A Beautiful Library and the Palace Complex 10-19-15

Some of Deb's reading has turned up a library in Prague that appears on a list of the world's most beautiful, that of the Strahov Monastery. So we found a tram stop near us that would take up to within a short walk of our goal. Of course, we misread the tram stop and got off one stop too early so the short walk turned into a little longer walk.  But on the positive side it allowed us to see another quiet place in Prague, a palace that is not on any radar.  As we sat in the garden next to the palace I talked with a gardener to find out where we needed to go to find where we wanted to go.  She was spot on and we found the monastery without any trouble.

Curiosity Cabinets

Theological Library

The library has two distinct wings one is dedicated to the theological written word while the other is focused on the philosophical world.  They are both very beautiful, one is almost intimate while the other is monumental in scale.  They don't allow visitors into the library without prior reservations but they have a vestibule wherein they keep cabinets of princely collectibles from the 16th and 17th centuries.  The abbots of the monastery were nobles and had the means to build a library and collections this impressive.  The natural history collection is quite dated and perfectly in keeping with it's time period.

After our visit to the library I spotted a monasterial brewery, Sv. Norbert (Saint Norbert) where they had a seasonal brew, "Antidepressant", that I just had to taste.  So we stopped there and had a lunch based on goulash, Deb had goulash soup while I had goulash and dumplings it was quite delicious. We actually had sunshine so we sat outside and basked.

Mucha Stained Glass Window

We spent the rest of the afternoon visiting Prague castle which is the largest ancient castle in the world.  It contains more palaces for nobles than I've ever seen in one place and the St Vitus basilica. We spent an hour going through the basilica then went in to the goldsmiths lane, then the St. George chapel and the royal palace to finish out the day.  We were a bit footsore from walking on cobbles and took the tram back to our stop.  I dropped Deb off at the hotel then went over to the train station to buy tickets for Cesky Krumlov and then Vienna.  It also gave me a chance to time how long it would take from our hotel on the morning we leave.   When I got back we went for dinner at one of the perhaps 200 beer halls that exist here in Prague.