Last day in Prague

 It is our last day in Prague,  but our flight is not until 9 pm so have the whole day until about 6pm before we need to go to collect our bags and await the taxi.
  Time to go for breakfast first, and we are meeting up with a facebook Friend, Tom, who lives here, who is a photographer also.   So its Arcadia café again for hot chocolate and caramel waffles. After meeting up over breakfast Tom suggested we take a walk up river to Vysehrad and the Cemetery.

    We have walked up river on the castle side and eventually cross over the Palackehor most  bridge .

Having reached our destination, google maps shows a couple of different paths to take up to the top. this set of steps appears to be the best way up.

                            We are at the Top,  the Vysehrad Cemetery is next to the church.

Walking around the crypts ,which are all very lavish around the outer perimeter.  there are supposed to be quite a few famous people buried in here.

                                                                        B&w conversion

                                                     A famous Composer I believe.

                                             Around the back of the park looking upriver.

Time to make our way back now,   I had to get a shot through the arch with the Castle in the background.  Pity about the tree branches !

                                                                              Selfi time .

      I have put the 100-400mm L lens on to look down towards the Castle.
but first a shot with wide angle lens 69 seconds exposure to blur the water and show a little cloud movement.  it hasn't really worked out how I wanted though.

                              Now the long lens close up , Dam branches in the way again !

                                                                  View through a hole.

                    A Snow storm is approaching fast!   cant see the castle and Cathedral now.

                                                                      Bridge gone now!

The snow came through quickly and  has cleared just as fast, with blue sky now and the snow has already melted on the ground.

Heading back along the river now, the cloud is building nicely and is looking very interesting.

                                             These Granite paving setts look fabulous.

                                                      Look at that cloud now,   fabulous!

 Heading past the "Fred & Ginger" building , I need to get up to Charles Bridge to get a couple images while this cloud is looking so good.

                                      This is the Cultural centre and concert hall on an island .

Having reached the weir just before the bridge, I have set up the tripod and started to take a few long exposure images with the Lee Big stopper  a 10 stop nd filter and I noticed this large animal down on the wooden structure, it is a Cuypu (giant water rat)     quickly putting the 100-400 mm lens on managed this image .

Back to the long exposure shots now.

5dsr  17-40L 

90 seconds f14 Big stopper

Now we have just enough time to see if there will be any colour at sunset , down where the Swans are I think .  They are Very inquisitive  lol

A quick run up onto the bridge,  but the colour didn't really develop where I wanted, it looked good behind over the Cathedral and Castle but not over the bridge.

Back to our apartment to get the bags, but not before stopping to shoot the "Memorial to Victims of Communism! monument which is at the top of the road from the apartment.

The end of our New Year trip to Prague .

New Years Day in Prague 2019

It is New Years day in Prague, there is a big organised firework display at 6 pm tonight, set off from Letna park near the metronome.      We are going down onto the Strelecky Ostrov island to get a nice view straight down the river towards Letna which is behind Charles Bridge.
Unfortunately rain showers are forecast but we cant change that!

And we are a bit late to get a good clear view ,its packed already with photographers!   I have had to set up tripod under a tree but with people in front of me partially obscuring the water with their heads!      Dam!

                                            Heads or no heads, I will get some images

                      This magnificent building is the National Theatre   Narodni divadlo.

            Now time to walk around to see the Fred and Ginger building , but its not fully lit up.

                                        Walking along the river towards Charles bridge.

We have walked along past the bridge down to the next bridge, I take this phone image from middle of the road over the bridge with Prague castle in the background.

        A long exposure on Charles Bridge to try to blur out all the people that are walking around.
                                        25 seconds f14  and 20 seconds f7.1 for the buildings

                                                           Down under Charles Bridge

The end of a great start to the new year, home tomorrow evening so a full day to walk around.

New Years Eve in Prague pt 2

Its New Years Eve, and it will be a long day.    We are off out to go for breakfast at our favourite place, Café Arcadi which is just below the castle.   A 15 minute walk along the cobbled streets

                                         The buildings really are beautiful in this city.

                              Time for Hot chocolate and caramel covered waffles .  Yay

                                                                     Yummy !!!!!!!!!!!

    Now to walk up to the castle and around  towards the monastery .  sharp right turn at the top here to climb steeply up to the castle square .  The granite stone setts look fabulous , wet or dry .

                                                       The view looking back down .

                           Looking across the city from near the castle entrance, a superb view.

Walking across the square heading up towards the monastery area, there is a miniatures museum that looks interesting near there.

We have arrived at the Monastery  , the miniatures museum is just around the corner tucked away out of the way.

We have found the entrance to the museum,  it costs 130 czk each to go in, that's about £4 each . inside there are microscopes all around the rooms , each with a description of what is viewable.   I managed a phone shot through the eyepiece,  two gold cars on the leg of a flea!!!!    wow!
  Inside another, a needle eye had about 5 camels in a row placed inside .  amazing!

Now we are walking up to Petrin Hill and the Tower.     This is the viewpoint through the trees to St Vitus Cathedral.   Just a phone picture as I have shot this view before .

Petrin Tower,  I have shot this in the snow, fog, blue skies and hoar frost before ,so it appears a bit dull today in comparison.

                      Looking down from the gardens on the hillside of  Petrin Hill across the city.

                                                                The Funicular railway

        Finally we are down at the bottom of the hill at the "Memorial for victims of Communism"

Now back to the apartment for a rest before going out for the New Years Eve celebrations.

Its now 8 pm, and walking along the river towards Charles bridge,  using the 100-400mm lens on the 5dsr I have shot the Castle/Cathedral

                                            3.2 seconds f8    what a stunning building!

                                                                    Petrin Tower

            A full panorama view.   we will be back in this area by about 11 pm to wait for midnight.

 A walk into Old Town square,  there are bands playing on the stage, but not to my taste!    its absolutely packed with people.  a really good atmosphere as usual.  we spend about an hour here before walking back to the river to get a good spot to set up the tripod for the fireworks.

10 oclock and the fireworks have started being set off,  everywhere!   huge rockets are being set of from a balcony a hundred yards behind us. and smaller ones just over the road from us.

It appears we are in the wrong position for  taking photographs , the main fireworks are being set off from the barge as normal, but it is moored against the bank behind the building in front of us, last time the barge was in the middle of the river near the bridge    Dam!  

               I have managed to get a few images, but not what I expected,  the main group of fireworks are only visible above the bridge tower unfortunately.      There are huge numbers of people all around lining the river bank and Charles bridge looks the same.

The fireworks are being randomly set of all over the city  now   ,  great to be here on what is now New Years Day .            It does appear to be busier than when we were last here 2 years ago .

Its manic now, rockets going off Everywhere all around us , people setting them off in empty beer bottles in the middle of the road, smashed glass all over the place .  its now about 1 am, and time to escape the madness as its getting a bit dangerous    lol


              Tonight there is an official New Years day firework display at Letna park at 6 pm.