Night Time

Here are some shots of Praha in the evening...

The Charles Bridge

which, frankly, I am not that crazy about. It is beautiful and the arches are very aesthetically pleasing and I like the statues. But I feel very rushed when I walk along it, I think because the bridge is always crawling with people and vendors.

The Charles Bridge again, with the Old Town Bridge Tower

Prague Castle and the spires of St. Vitus

St. Vitus and the balloon*

*sounds like a children's book!

The entrance to Prague Castle

A fountain in the first courtyard of the castle

St. Vitus, front

St. Vitus, back

St. Vitus, back

I like how you can see the sky through the flying buttresses

Mr. Gargoyle

My Favorite Part of Prague

My hotel for my glorious weekend of freedom was in Mala Strana, the Lesser Town or Little Quarter, right down the hill from Prague Castle. My windows looked out on rather dull, high white walls across the street--but what wonders are beyond those walls! The Wallenstein Gardens: gorgeous Italian-y formal gardens:

with a monstrous fake limestone grotto that looks like drippy grey skulls:

owls:

peacocks:

manicured hedges and flowers:

delightful fountains:

a peaceful pond:

interesting statuary:

and an open air, highly decorated sala with arcades and frescoes and everything.

Here is the ceiling:

A detail:

They have concerts and other events there now. We (Julie and I) were lucky enough to walk around the gardens (free admission!) while an orchestra and singer were rehearsing:

The 17th century Wallenstein Gardens are surrounded by the 17th century Wallenstein Palace which is now the Czech Senate. Mr. Wallenstein made his immense fortune as a sort of arms dealer in the Thirty Years War and he used some of that money to build his magnificent palace and gardens. So he is an ambiguous figure for the Czechs...sort of a traitor, but goodness gracious he sure built a nice house with a pretty yard. (My hotel is the lighter colored building on the right.) Sure is close!

Here is a view of the gardens from up on the hill. You can see how huge they are. The grotto is perhaps the most easily spotted: the mass of grey at the right.

How did we get up above like that? Through another garden. A seriously terraced garden.

This is what the ceiling of the small structure in the top right corner looked like:

Very pretty. There were stairs and more stairs and each level had different plants and benches. Really beautiful and peaceful with a great view of Prague.

Here is Julie on one of the levels. It was lots of fun to zig zag up the hill amidst the greenery.

Here is Prague, including a giant white balloon with hanging harnesses that people sit in and float above the city. Like parasailing, but not on the water. And you are hanging, not being pulled from below. And there is no boat. So not really like parasailing, except you do sit in a harness.

Then to the Vrtbovska Garden. It is an Italian style terrace garden built in 1715-1720 for the Earl of Vrtba. According to the brochure, it is one of the most important Baroque gardens in Europe. I am no expert on the subject. All I can say is that it was gorgeous and I thoroughly enjoying strolling through.

You enter the garden through a crazy gazebo thing all decorated in raised, carved painting reliefs. Friezes? Is it appropriate to say friezes when they cover a rotunda like this?

Here I am. (many thanks to Julie for being my personal paparazzo! She took all these pics of me.)As you can see, there is a small courtyard of short geometrical hedges and ivy covered alcoves and then up the stairs!

This is the second level, with Prague Castle in the background and an attention hog striking her favorite pose in the foreground.
On the top level we could just see the tip of the US Embassy and the dear old Stars and Stripes. A beautiful sight for an expat who continues to be a teensy bit homesick.

I loved the statues lining the stone wall of the second level. With the blue sky and the red roofs and the steeples and towers...not a bad backdrop!

Ahh. Children. Reminds me of my job...

I like to think the statue on the right was about to creep away but he froze when he saw my camera. Gotcha!

Not sure if she is going to pluck the steeple off and eat it or prick her finger on it in an homage to Sleeping Beauty...one never knows, does one?

