MERRY CHRISTMAS

Best wishes for a happy and healthy holiday season.
We miss you and our thoughts are with you.
Here's to a prosperous New Year.
Peace and Love.

-Joanne & Martin.

As Christmas approaches, what better place that Prague? The city with a square named after Saint Wenceslas, of the Christmas carol. Cold enough to make it feel like the holiday season and beautiful to look at. So here we were, off to Prague.

Prague is less than two hours away by plane, and our flight on Czech Airways was without incident if one ignores the pale ham on white bread sandwich that was presented to us as our in-flight meal. Its accessibility and the strength of the pound versus the Czech koruna (or crown) has made this an increasingly popular destination for Britons. Prague has become the chosen destination for stag weekends and hen nights. Mercifully, December is the low season for this type of celebration. Yet another reason to go now.

As with the cities we have visited before, Prague grew up straddling a river, in this case, the River Vltava. As with the other cities, as the city grew, so did the number of bridges. Prague has a eight of bridges from ancient to modern. The most famous and perhaps most striking is the Karluv Most or Charles Bridge. It was begun in 1357 and remained the only connection between the two halves of Prague for 400 years. On each of the piers, there are statues of saints and martyrs. The bridge is amazing for the view that it affords of the river and the city.

The old city, or Staré Město is the oldest portion of Prague. It was first settled as early as the tenth century. This area is a tangle of cobbled streets and. There is no grid street system here. From the stairs that approach the back of the castle, you look out over this area of the city. The buildings are five stories tall and feature red clay tile roofs. It is easy to get lost in the maze of lanes and streets.

The centrepiece of the old city is the Starometske Namesti. This is the old town square. It is a magnificent place that features some incredible pieces of architecture. It features an astronomical clock, a monument to the Czech Nationalism and the Tyn Church. The square was all done up for Christmas with a giant decorated tree and stalls selling crafts, gifts and the most delicious sweet doughy treats.

The astronimical clock is a marvel. It was constructed at the beginning of the fifteenth century. It tells three different types of time. Central European Time, the standard local time. It also tells Old Bohemian Time and ancient Babylonian time. All handy to know.

In 1490, figures were added that put on a performance when the clock strikes the hour. So impressed with the work of the man that installed the figures, that he was immediately blinded by the city fathers so he could not recreate this work for anyone else.

Prague is dominated by the Castle that overlooks it from the hill on the left bank of the river. It is likely that there has been a castle on this site since the ninth century and since then, whoever has had control of the castle has had authority over The Czech Republic. We approached from the rear of the castle the affords a great view of the old city.

The castle gates are topped by a pair of statues called Battling Titans, figures set to deliver fatal blows to their opponents. The guards that stand watch in, ceremonial uniforms, perform a ceremonial changing each day at noon.



































Passing through the first two smaller courtyards takes you to the St. Vitus Cathedral. The cathedral takes up most of this courtyard, to the point that it is difficult to get a proper perspective on it. It was begin in 1344 and not finished until six hundred years later. As a result, the building shows a number of different styles. It is mostly in the Gothic style, with a Baroque spire resting on a Rennaisance stone parapet.

Prague is serviced by a Metro and a tram system. The Metro was soviet built and this is the area of the city that I found to be the most obvious place to see the Soviet influence. The stations are huge open spaces lined with big slabs of marble tile. The oddest feature, or lack thereof, is the absence of advertising. Despite the vast open platforms, the escalators are a bit of a free-for-all and alighting from a train is followed by a scrum to get out of the station. The tram system, similar to Toronto’s streetcars. They are plentiful, efficient and a great way to get around the city. There is indeed something civilised about a city with a tram system.

We spent our last morning in Prague in the Museum of Decorative Arts. It was founded in 1885 and its collection centres on the Art Nouveau movement, something for which I have a fondness. I would have happily paid the admission charge just to walk around the building without any exhibits. It was staggering. The interior is decorated in marble, stained glass, carved wood panelling and trompe l’oeil painting. Dad, if you saw this, you would spend all day in just the entry stair well. Sadly, photographs are not allowed, so you will just have to go to Prague to see this one yourself.

Despite the food there being a little dire, Prague was a beautiful city. It is unique in its history and architecture. It has been untouched by war and natural disaster. People that have travelled more than we have, say it is possibly the most beautiful city in Europe. We will continue travelling to prove that this is true.

TORNADO HITS LONDON!

In a bizarre weather twist today, a tornado touched down in North-West London. It caused extensive damage to the neighbourhood on Chamberlayne Road in the borough of Brent. Trees were uprooted, roofs were ripped off and several houses were damaged to an extent that they may have to be pulled down. Fortunately, there were only six injuries and almost all of them minor.

The storm hit around 11:00 in the morning and brought not only high winds but driving rain and hail. Links to the news reports are HERE, HERE and HERE.

The street in question is only six blocks from the WTF (Worlds Tiniest Flat). The weather was indeed dire all over the area and I felt it out where I work in the east end of the city as did Joanne who works in downtown. I thought that winter here was supposed to by grey, cold and rainy. So far it has been almost none of those things. The surprises continue here in London.

I was never a star-gazer. Part of the reason is that I grew up in Richmond Hill. Aside from meeting Kim Mitchell in Cosmo Music I never really saw too many famous people. Unless you count the drummer from Platinum Blonde, but then you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who hasn’t met him.

Things have changed since we moved to London. If you look back, you will see that I saw one of the blokes from Oasis when we had been here about a week. The sightings have continued and the purpose of this entry is to bring you up to date with our latest.

The other night, we crossed the High Street on our way home. Two men in long black coats were crossing the street going the other way. One of them was Pete Docherty, who is a musician. The thing that Pete Docherty is most famous for, besides being Kate Moss’ boyfriend, is being famous.

He is constantly, I mean constantly, in the daily newspapers that given away at the entrance to the Tube. Pete Docherty is forever being banged up for drug use, drug possession and hijinks whilst high. Apparently, he was in a band called The Libertines that made precisely one album that precisely no-one except a handful of critics bought. He has a band called Babyshambles that never seems to play anywhere.

This week, it became painfully evident that my hair needed cutting. I can tell when it’s haircut time because people’s eyes travel up when they talk to me. So off I go to the barber shop on my nearby High Street, The Men’s Lounge. They have a plasma screen Nintendo to play with and free beer while you wait for your barnet reduction.

There was a commotion and all of the barbers rushed to the window. I was able to see Rachel Stevens crossing the road to get her hair done in the salon opposite where I get my hair cut. It seems that the most popular pass time for celebrities is crossing my High Street. Rachel Stevens is a pop star here in England. I must confess that I haven’t heard any of her songs, but I don’t have a radio. The barbers were suitably impressed and it brought out all of the bumping into Paul McCartney stories.

Sunday, Jo and I hopped on the Tube. We were headed to St. John’s Wood, the Tube station nearest the Lord’s Cricket grounds. We were out for some more on-foot exploration of the neighbourhoods of Maida Vale and Marylebone. On the Tube with us was a man in a flat cap and winter coat. As we passed by him at the station, Jo identified him as Ewan McGregor.

Ewan McGregor was in such movies as Trainspotting, Star Wars III and Long Way Round. The latter is a documentary where he rides his BMW motorcycle around the world. He is also a handsome devil, or so I am told.

So as you see, our brushes with fame continue. It is all part of living here in London and it seems that even people who are recognizable just walk the streets like us plain folk. We will keep our eyes open and when there are more sightings of the famous or infamous, we will record them in this space.