Woke up and after a hearty breakfast took the subway with Chris and Joe up to the castle so that we could see the gardens which we had not been able to see when were were there the day before. We passed some lovely statues and small gardens and parks along the way.
The trolleys in Prague are narrow and very cool. inexpensive too we got a day pass as we figured we would be using it all day. We did not get lost and it did not take us long before we were there. We were all sad to see that the lineup was way too long, it went for at least a block. We all decided that for us to stand in the cold to see a garden for that long was not what we wanted to do with our time so we caught the train again and continued on.
Prague is a very large city but according to some of the locals it is like there are no suburbs. there is the city and then there is the country and the city is very cheap to live in. We rode to the end of that line and caught the train back down to the Church of Our Lady Victorious and the famous infant Jesus statue.
It seems that this church is world famous for answering prayers and the most visitors come from the latin American countries. Interesting. It was a lovely church with some really beautiful statues, lovely altars and fine woodwork. There were lots of folks there praying for help and we said a few prayers there too for our family and friends.
Wikipedia says "The Infant Jesus of Prague or Child Jesus of Prague is a 16th-century Roman Catholic wax-coated wooden statue of child Jesus holding a globus cruciger, located in the Discalced Carmelite Church of Our Lady Victorious in Male Strana, Prague. Pious legends claim that the statue once belonged to Saint Teresa of Avila. In 1628 it was donated to the Carmelite friars by Princess Polyxena of Lobkowicz.
The image is routinely clothed by the Carmelite nuns in luxurious fabrics with imperial regalia and a golden crown while his left hand holds a globus cruciger, and the right hand raised in a benedicting posture. It is venerated during the Christmas season and the first Sunday of May commemorating its Coronation and public procession. coronation.
Pope Leo XIII approved the devotion to the image in 1896 and instituted a sodality in its favour. On 30 March 1913, Pope Pius X further organized the Confraternity of the Infant Jesus of Prague, while Pope Pius XI granted its first canonical coronation on 27 September 1924. Pope Benedict XVI crowned the image for the second time during his Apostolic visit to the Czech Republic on 26 September 2009.
The House of Habsburg began ruling the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1526; the kingdom developed close ties with Spain. The statue first appeared in 1556, when María Maximiliana Manriquez de Lara y Mendoza brought the image to Bohemia upon her marriage to Czech nobleman Vratislav of Pernstyn. An old legend in the Lobowicz family reports that María's mother, Doña Isabella, had been given the statue by Saint Teresa of Avila herself. María received the family heirloom as a wedding present. It later became the property of her daughter, Polyxena, 1st Princess Lobkowicz (1566–1642). In 1628, Princess Polyxena von Lobkowicz donated the statue to the Discalced Carmelite friars (White Friars).
Upon presenting it, the pious Princess Polyxena of Lobkowicz is said to have uttered a prophetic statement to the religious:
Venerable Fathers, I bring you my dearest possession. Honour this image and you shall never want.
The statue was placed in the oratory of the monastery of Our Lady of Victory, Prague, where special devotions to Jesus were offered before it twice a day. The Carmelite novices professed their vow of poverty in the presence of the Divine Infant. Upon hearing of the Carmelites' devotions and needs, the Emperor Ferdinand II of the House of Habsburg sent along 2,000 Florins and a monthly Stipend for their support.
In 1630, the Carmelite novitiate was transferred to Munich. Disturbances inBohemia due to the Thirty Years War brought an end to the special devotions, and on 15 November 1631 the army of King Gustavas Adolphus of Sweden took possession of Bohemia's capital city. The Carmelite friary was plundered and the image of the Infant of Prague was thrown into a pile of rubbish behind the altar. Here it lay forgotten for seven years, its hands broken off, until in 1637 it was found again by Father Cyrillus and placed in the church's oratory. One day, while praying before the statue, Father Cyrillus claimed to have heard a voice say,
Have pity on me, and I will have pity on you. Give me my hands, and I will give you peace. The more you honour me, the more I will bless you.
Since then, the statue has remained in Prague and has drawn many devotees worldwide to honour the Holy Child. Claims of blessings, favours and miraculous healings have been made by many who petitioned before the Infant Jesus.
In 1739, the Carmelites of the Austrian Province formed a special devotion apart from their regular apostolate. In 1741, the statue was moved to the epistle side of the church of Our Lady of Victory in Prague.
The church is also a museum of sorts. You go up a circular staircase with wonderful statues in niches in the walls as you go up. on the second floor there are collections of nativities from around the world including Canada's which was an Inuit village. Very cute.
