Events

Prague really promotes and lives it reputation of being a classical and artistic city – there are classical concerts every night in the main churches, opera, ballet, theatre and lots of classical music shops. Dvorak came from here and Mozart worked here a lot.

We went to the opera (The Kiss by Smetana - a local Czech). It was great - the best part being in the National Opera House. It was so beautiful with painted ceilings, huge chandeliers, galleries, live orchestra and red velvet everywhere. The tickets seemed very good value and the opera even had subtitles so we could understand.

Another night we sought out the local Jazz scene in the Bar Agharta – Rhythm Desperados were playing and they were very good, tight, entertaining and very well appreciated – more litres of beer … After that a late night walk along river to take in the night views of the castle and bridges and tram back to our apartment.

We had to decide between ballet, another opera and a guitar concert the next night. The guitar concert by a solo Czeck performer in one of the main churches won.

Eating out has also been one of our main occupations. There are hundreds, probably thousands of restaurants. The prices are very reasonable for all food and drink away from tourist areas. We usually look for a meal for about $A6-9 and beer is cheap. Fortunatley most places offer an English menu, because it is really hard to know between ‘s kfenem’, ‘se sunkou’ and ‘jablkovy zavim’ (one is horseradish, one is ham and one is apple strudel, I think). The language still hasn’t made much sense but it doesn’t sound like they are talking backwards anymore.

There is an art to queueing and a lot of unwritten rules we found out when we went the Prom Concerts at Royal Albert Hall. The tickets to gain access to the standing areas are only 5 pound and because of that you need to get there early and wait … and wait … and wait. But it is not so bad – everyone comes prepared – there were a group of high school students playing cards, several couples and larger groups with wine and nibbles, people sleeping or listening to music and we found it a good opportunity to meet people and chat with music or Proms officionados. It was a very relaxed and friendly atmosphere with a lot of people being long term queueing buddies.
Depending on which queue, you can gain access to either the Gallery right up high with a perfect view but a long way back or to the Arena – right at the stage but with potentially tall people standing in front of you. Still everyone is very polite and respectful of the spot you claim for yourself.
The concert we saw was only 1 1/2 hours so not a long concert to stand for and it was very good to be so close – I felt like I was in the orchestra too.
We are trying another of these standing cheap tickets tonight for Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice at the Globe Theatre. People have said it is great to be a ‘groundling’ right at the feet of the actors and in the thick of it. (Mind you its is 3 hours standing this time!)
But it is certainly a good way to get to see some of London’s top quality performances for almost nothing and feel like we have done something that is very much part of the tradition and custom of the place.

The UK is steeped in history – there are ruins of castles everywhere, everyday buildings date back hundreds of years before Australia was even settled. The oldest pub in Norwich where we have been staying was built in 1242! And the English really love their heritage. In particular they like to recreate the old days and during the summer there are medieval re-enactments all over the place. These include the clothes, food, tools, weapons, occupations and sometimes even the battles.

We went to a re-enactment day at Castle Rising Castle (yes that’s its name). It was great. A group of devoted followers of British history were all in costume, and playing the parts of various people in the village – the lord, the priest, the notary (writer), the archer, the cook, the musician. They were having lunch when we arrived – all authentic with wooden bowls and goblets, bone spoons, and some rather nice looking baked food. After that we could talk to each person about their part in the village etc. They stayed in character all the time and it was very interesting. As a highlight to the day they staged a battle – complete with knight in full armour (we watched him get dressed and that alone took 30 minutes) and 6 archers all firing rubber tipped arrows at each other. They were a bit short on numbers but we got the idea and it was very entertaining.

Wooden swords and bow and arrow set were on sale and every kid seemed to have one so at times it felt like you were in the middle of a battle too with arrows flying about. Those sorts of toys are not encouraged in Australia but they are all the go over here because it is history.

Edinburgh would be an interesting place at any time of the year with its tall stone buildings and amazing castle perched on a rocky crag – but especially when they have their festival.
The FRINGE Festival alone is enormous and over-whelming. There are hundreds of performances covering music, theatre, dance, opera and lots and lots of comedy. There are some great permanent venues, and a lot of purpose made venues. Shows run from about 9.30am to 4.00am in some locations and 1000s of people come from all over the world to join in the fun. I have heard more Aussie accents here than anywhere in Europe. The performers also come from all over the world including Tripod (who Max saw), Adam Hills and Sammy J from Australia.
The city takes on a very theatrical atmosphere with actors doing their stuff, ghost tours, witch tours and performers on every street corner. There are fantastic buskers everwhere – wild Scottish clansmen playing bagpipes and drums, suit-wearing Korean wrap dancers, fire juggling tight rope walkers, people juggling chainsaws, clever magicians, a vacuum cleaner playing a sax, and acapella singers – and they are all free or just a donation.
Over 3 days we saw some fantastic shows. Terrific dance from Czech and England, excellent theatre comedy from Korean and England, great stand up comedians from Australian and England and some good Spsanish and Scottish music, as well as a few pretty terrible comedians (English!) - but on average we managed to see more good than bad.
But for anyone who is interested in going to the Edinburgh Festival don’t be tricked by the fact that it is held in summer – it has been freezing and wet. It didn’t dampen anyone’s sprits though.
We also found a great and cheap place to eat at the Mosque Kitchen, behind the mosque. Meat or veg curries and rice or nan bread for just 3 pound. So with breakfast provided at the hostel and a big curry each day, we managed pretty well.

They really like their noise (traffic, sirens, motorbikes without mufflers, loud voices and fireworks), and especially last weekend when there was the festival of Saint Joan.

In the weeks leading up to the festival fireworks go on sale and kids of all ages enjoy letting them off in the park especially when unsuspecting and unaccustomed travellers and tourists are walking by. As the festival gets closer the frequency of the bangs seems to get closer and bigger … any time of the day or night. Sunny (our dog) could never be a Spanish dog, but the dogs here don’t even seem to notice.

As a preliminary to the evening we went to check out the ‘Magical Fountain’ – a water and light show people said we should see. Every half hour the fountain starts up and coloured lights shine through the water making a truly beautiful scene. This is all choreographed to orchestral music and it is very impressive. Perhaps it was less impressive though on the night we saw it because the music was often drowned out by the noise of the fireworks and crackers going off continually nearby. Rather than a big city planned firework event, each family buys their own fireworks, crackers and sparklers and heads to an open space – thus the non-stop noise and scattered cardboard remains the next day.

The festival of Saint Joan culminated with a BIG beach party around midnight. According to the local press 100,000 people, (less than previous years!) gathered on the Barcelona beaches to party, dance, drink, let off crackers, bungers, and fireworks, make a lot of noise and hang out there until dawn. We went to see what it was all about, and yes, there probably were that many people on the beach. And al least half of them were trying to catch the same metro as us at 11.30pm to the beach.

It was amazing … crowds and crowds of people, all trying to get on already over crowded and packed trains in the middle of the night. When we had finally progressed our way to the platform, we waited for 3 trains to pull in (each one cheered by the waiting crowd), but when the doors opened we couldn’t even push our way in. We ended up walking to the beach which was at least in the open air.

We weren’t keen to spend the whole night at the beach, but catching the metro home at 2.00am was almost as crowded as the ones getting there. Needless to say the noise, fireworks and crackers went all night.

Late the next morning when we finally arose, the streets, parks, beaches all looked the worse for wear with litter, and firework debris everywhere. Thank goodness for the street cleaners who come out daily though to sweep, rake, and hose the place and keep it looking litter-free.