Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Prague (Praha) Czech Republic







Palace of Prague....It is the largest ancient castle in the world (570 m long, on average 128 m wide, area 7.28 hectares). Constructed in the 9th century by Prince BoĊ™ivoj, and is still the seat of all Czech rulers


The clock was built in 1410....info as follows....
The Astronomical Dial shows the medieval perception of the Universe: the Earth is the center. The blue part of the dial represents the sky above the horizon, the brown part the sky below it. There are Latin words ORTVS (east) and OCCASVS (west) written above the horizon, and AVRORA (dawn) and CPEPVSCVLVM (twilight) below. There is a Zodiac ring, which represents the stars in the sky and it moves according to it. The two clock hands bear the signs of the Sun and the Moon. There are three circles on the dial, showing different time: the outer circle with Schwabacher numerals shows the Old Czech Time (“Italian Time”), the circle with Roman numbers shows the Central European Time and the inner circle with Arabic numerals shows the “Babylonian Time”: the length of an hour differs there according to the season – it is longer in the summer, shorter in the winter. The Prague Astronomical Clock is the only one in the world able to measure it. Furthermore, the little star by the zodiac ring shows the sidereal time.






Flat Stanely at Rhine Ordnance Barracks, Heidelberg Castle, and Heidelberg Bridge
















Hunter with Stanley at the Christmas Bazaar at Rhine Ordnance Barracks.....Zucker means sweets (candy)

Me with the Heidelberg Castle in the background....one of the most popular in all of Europe

Heidelberg Bridge and old city (Cathedrals) and a barge
Entrance (city gate) to the old city
with the night lights on

Heidelberg was destroyed during the 30 years war with France...it is over 700 years old ( built in 1212) and added to around 1600...was also struck by a lightening bolt., in the late 1700's

The French burned it in 1689
alot of this was religious to do with the Holy Roman Empire and Martin Luther (the German one not MLK)

lots of history....:)

Flat Stanley at the Rhein River, Rheinstein Castle, and the Shongau Castle











More pics from the wkd...these are the Rhein River...with the Rheinstein Castle and the Shongau Castle...the RheinS was built
in 900 AD Not sure of the other one...will find out...they are about 30 minutes apart on the South Rhein