Dvorak’s Hometown

“Gray skies are gonna clear up”…or at least that’s what we hoped as we steeped out and walked down to the Vltava River walk. Unfortunately it would rain off and on until late afternoon, but it didn’t dampen our spirits.

The rain held off as we walked the river’s edge watching all of the boats travel up and down. We soon found ourselves at the foot of a hill, which we climbed to reach St. Peter and Paul’s Church. The façade was a dark brown and black color accented with bright Byzantine like mosaics making it one of the most unique church buildings I’ve ever seen. Just to the right of the front doors was an elaborate wrought iron gate, which led into a beautiful old graveyard. Three sides of the graveyard consisted of gated family graves. We were looking for one in particular, that of Antonin Dvorak and his wife, Anna. Dvorak was a celebrated Czech composer who also spent time in America. Many of his most famous orchestral works are based on Slavic and American folk songs including the “Going Home” movement from the New World Symphony and his Hungarian Dances.

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Liam and I both love Dvorak’s music and so when we left the graveyard we walked about 10 minutes to the Dvorak Museum located in one of his homes in Prague. The museum was well organized and it displayed many of his music compositions and personal items. Faywen loved the fact that Dvorak played the viola!

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The skies opened while we were in the museum and the rain continued as we walked along the streets. We popped into a little mall and purchased 3 more umbrellas. It was lunchtime and we were near our apartment so we went home to dry off and eat.

The rain lessened a bit so we headed out once again this time towards Wenceslas Square, the Prague Opera House, and eventually into the Czech National Museum.  The quadruple marble staircase was a feast for the eyes! The 20^th century Czechoslovakia exhibit was very interesting. Robert and I particularly found the old Soviet propaganda and photos from the 1970’s-80’s memorable. We found a Czech flag made by prisoners at the Dachau Concentration Camp. It had been placed on the shoulders of the first US soldier to enter the camp on liberation day. We had read about this story while at Dachau last month.

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In front of the museum was the Wenceslas square and the main shopping thoroughfare for Prague. It reminded me a lot of O’Connell Street in Dublin. A few blocks and we were once again in the heart of Old Town Prague. The architecture of the 17-18^th century painted buildings made the Old Town Square look like it had popped out of a European storybook! In one of these buildings we attended a musical concert. Members of the Dvorak Symphony Orchestra gave the concert. The quintet played Bizet, 3 Dvorak selections, Smetana, and the entire “Seasons” by Vivaldi.

We ate dinner in an old 12^th century cellar. The White Horse had delicious food and live music. Right at the end of our meal, Faywen went over and asked the musician to play “Country Roads”. He put in a pre-recorded track and everyone in the restaurant sang along. It was entertaining to be singing this song in an ancient cellar turned fancy restaurant in Prague! We’ve discovered that the song is very popular throughout Europe.  Faywen and I went over to say thank you and give him a tip. Ariminio was very kind and also visually impaired. We immediately bonded once Faywen mentioned I was legally blind. He has tunnel vision and makes his living as a musician. I took a cute photo of Faywen holding Mr. Ariminio’s guitar. Just after we left the restaurant the 16^th century Astronomical Clock chimed. It is the oldest clock of it’s kind still in operation. It chimed 21 times for the 21^st hour of the day. We walked home as dusk settled in and the lights turned on in the