After saving the church we found Mozarts Museum which was an interesting building wth a cafe, a washroom, a gift shop and a piano that was played by Mozart himself. We picked up a few souvenirs and continued our exploration of Prague
We left there and just walked down the street to a side street which took us to a very large and very lovely park. we passed the American consulate, and a sign that said Prirodni Pamatka which means Nature Sanctuary. OK we were in for that. They are actually the Petrin Hill gardens. we had seen Petrin Tower the night before all lit up and very pretty and not known what it was.
Strolling through the gardens passing a playground at a school and really wishing that the sun would come out and the wind would stop so that it would warm up a bit. It was still quite chilly so walking was keeping us warm.
There were statues to admire both fanciful and serious. Jan Neruda, we found out, was a Czech journalist, writer, poet and art critic. At some point we realized that we were very close to the same gardens that we were in last night.
When we came across a funicular which would take us up to more gardens and the Observatory we jumped on it and because we had bus passes we did not have to pay anything extra.
When we arrived at the top we found a map of the gardens and realized how really large an area it was.
Even though it was not open, I loved Štefánik's Observatory, founded 1928 on Petrin hill in the Centre of Prague and named after Slovak astronomer Milan Rastislav Stefanik. There were formulas and diagrams on the walls adjacent to the outside of the building which were most interesting. Although I had seen diagrams like these before I was not sure exactly how to read them, but maybe I will put a sundial in my garden too, just not on a wall or that large.
I loved the rose garden and sprinkled Mom and Dad there. there were not lots of flowers yet as it was still spring, and a cold spring at that, but the promise of many flowers made me think it would be beautiful in the summer.
We wandered from garden to garden and found a statue of lovers in an embrace. Chris and Joe, who had been married for many years, thought they still had it in them so posed for us and we all applauded their passion.
After the gardens we took the funicular down to the street again and jumped onto the street car. I love the architecture of Prague. The unexpected things that pop up everywhere. Really cool windows or fish that clean your feet.
Ghost tours of Prague which if we had more time we would love to do as I am thinking Prague has lots of ghosts, beautiful old cars parked on the street, probably used for weddings and grads
Our streetcar driver let us off as close as possible to Charles bridge and we walked a very short distance to get to it. We decided to grab a bite to eat in a very classy restaurant right before the bridge.
The meal was wonderful and Chris and Joe were very good company. The flowers in the window box at the restaurant were lovely too and the some of the statues had fun little creatures poking out their heads to keep us entertained.
As there were not even half as many tourists on the bridge that day, we had a much better view of the statues on the bridge. We did not know that they were replicas at the time. I thought that they could use a cleaning as they were quite dark.
We all went and found the saint plaque to touch again. It was much easier to get closer and get a good photo. I am not sure if we have twice as much luck now or if we have negated our luck for touching them twice... Hmmmm.
We parted ways at the Charles Bridge, Chris and Joe wanted to look at paintings and we wanted to go back into Old town. we passed another store with the fish eating peoples feet... what must that be like. It was too cold for us to find out.
We could not just pass by the Irish pub that we came across and went in to have a 1/2 pint and use the washrooms which were located in the basement. very cool, literally like a dungeon or wine cellar or a private party room.
We poked around in shops and found a hat shop where we tried on lots of different hats including tams also known as berets. We got one for our sister Jo as she used to wear tams all the time. I did find and buy a little painting of Prague which I will frame and hang when I get home. this would be my souvenir , not one for giving away.
We were getting to know our way back to the market square by now as we had been there a few times from the bridge. one more look at the clock and pick up the last of our souvenirs at the market.
It was the last day of our trip and we were glad that we had come to Prague.
It was so interesting and different from the the other towns that we had been to. We grabbed the shuttle back to the hotel and sorted our things out repacking and getting ready for our trip home tomorrow.
We decided on room service and then went shopping in the hotel shops. Margie bought me a beautiful green necklace for my birthday and a lovely garnet set for herself as her souvenir.
We fell asleep very easily and had pleasant dreams of wandering the streets and gardens of Prague.
Said bye bye to my favourite pillows, which I almost stole one but did not, and to the lovely hotel the Corithian. We took the shuttle to the small Praha airport where our luggage had "Heavy" tags put on them. they were checked straight through as we were not going to be needing them again until Edmonton. yeah.
Airport was alright. Had a nice cup of tea whole we waited and said goodbye to some of the folks from our trip who were also leaving that day at this airport.
