Marionettes and More

Walking around Prague one quickly notices that marionettes are significant for the city.  Marionette theatre has a long history in Prague and there is a school here to teach marionette skills to new manipulators.  Based on a brochure we picked up we decided that we would check out the National Marionette Theatre's production of Mozart's opera "Don Giovanni".  I didn't realize this, but in the 18th Century there were operas specifically composed for marionettes.  So we decided to take a chance on this following our supper.

Earlier in the day we did more looking around the old city, basically a time of wandering.  We also looked for a specific walking tour person to ask questions about what they offered.  They never showed up at the time and place indicated on the brochure, but I did talk to another walking guide who gave us some helpful information.  Monday we plan to do one or two of these walking tours.

One of the many beautiful old buildings of Prague.

After wandering about Prague, including walking over one bridge and back over another, we headed back to the apartment for a little break.  Beth and I walked to the train station to buy our tickets for Wednesday (so we don't have to worry about doing that in the morning prior to boarding the train). On this walk we discovered a whole new section of Prague, with different shops and restaurants.  However we already had our supper place picked out... I saw in the window of a place near our apartment a picture of goulash soup in a bread bowl - that looked yummy as well as being a decent price.  So once we got back from the train station we gathered up the kids and headed out for supper.  The goulash soup in the bread bowl was indeed yummy, and the other dishes we ordered we all quite tasty.

The Charles Bridge - the oldest bridge in Prague, now a pedestrian bridge only filled with artists and crafts people selling there work (or doing your portraits) during the summer months

After supper we dashed off to the National Marionette Theatre to catch the performance of Don Giovanni. The theatre was in the converted attic of an old building which we reached by climbing some circular stairs.  The performance started a few minutes after we arrived.  It probably would have helped immensely had any of us known the plot details to the opera since it was all in Italian and there were no program notes.  However, even without knowing the complexities of the plot we were still able to enjoy the skillful, and often humorous, work of the marionette manipulators.  When the performance was over we weren't even sure it was finished until the manipulators came out and bowed (there were six of them).  It was entertaining to be sure, and in the words of Thomas "That was sure different".

Part of the Prague Square in the old city at night.

Following the show we wandered about looking for some gelato to cap off the evening.  Prague looks lovely and mysterious at night and it was enjoyable just making our way around the old city.  There were buskers about, two of note - a jazz group including a trumpet player who at one point played both a trumpet and a flugelhorn at the same time, the other was a bouzouki player who was playing some incredibly fast lines on what seemed like a very narrow neck of the instrument.  After our gelatos we headed back to the apartment where Anna looked up the plot of Don Giovanni and we all had a good laugh trying to figure out which marionette was which character. Another day has disappeared and with that I realized that our time in Europe is quickly, and sadly, coming to an end.

Street to our apartment at night - mysterious and beautiful.