Without Lifting A Finger

There's a chance I'll make it back to the eternal city. If only for a single night and too far from the Stare Mesto (but still within walking distance). Knight-errant thoughts: Mozart, the children's drawings of Terezin, Petrin Hill, The Hunger Wall, Kafka and Milena, getting lost (a good thing) in Prague. * A few clips from the letters: Of course I understand Czech. I’ve meant to ask you several times already why you never write in Czech. Not to imply that your command of German leaves anything to be desired. Most of the time it is amazing and on those occasions when it does falter, the German language becomes pliant just for you, of its own accord, and then it is particularly beautiful, something a German doesn’t even dare hope for; a German wouldn’t dare write so personally. But I wanted to read you in Czech because, after all, you do belong to that language, because only there can Milena be found in her entirety (the translation confirms this), whereas here ther...

Heard live only once: in Prague. St. Nicholas Church in the Old Town (if memory serves). Literally: I was transported. I heard it this morning on the radio and remembered (half-remembered) the past. *** The Requiem Mass in D minor ( K. 626) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was composed in Vienna in 1791 and left unfinished at the composer's death on December 5. A completion dated 1792 by Franz Xaver Süssmayr was delivered to Count Franz von Walsegg , who had anonymously commissioned the piece for a requiem mass to commemorate the February 14 anniversary of his wife's death. The autograph manuscript shows the finished and orchestrated introit in Mozart's hand, as well as detailed drafts of the Kyrie and the sequence Dies Irae as far as the first nine bars of "Lacrimosa" , and the offertory . It cannot be shown to what extent Süssmayr may have depended on now lost "scraps of paper" for the remainder; he later claimed the Sanctus and Agnus Dei ...

I visited Kafka's grave the first time I was in Prague (roughly 20 years ago). I don't recall seeing the plaque for Brod (apparently across from Kafka's grave), but then I didn't know to look.     [From Wikimedia Commons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bronze_plaque_commemorating_Max_Brod,_Prague.JPG ] 

Julius Zeyer (April 26, 1841 – January 29, 1901) was a Czech prose writer, poet, and playwright . Personal Life Zeyer was born in Prague , the son of Eleonora (née Weissel) and Jan Zeyer, a timber merchant. [ 1 ] His father came from French ( Alsatian ) nobility, and his mother was from a Jewish family, and had converted to Catholicism. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] Zeyer learned the Czech language from his nanny . He was expected to take over the family's factory but instead decided to learn carpentering. Attempts to study high school and university were unsuccessful. During his life he frequently traveled in Europe and the Orient. After 1877 he moved to Vodňany , where he spent over a decade with literary work. Afterwards, he returned to Prague. He died in Prague. Works Zeyer's prose and poems are restless, nostalgic, mystical, depressive, and usually end tragically. He often blended foreign legends with national themes particular to Czech society and history. [ 4 ] Like the De...

Praha/Prague/Prag-Hradcany, Chotkovy sady, pomnik J.Zeyera /Czech Poet Julius Zeyer's Monument , a photo by vratsab on Flickr. From Kafka's Diaries: "Was in Chotek Park. Most beautiful place in Prague." Don't know that I was ever there (Kafka doesn't say anything about this monument, but it's one of the better photos of the park/gardens I found). Will look for it next time.

Adolf Loos (1870-1933) - Villa Müller (1928-1930), Praha ' Prague ' Praga , a photo by Adam Gut on Flickr.

Putting up the Christmas decorations , a photo by pentlandpirate on Flickr. Prague around Xmas.

Charles Bridge, Prague 02/12/2008 , a photo by Gary S. Crutchley on Flickr. Years ago now (over 20) I spent a week or so before Xmas in and around Charles Bridge, Prague. I've been back since, but not in the winter. Some day . . .

I caught only a glimpse of this the last time I was in Prague. Rushing to get my tickets--and then get back to the girls--I saw it from below. Beautiful.   [From Wikimedia Commons. Photographer: Brunswyk. Will have to get my own version the next time I'm in Prague.] 



On the Hill   From our Window near the Castle From our Window (at Night)

I think "yours truly" is in here somewhere.

When last in Prague we stayed just a short walk from Petrin Hill. In fact we could see the observation tower (inspired by the grander Eiffel) lit up through our apartment window at night. Anyway, I believe it was our last morning and afternoon before boarding the train to Wroclaw. We wandered through the Mirror Maze (our girls enjoyed this) and came to the end. The huge diorama supposedly depicts the final battle of the Thirty Years' War on Charles Bridge. 

Just looking through some old photos from Prague (3 summers past). I kept trying to take a decent photo of the castle at dusk. We had a wonderful below-ground room on the castle side. All three shots (I believe) are from Charles Bridge (Karluv Most).  

Funny how Kafka keeps popping up at Without Lifting a Finger. Anyway, he's being celebrated (remembered) again this week. Kafka's grave is in what is called the New Jewish Cemetery, a little outside of Prague's Old Town.  Seems like I took the underground to get there. Apparently he's buried on the same site as his mother and father (Hermann and Julie); has no epitaph.  

My friend Martin told me to go see this. In a rather dingy little mall off of St. Wenceslas Square. It was the last thing I "shot" before leaving Prague and boarding the train to Poland. 

By chance, I was looking through a few photos from a recent Prague trip (2009) and thought Why not. * Celebratory Photo #1: The Cafe Franz Kafka in Prague (which I ran into on the way to Photo #2). Celebratory Photo #2: The Kafka Statue (inspired by an early Kafka short story, "Description of a Struggle") by Jaroslav Rona (see his "Parable with Skull" also on my blog).  Look behind the statue and you'll see part of the Spanish Synagogue in Prague's Jewish Quarter.