The Shed 6

a reply to: Timely
Yeah, I know I look asleep... I was just happy.

I know what you mean about the architecture. I grew up in Oz, so when I came to Prague it was pretty jaw-dropping. The Castle's origins date back to 880 and its oldest extant church (within the Castle's grounds) was built in 920, so it's almost 1100 years old.

It's also the largest ancient castle in the world. Covers about 18 acres, including its various courtyards and walled-in gardens.

There are various places in Prague where you can see 1,000 years of architecture in one street. Romanesque houses and rotundas, Gothic-cellared buildings, Baroque, Rococo... Empire, Art Nouveau, Art Deco... All the way through to Cubist (the first Cubist buildings were built here), Modernist and also the most recent styles, like Gehry's "Fred and Ginger" (the "Dancing House").

Mike, it must be amazing to see those buildings up close! You'll have to show us more pics!

Timely, I saw your little sheep and chuckled. LOL

a reply to: Night Star

Thank you. We were back there again on Wednesday night for the official preview of the exhibitions. I got some more pics and will try posting them a bit later.

Even by Prague standards, the Spanish Hall is really something else. It's about 150 ft long (ie, half the length of a football field), 70-odd ft wide and with 40-foot-high ceilings. All done in neo-Rococo style. Seasoned locals are impressed by it. And no internal support columns down the middle to hold up that enormous ceiling. Heck of an achievement from an engineering point of view -- especially when you consider that hall is over 400 years old.

a reply to: JustMike


Very impressive! Can't wait to see more pics! I guess I should try to get some sleep now. HUGS!

Okay, in spite of the slooooow upload speed here at the cafe, I managed to get some pics up into my ATS image folder.
The following are from our visit to the Castle on Wed evening for the "preview" of the exhibitions (which had already opened). This was a chance to meet some of the authors/planners for the various exhibitions.

The roadway that leads into one of the Castle's entrances from the nearby tram stop. Police there to check cars going in. There are also soldiers lurking quietly off to one side, just in case they're needed. (I was glad to see that, to be honest.) :


Approaching the entrance. (This is not the "main" entrance. It's just one of the smaller ones.) Palace guards in their boxes there:


Inside the Spanish Hall. Not a sit-down event this time. Mainly speeches from the organizers. It opened with a fanfare by these musos from the military. Pretty impressive sounds:


My effort to try and get a pic that gives some impression of how big this room is. Bit of camera shake:


Some detail of the chandeliers and the ceiling:


Some detail of Dada and a selection of eats. They really laid it on:


Same outfits, as last Friday. (Hey, we don't have anything else!) But this time I wore a tie pin that belonged to my grandfather:


The main entrance to the Castle. We decided to exit this way so we could take in the views and then walk down the steps to the lower tram stop:


Closeup of the inscription above the main entrance (Matthias Gate), dated 1614:


Turning around at the same spot, there's the view:


Panning a bit to the right, towards Petrin Hill with its scale copy of the Eiffel Tower:


Walked forward a bit to get a zoom in on the dome of the Church of St Mikulas (Nicholas) :


Zoomed out to show more of the scene. That's the dome near mid pic, down in the "little quarter" of the town (Malostranska) :


Panned to the right a little. Most of the houses are several hundred years old:


Okay, that's all for now.

11.50 am and Dada hasn't arrived yet... Should have been here about 11 am. Looks like she may have forgotten. If she doesn't get here soon I'll have to head home.

You can find some useful info in English about the Matthias Gate HERE.
NOTE: that site has an error in the Latin translation. They say "S[emper] Aug[ustus]" means "whenever noble". Umm... No! "Semper" means "always"! I have no idea how they got that so wrong, but whatever. The rest is pretty accurate.

a reply to: Night Star
Pics will still be here later... Get some sleeeeeeep!

a reply to: JustMike

Thanks for all the great pics, Mike - Dada looks really happy.

Living in Europe, I keep forgetting about the history, or rather taking it for granted - the village I live in has an 11th Century church (very small), but then I realise it is much older, architecturally, than anything in Oz or America. And my house is at least 200 years old, well the first one anyway. It is actually three houses built one after the other as the family grew, and one of the rooms used to be the cafe for the village during the war (according to our neighbour who is 80+ and has lived in the village all his life).

Years ago I spoke to him about his stories of the area, and one winter when he was recuperating from surgery, he recounted the stories he used to tell me to his niece and a few years later had them published (50 copies). He gave me one of them

The history thing in Europe reminds me of this Eddie Izzard sketch :



The wind is really picking up now and internal doors are rattling.

a reply to: Quantum12
Quant – My heart breaks for you. [[[SHED HUG]]] I am so sorry that you & your mom are having to go through this. I cannot imagine the pain that you and your mom are going through right now. He probably was hoping to spare you and your mom the pain of worrying over him. Will you be going home to Michigan?

