Postcard from Prague

I've mentioned before that I had resisted the picture postcard views of Prague. Well my resistance has melted away and I would be more than happy to send you any of the following shots from our holiday:

Prague Castle from the Petrin Hill (1)

Prague Castle from the Petrin Hill (2)

National Theatre

Zizkov Tower

Church of the Most Sacred Heart

Old Square

Astronomical Clock Detail

St Ludmilas - Peace Square

Jan Hus Statue

St Vitus Cathedral - Prague Castle

National Theatre Extension

Charles Bridge 

The Final Judgement - St Vitus' Cathedral

Charles Bridge in the rain

St Vitus' Cathedral

Masaryk Statue in front of  Castle Gates 

John Lennon Wall

Charles Bridge Access

Charles Bridge Statue

Tour of the Plot - Green is the Theme

 Returning from holiday  (OK I've remembered this is a gardening blog) everything is green

Admittedly that's because most weeds are green.. but the potatoes have formed a nice canopy:

The first green courgette has arrived:

Through the (admittedly black) fabric the sweetcorn is shooting up.

and under the mesh the carrots are making headway:

The French Beans are growing

with the Canadian Wonder taking the lead,

Here's a busy fringe of Salad Bowl lettuces and Swedes.

Jerusalem Artechokes

Globe Artechokes:

Parsnips

The raspberries are nearly done cropping, but still very verdant.

To complete the tour there are the alliums and...

...beyond them the brassicas.

Provided I can get back on top of the weeding these crops should thrive.

Hope you enjoyed the end of July tour.

Praha-ha

As you may have gathered from recent posts we had a ball visiting Prague. As yet I resisted posting the conventional tourist views.  There is so much stunning architecture that it took a week just to get around.  All the same I would like to share some of the lighter sights we came across:

Mistaken Identity?

There are lots of breweries

River trip sponsor?

The Two Sides of Prague

Peering out the window of the cafe it dawned on me that I was looking at the rear end of a horse.  Yes indeed the rear end of an upside down horse. Here's the picture I took on leaving the cafe:

It's that Czech joker Cerny again parodying the Statue of King Wenceslas not far away in the square named after him:

King Wenceslas with his horse the right way up.

Don't believe me?  Here's another shot:

Runner Bean Tree?

When we visited Lyon a couple of years ago I was impressed with what looked like a Pea Tree in the Tete D'Or Botanic Park.  You won't be surprised therefore that on our recent visit to Prague (for that is where we went) the tree above caught my attention.  Could this be a Runner Bean Tree? The leaves are suitably heart shaped and the fruit, well they look like dried runner beans.

As for location: there were a couple of specimens in the park right outside the main train station. On investigation these would appear to be "Catalpa" trees.

Later on glancing up in Peace Square I spotted this specimen:

The leaves are quite different but the fruit are leguminous in appearance.  Best guess: Robinia Pseudoacacia- Black Locust Tree.

The fruit is are not so different from the tree above but the leaves are completely different!

Kafkaesque II - Metamorphosis?

Does this public sculpture look familiar?

...maybe now...

...or now?...

...Ah yes, it's Franz Kafka in his home town, brought to us by David Cerny

To see this dynamic sculpture in real time try the following link:

Kafka by Cerny