Underwater Paris

I'm gonna stop the Prague adventures just for today to share some images of the Paris flood.

I've never seen the city like that, the Seine is so high there's almost no space anymore under the bridges, boats are stuck, the river banks have disappeared, as well as the tip of Ile de la Cité...

On Sunday hubby, my camera & I went for a long walk & headed to the Seine to see the unnatural, underwater landscapes.

Well let me tell you it's impressive. And somehow scary.

This weather is so not normal. It should be summer & instead it's raining cats & dogs, it's cold, the Seine floods Ile de France...

It's like nature is rebelling against what we're doing to the world. It's kind of creepy actually...

And I don't if it was because of the flood, but the sky has been white the last couple of days. There's a weird light. Like if it was foggy even though it's not really foggy. 

It seems like an horror movie about the end of the world...

Prague Clock Tower: a paradise for photos addicted!

So when I last left you, Elena & I were sitting in the Old Town square in Prague waiting for the hour to see the astronomical clock in motion.

Every hour the Death, in the form of a skeleton, pulls on a rope & 2 windows open. Saint Peter & the 12 Apostles appear at both windows. While the 4 figures standing at the bottom of the clock come alive as well: the Vanity, the Greed, the Death & the Lust. 

The Prague astronomical clock was built in the Middle Age & is the third oldest astronomical clock & the oldest one still working.

Every hours hundreds of tourists gather at the bottom of the clock to admire the show - it's quite crowded indeed ;)

After that, we climbed the clock tower to enjoy the 360° view over Prague.

The view is wonderful plus if you're into photography, being up there is like being in a photographers' playground!

From large panoramas to little details of the life going on on the square below or on the rooftops, playing with light & perspective, there are so many things to immortalize!

I don't know how much time we spent there happily snapping around...

Looking from above at the monuments we just visited.
The Old Town square & the people watching the guy making enormous soap bubbles...

Saint Nicholas church

& of course our favorite, the Church of Our Lady before Tyn

The castle in all its beauty

Couldn't resist quickly snapping my reflection in a window, I always do that in windows or mirrors...

We looked at the colorful people walking down in the street, like if we were watching some kind of art performance... It made me think of an exhibition I saw at the Tate modern in London a couple of years ago.

Taking photos of each other from one side to the other of the Tower

We could have stayed there all the afternoon, but willing to visit the rest of Prague, after a last look at the panorama

We eventually went down, with the weirdest lift ;)

After a quick coffee at the nicest Starbucks, we took the road again, heading to Charles bridge & the dancing house.

But I'll tell you more about that tomorrow :)

Prague: strolling the Old Town

After a difficult night, we woke up quite grumpy on Saturday morning. Our hotel was a quite basic budget hotel, but to be fair it was really clean, central & offered a good breakfast. And that would have been ok for us. But our room, which was separated from the main building, had a wall in common with a club, where they obviously played music until 4am... 

After some arguing with the guy at the reception, he finally agreed to find us another place for the night. We quickly packed our stuff, agreed to meet him at 7pm so that he could take us to our new place & left, much more relaxed & relived, to discover the city centre.

Our first stop was Wenceslas square. A large avenue dominated by the statue of St Wenceslas, the first duc of Bohemia and the saint patron of Czech republic

& flanked by beautiful art nouveau buildings. It's also there that you'll find all international & local brands for shopping.

Don't forget to enter the Lucerna Palace to admire the statue of St Wenceslas on an upside down horse from Czech artist David Cerny.

While watching the statue, we saw a group of men passing by, half of them wearing old army uniform and the other half wearing tuxedos. Don't know what they were doing. But it was quite funny - & a bit scaring -  to see them in this old decor, like coming out from an old century.

In the same building, you'll also find a paternoster lift, which is an elevator composed by open cabins moving up and down in a loop, without never stopping. 

This kind of lift is no longer built because of security reasons, but there are a few old ones still working.

We continued our walk to the Jewish quarter. Our plan was to visit the different synagogues and the old cemetery... before realizing that it was Saturday and everything was closed.

Not the smartest girls in town I would say...

Anyway... We touched Franz Kafka statue for good luck 

& walked around admiring the beautiful buildings 

...until we reached the Old Town square.

We visited St. Nicholas Church

And our favorite, the Church of Our Lady before Tyn. Look at it, aren't the bell towers wonderful & very romantic?

All the wandering & visiting made us tired & hungry... Luckily on a side of the Old Town square you can find lots of food stalls, serving local food. And one cannot go to Prague and not to eat sausages! & beer!

We sat on a wooden table in the refreshing shadow of the square's garden, enjoying our lunch and observing the local life.

Especially a group of boys playing an unknown ball/drinking beer game.

We sat there, waiting for the hour in order to see the astronomical clock. 
We also went up to the clock tower, but I'll tell you more about that tomorrow, as I've already put too many pics in just one post.
Plus, let me tell you, the Clock tower is a real paradise for photography addicts! :)