Saturday, June 23, 2007. Showers, Exp 23c.
Well today turned into a busy one. Started out the day as normal, a bit of breakfast at our hotel, then off to the underground station and into Mustek Station. Our first port of call is the Post Office, yes it is open Saturdays, well this one is open every day. My owner had a little parcel to post back to the UK, but the section that sells post products was not open on Saturdays. Well the search was on for an OfficeWorks. Alas no Officeworks but Tesco's had what was needed. Meanwhile when we first arrived at Wenceslas Square, they appeared to be setting up for a concert or something below the Josef Myslbek's statue of St Wenceslas. Well it turned out to be a rally of some sort, not sure what, but they had lots of coloured flags, whistles, noise makers of various kinds, group dress in various colours and placards. So we got to see the square being used for what it is famous for. Wenceslas Square became the focus for demonstrating Praguers and has been the scene of both tragic and happy events in the city's history.
At one end of the square is the National Museum and infront of that is the statue of St Wenceslas. It is on the steps of the National Museum that Jan Palach, burned himself to death in protest of the Soviet Occupation. The place is marked with a bronze cross set into the pavement.
The other end of the square has become the commercial end and has lots of passageways linking the square with other streets and shopping arcades, and souvenir shops. And thats what we did, a bit of shopping for a few souvenirs and pressies.
Later in the afternoon, we headed to Charles Bridge, to get a few evening photographs of the area. When we had almost crossed over, below, there was a small orchestra and choir setting up in the street. Once they started I did recongnize the music similar to 'Good king Wencelas' and it was strange that members of the choir did have Santa hats on, as well one man in full ski outfit. Anyway not even knowing what it was all about, we enjoyed a very pleasant concert.
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