A Castle for the Palace: Praha again

Here we are in and around the Palace. I especially like the sculptures on the gate, forward of the Adam and Eve painting. Finally I have posted a photo of my crazy wind surfin' kayak paddlin' hikin' travelin' drinkin' Czech buddy who generously invited me to stay with her family in her homeland. This was my second day after having taken the train from Dresden and having met her in Prague. Did I mention what a beautiful trainride along the Elbe it was?

So what was life really like for kings and queens in this city? I have only ever been inside a castle once before - in the highlands of Scotland. But it was in ruins and no care was given to repair or maintain it. The rough stone made for some fantastic bouldering though.

Say, what is the differene between a castle and a palace anyway? Although it was beautiful and profoundly ornate, I found no warmth inside the manicured slabs of this Palace's walls, columns, gates or spires. But I'm sure warmth and physical comfort were much less important to Kings and Queens in a time when homes were designed to keep them safe and secure from constant hostile threats.

On this day, my friend and I exerted ourselves on a long walk up a very narrow stairwell to the top of the Palace tower. Despite the fact the stairs were packed with slow moving, gasping people, I could still experience the romance of the place by reliving childhood imaginations of being an imprisoned princess in just such a castle or palace as this. If I were a lovely princess in this palace, I would have made conversation with the ugly gargoyles. I can't deny that Praha is a magical place architecturally, from the pebbles laid meticulously in the walks, to the gold inlays in the eyes of the snake wrapped around the tree of knowledge. We simply do not have anything like this in the States - nothing as ornate, ancient or original that is.

I've gone retrograde

Okay. I haven't written in weeks. I haven't finished writing about my trip to Europe and I am months behind in current events and future plans. So, here I am finally, sitting down with my laptop and Blogger.com says it'll be unavailable for maintenance at 10:00. This means I have 30 minutes to write something of worth and without much thought. What timing! Well, my whole week has been a series of bad timings and just plain clumsiness all around. Like mercury, I do believe I've gone retrograde!

First thing: it's April 12 and I still haven't done my taxes and I when that will happen is still in question seeing how we just got whomped with another round of fluffy snow for another great weekend of riding! Monday I started out by being very late to the vet. Last night, I washed my very expensive, light gray, faux fur-lined Burton snowboarding jacket with a bright blue jel ink pen in the pocket. That was not fun. This morning, I left the coffee pot on and had to return home a hour after arriving to work to turn it off. When leaving work at the end of the day, I jumped in my car, started it, jumped out to wipe the snow off the windshield, went to jump back in, only to find I locked myself out, yes with the car still running. I missed my daily work out because of this so I went food shopping instead. Okay. I get home, find I left the wash in the washing machine and as I am hanging it to dry, I discover I have tortured yet another expensive article of clothing — a fine wool sweater shrunk to a negative size 2.
After dinner, I took the compost outside only to return to a locked porch door. Okay, what else?I've probably forgotten. Don't even let me begin to talk about work. It's been pure HELL. Well, the one good thing to happen: the shrimp I purchased was $1 less than the register said it was. I made the girl go back to the deli for a price check and yes! I was right damn it! You see, there are good days and there are bad. And some days you just run out of time and say the heck with it all; because there's always tomorrow....isn't there?