Here is a video of the skyline, beginning with Prague Castle, over to Saint Nicholas Church, a view of the white balloon, and then a startling swoosh to the garden. I believe I even made a "swoosh" noise as I filmed it. Odd to find out I add my own sound effects.

After a marvelous afternoon of gardens we walked around and wandered into the Church of Our Lady Victorious to see the statue of the Infant Jesus. (By the way, the Jesus Baby brings the Christmas gifts. No Santa in the Czech Republic.) This statue is quite famous and enjoys a cult-like following. It has healing powers, and more visibly, an extravagant fashion sense. Like the Manneken Pis in Brussels, the Infant Jesus has lots of clothes. But unlike the Manneken Pis, the Infant Jesus does not get to wear soccer uniforms or Harry Potter outfits or police clothes. The Infant Jesus must stick to elaborate and expensive triangle shaped robes. He was wearing a blue one when we visited. There were lots of people kneeling in front of him, praying. And plaques with "thank you" in different languages line the walls around him. They are given in thanks by people the statue healed.

There is a museum on the second floor of the church that houses some of the clothes. They have been given to the statue by people and organizations from all over the world for centuries. There was even a video playing of smiling nuns tenderly dressing the statue...

In the museum gift shop you can purchase a copy of the (clothed) statue for about 50,000 crowns. (almost $3,000). You can also get an unclothed statue (just a plain white shift) for much less, or tiny figurines if even the naked Infant Jesus is not in your price range.

After that we made our way to the center of Prague, had an excellent Italian meal to go with the Italian style gardens, and then headed to yoga. And after that we went to a bar to listen to Julie's friends play.

What a lovely, busy day! Thank you, Julie!

Movie of the Week V

Dangerous When Wet (1953)

Finally, an Esther Williams movie! I saw this movie when I was very young and then lost track of it. In fact, I wasn't sure if I dreamed it or if it was a real movie. Fortunately, it is indeed a real movie and not just a happy dream film!

Esther Williams was a national champion, Olympic caliber swimmer who began modeling and swimming in Billy Rose's Aquacade with Tarzan, Johnny Weissmuller. Then she was picked up by MGM. They built a giant tank for her and she and the studio essentially invented synchronized swimming. Her first movie was one of Mickey Rooney's Andy Hardy films, but soon she was starring in her own blockbusters.

I really enjoy her movies. They are light musical comedy swimfests, six of which were released on DVD recently. Here she is in Easy to Wed (1946) with Van Johnson and Lucille Ball.

Williams is still alive and sells vintage style swimsuits (I have one and love it) and pools (I do not have one, though I would probably love it.) She also released an autobiography, Million Dollar Mermaid. It is my very favorite Hollywood auto/biography. She tells fascinating stories about her career and other stars and it is a fun, funny, fantastic book. It is especially interesting to read about how the makeup and hair people had to figure out ways to waterproof her makeup and 'do, and how directors and set and costume designers worked with Williams to make the movies. They were all basically making it up as they went along since no one had ever done this before. (I checked the book out of the library so many times in high school that my sister finally gave me my own copy for my birthday.) I even managed to work in one of Williams' movies (Neptune's Daughter (1949) and some of her autobiography into my senior thesis!

Williams was tall and muscular and confident, unlike some of the smaller, more delicate stars, so she is refreshing to watch. And, amazingly, she almost never used a stunt double. So when you see her doing 115 foot dives or swimming underwater forever (she ruptured her eardrums over and over, broke her neck because she performed a huge dive wearing a metal crown and a gold sequined body suit (the sequins didn't actually do any harm, but it is a nice detail, I think) and even almost drowned several times during filming) it is really her. Once, she was performing an underwater ballet and the genius set designer added a ceiling on the underwater room...it was dark and she couldn't find the trapdoor to surface...a cameraman finally noticed that she was drowning and got her out. The only time she would use a double was when she was pregnant and the director wanted her to just, you know, dive from a helicopter into a V of water skiiers. See Easy to Love (1953). Besides her physical prowess, Williams' has a strong presence on screen and she is almost always playing a woman in charge. A businesswoman, a movie star, a swimming star (she often plays that so that her swimming sequences can be more plausible, just as Fred Astaire often played a "dancer")...she is almost always independent and making her own money. So that is a nice change from some other films of the time.

