The garden looks a little rough due to the hail that hit a few weeks ago (but isn't that what gardeners always say?) Here are a few pics of what's happening in the garden as of the end of June.
Saturday 29 June 2013
Posted with Blogsy
Friday 28 June 2013
Back home
We arrived home at 10:00 Tuesday evening after nearly 24 hours of flying, from Prague, through Munich, then Toronto and finally to Edmonton. Phew, those long transatlantic flights are a killer. It felt great to be home. I've had the rest of this week off, which has been wonderful for easing back into this time zone.
After all the rain that happened while I was away, everything in the garden is growing like gangbusters, including the weeds. The daisies were also running rampant and had to be trimmed back substantially.
I was glad I arrived home just in time to pick the honeyberries. My two plants are still quite young and this is the most I've got from them so far. They're quite a tart berry and I need to figure out how best to use them. I think next year I'll try making some jam.
The rhubarb is also growing like crazy, so I made the German Rhubarb Cake from The Rhubarb Compendium and have been eating it for every meal since. So many rhubarb recipes, so little time!
Joy has asked me to write an article about our trip for the Albertaner, a monthly German-language newspaper. Thankfully someone else will be translating it into German.
By the way, the choir will be performing the concert that we did in Germany and Prague here in Edmonton on July 28th, so if you're in town, you may want to check it out. I think Joy said they'd put together a bit of a slide show of photos from the trip, so it should be a fun evening.
Monday 24 June 2013
Prague continued
The choir tour has officially ended as of Saturday morning and several folks have left for home. The five of us (Marilyn, Anne, Denise, Caryn and me) moved out of our hotel and into an apartment we rented through AirBnB, which was luckily just a short walk from the hotel. The apartment is nice and roomy with five beds, but the location unfortunately is quite noisy. So we're bringing out the earplugs at night!
We've basically been wandering around taking in the sights. The tram line and the metro are just steps away, and we've managing to figure out fares and routes, etc. despite the language being so different from what we were used to. Caryn, Marilyn and Anne did have a bit of a run-in with metro security and then police, but I'll save that story for another post!
Yesterday morning, we hopped on the tram for a visit to the famous Charles Bridge. Commissioned by King Charles IV in 1357, Charles Bridge has been a pedestrian-only bridge since 1978 and is now full of artisan vendors, painters and musicians, making for a lively artsy feel.
Charles Bridge
Entrance to Charles Bridge
View from the bridge
Leaving the Charles Bridge
Street view just beyond the bridge
Lunch break at a tasty Mediterranean-style restaurant
After lunch, we wandered over to the Wallenstein Garden located on the grounds of the Wallenstein Palace. Built in 1630, the garden is a lovely quiet spot containing fountains, sculptures, trimmed box hedges and a few roaming peacocks, including an albino one.
Bert, this one's for you. :-)
At one end of the garden is the Wallenstein Palace which houses the Czech Senate. It happened to be open to the public so we took a look inside, having the place practically to ourselves. (We couldn't help wondering whether the Czech Senate works any better than the Canadian one.)
On our way home, we stopped at the grocery store and picked up food for a light supper. We then hauled the Ikea table and chairs out onto our sixth floor balcony and had a lovely meal, ending with a beautiful full moon over the city. What a day!
Sunday 23 June 2013
Winner of the giveaway
Three people left comments on the giveaway blog post, so I had Denise pick a winner and the winner is ...Marilyn! Congratulations Marilyn! I'll get your prize to you when I get home (will you still be in Edmonton by June 26?)
Saturday 22 June 2013
Prague
Well, here we are in Prague and the final leg of our journey. After fighting our way through traffic we arrived at our pink hotel on a hill on a busy street corner. Busy seems to be a fitting word for the city in general. It is definitely a happening place with many, many tourists.
Love this! The Dancing House designed by Frank Gehry
We began our guided tour of the city on Friday morning, starting with Prague Castle. It is the largest ancient castle in the world, dating back to the 9th century. Since its founding, it has contained the offices of the Kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman Emperors and presidents of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic.
Castle courtyard
The Crown Jewels (okay, these are actually copies)
I love the ceramic heating stoves. The opening is on the other side of the wall so that servants could feed the fire without disturbing the family.
Our guide explaining the various parts of the castle
Changing of the guard
St. Vitus Cathedral, founded by Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia in 925. The Roman Catholic cathedral is located within the Prague Castle complex and contains the tombs of many Bohemian kings and Holy Roman Emperors
One of the beautiful stained windows of the cathedral
Denise attempting to get a picture of the whole cathedral
A beautiful walk down from the castle back to our bus, with vineyards on the right
St. Wenceslas Vineyard
Powder Tower, one of the original 13 city gates in Old Town, Prague, constructed in 1475. The tower was used to store gunpowder in the 17th century.
The Astronomical Clock, installed in 1410 on the wall of Old Town City Hall in the Old Town Square, making it the third-oldest astronomical clock in the world and the oldest one still working.
Our last concert was in the beautiful St. Giles Church, founded in 1371. It was a 5:00 p.m. performance and the audience consisted of people wandered in and out from off the street. We sang in the balcony at the back of the church and were not actually visible from the main sanctuary, so anyone listening will have been treated to this beautiful sound coming from somewhere behind them.
View from the balcony
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