Good morning everyone!! Have some coffee

I hope that everyone has a great holiday weekend….OK, now to get caught up

a reply to: crappiekat
Thank you for the link, yes, it would be nice if he can make a thread later.

a reply to: Night Star
[[[SHED HUG]]] Thank you so much for taking care of us. I can’t tell you how much The Shed and it’s people mean to me. Every morning I stop in and get caught up and look forward to seeing what everyone is up to. Every evening right before bed I stop in to check on everyone. And through the day I am in and out all day long. To lose this would take a piece of me….You are an amazing hostess and such a dear friend!!!! *I loved your newest entry*

a reply to: 1984hasarrived
I have to ask…what is the difference in a Typhoon and a regular storm? Be safe! Do you guys always have this many storms this time of year?

a reply to: JustMike
Mike thank you so much for sharing your pictures!!!! You both look like you had an amazing time. Wow, the castle looks beautiful!!! And the food looks yummy! Was dessert as good as it looks? I love the way the houses are built on top of each other.

I am so sorry if I missed anyone!!!! It is only because I am soooo behind. LOL I hope that everyone has a great day!!! It is supposed to be in the 80s today with 80% chance of thunderstorms….but at least it’s finally getting warm!!!

a reply to: Martin75

Good morning, thank you and JustMike's pictures cheered me up. I have not had a chance to read back yet. I had to find my mom in Burbank last night and was up all night crying. But I am strong and know we are born and will die. It is we do from the day we are born until the day we die is what counts.

Thank you Martin75 and every kind person here. Your words are not just words to me. The have meaning, I love you all!

a reply to: Quantum12

Stay strong Q - your mother needs you to be there.

(((((Bro hug))))))

a reply to: 1984hasarrived

Thank you 1984, I got her on a flight to Detroit today at 1:00 pm with his body, he was born in Michigan and wanted to be laid to rest there, being Jewish there is no viewing. Thank you for you kind words.

a reply to: 1984hasarrived

Hope the wind doesn't pick up too much ...

Don' need no stinkin' typhoon !!

Agreed ... thoughts with Q ! & M ... ( another bond ref ... )

👍

a reply to: Quantum12

So sorry for all you are going through, mate. It must be very hard to deal with all this, but you are strong and will support your mum. You have lost someone close, she has lost someone even closer.

If you need to talk at any time, I am only a PM away.

a reply to: Timely

Yep, the wind is picking up - I just hope no trees go down, there are loads around here.

a reply to: Martin75

A typhoon is basically a storm with very strong winds - there is not always rain, although often there is, and the wind can be fierce. The scale of severity is measured by the wind speed.

Here they are called tropical cyclones - and looking at this it is far off a typhoon, but still nastyif you are sailing. I am sure the ferries will be cancelled.

BLT

a reply to: Night Star

I have been getting PM's with people wondering what they did wrong and if they were not wanted here and hesitating to post one liners etc. That gets to me. These folks did nothing wrong.

Indeed and if I inferd that then I apologise, it was not my intent, my opinion here is no more important than that of the newest sheddite.

And that's part of the point, here we are all equal, none of us are more important than another and we should encourage the newer folks to get stuck in, but negativity distracts from our happy place.

All egos should be left at the door

Just my opinion

Cody

a reply to: cody599

Hey cody...
Well apparently I wrote 'out of turn' yesterday, or said the wrong things.
Was trying to smooth ruffled feathers, and in doing so...ruffled more.

I'm taking a break. Personal reasons.
Just grabbing e-mail addresses from my messages right now.

Take care everyone.
jacy

a reply to: cody599
I guess none of us understand what you are trying to say then Cody and that is where all the confusion is coming from.
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Hi guys
There's a massive difference between the original shed and the sycophantic,nauseating replies to each other. Could we all please return to sharing our lives and experiences and learning from each other ? And support each other? Cody Think about that
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We share our lives with friendly banter, stories, and pictures. We support each other without question!!!

I do NOT see where this post did anything but AGAIN unsettle The Shed. Please clarify so that we can understand what you mean.

We have no egos here, if any new members don't get "stuck in" it is because of the messages telling us to start acting like the old shed again.

I'm sorry but this HAS TO STOP! I love to stop in and enjoy the banter, friendship, and LOVE!!!!!! That is NOT what I felt last night!

I know I am NOT an original Shed member BUT I AM a member of The Shed and am sick to death of getting scolded and told to act like we used to. No, this is now The Shed.

I apologize if this is rude, I'm tired of playing games!

a reply to: jacygirl

I think Cody has valid point.

We are here for each other as adults facing lifes twists and turns.

That is what I believed to be core in the shed.

Some ... well less than that actually.

Managed to lower the tone and try to make it all about themself ... introducing a certain negativety which induced reactions ... only when quiet words and friendly nudges were thrown back in the faces of those giving subtle indications.

Can we please put this to bed ...

I made a conscious choice to stay and avoid the negative influences.

ATS has a way of letting these types go ... eventually.

Karma can do that here ...

Smile friends !

Tomorrow is a new day and a new start ...

* steps off soapbox .

a reply to: Martin75

My above post is for you as well Martin ...
as much as all my shed mates !

I believe the tone should be positive in the shed.

OK. Story telling demands some negativity ...

But let's leave it there.

The childish sniping needs to stop.

😎