted to do not too much, so I again played Sim Ant, which is a rather fun game once one gets into it. Anyway, a little while later, I met another fellow from Australia, this time Brisbane, named James. He was a very friendly chap, and he and I got on rather well, and were talking at the table in the dining room, when a girl from Argentina came and sat next to us her name I believe was Katerina, we all talked for a while, mostly about international things, like policies and such. She spoke very good English, and it was fun to listen to her, I was a bit enamoured with her, especially the subject matter that she was speaking about, because I just found it so fascinating. It sounds like to me, that Argentina is in a heap of trouble, as I suppose most places outside, the US, Canada, Australia, Japan and Europe tend to be. Anyway, I learned a lot about their recent history, and things like that, and after James went to bed, she and I remained talking for a long time, leaving me not enough time sadly to make this update that night, but on the train the following morning... Jetzt nach Deutschland!!