So, why did you choose Dangerous When Wet as your first Esther Williams' flick, Cameron? Well, it is among my favorite Williams' movies and I think it is a great introduction. Unlike some of her other films, this movie has a real plot. Other films tend to be sort of silly. Many of them follow the same pattern: two couples, Williams is the primary girl, but they aren't paired correctly...something unusual happens and eventually the right girl gets with the right guy, and so on. The locations change, but sometimes the actors stay the same from film to film. I still love them, but if you don't like the actors they could get tiresome, I suppose. Anyway, Dangerous When Wet is not like that. I also really like this movie because Esther gets to show off her champion racing. She swims in all of her films, but often it is just graceful and pretty aquatic performances. In this one she really swims.

Also, the movie was directed by Charles Walters who also directed some of my other faves. Among them, The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964), High Society (1956), Easy To Love (1953), Summer Stock (1950), Easter Parade (1948),and Good News (1947), as well as serving as dance director for loads more musicals. So it is no wonder that I love this movie!

Katie Higgins (Williams) is the oldest daughter in a dairy farming family. They are extremely health conscious and get up every morning to exercise, which includes swimming laps in the nearby pond. Ironically, Williams doesn't like to swim because she would rather read the latest farming news and techniques so that she can figure out a way to improve the family farm. A travelling salesman (Jack Carson) peddling Liqua-pep (a vitamin drink) sees Katie swimming her laps. He is stunned by her swimming talent and her beauty. Then he meets her family and thinks they would be a great way to advertise Liqua-pep since they are all in such great shape. As a publicity stunt, he signs up the entire family to swim in the upcoming race across the English Channel. Katie is reluctant to get involved in the scheme but then she finds out that the prize money for first place would be enough to get a new roof for the barn and buy a famous bull for their farm...so she agrees.

Once in Europe she meets the dashing Andre (Fernando Lamas), an aristocratic wine salesman, who is determined to catch her. (Williams and Lamas eventually got married in real life.) Katie is also reluctant to get involved with this charming Frenchman (Lamas is actually Argentinean) but soon she falls under his spell. Their swimming duets are especially nice since Lamas was a great swimmer, too. Some of Williams' other costars could barely stay above water so she had to literally hold them up as they swam together. But she and Lamas really cut through the water.

This movie has everything. It is a musical with great songs like "I Like Men" sung by Katie's flirty little sister, and "Ain't Nature Grand," which Katie and Andre sing in a duet as they change into their swimming suits in neighboring cabanas. Andre has provided this black lacy number for Katie...

So there is music. There is also a cartoon dream sequence with Ben, Jerry, and Katie. Although it is rather famous, it is my least favorite part of the film. I don't like cartoons that much, and in this one Katie and the cartoon mouse and cat get chased by a scary octopus.

So there is music and cartoons. There is a lovely romantic plotline that follows the great Mr. Darcy/ Elizabeth formula of dislike turning into love.

So there is music and cartoons and romance. And then comes the sport storyline. It is always amazing to me how they managed to work a really compelling, suspenseful race into this otherwise light musical comedy. But it really works. Katie sets out to swim the English Channel so that she can save her family business. It is serious stuff. She swims and swims and swims in her un-glamorous black suit and extra un-glamorous white goggles. Her fellow swimmers drop out one by one and are rowed to the hospital boat that grimly follows behind.

Her family watches...

People on boats and the shore watch...

It is very suspenseful and well done. I won't completely spoil the ending for you (though I know you can probably guess what happens) but I will say that I get chills every time.

Go Esther! I am so glad I didn't dream this movie.