HAPPY WANDERER - the last 2 days

KAMPA MUSEUM

A small, but elegant, gallery of modern Czech work, the Kampa sits on a

tiny Island in the Vltava cheek by jowl to the Charles Bridge.

The yellow umbrellas to the left are on the terrace behind the gallery.

The museum itself doesn't allow photography inside, so I hope you enjoy a few of the ginat pieces in the garden.

This kid really demanded closer inspection.

Then, stumbled through a film shoot with 1920's vintage cars and a few knowing smiles withe the beautifully costumed extras, all on the way to Petrin Hill.

Once on top, I wasn't thrilled, but the funicular ride up and down was fun.

Have you ever seen such a stunned group of campers? They wouldn't even join me in any of the team songs!

All of that was yesterday. Today began with a visit to the MUCHA MUSEUM - another You-cannot-use-your-camera place.

The story of Alphonse Mucha, who was born in a tiny village nearby and became rich and famous - early in his career is one of Be careful What You Wish For.

Mucha was one of these geniuses who could make perfectly lovely pictures by the age of 8! Like Thurber, Picasso and Leonardo, he was an incredible draughtsman who seemed to need nothing more than a pencil and paper and 10 minutes to blow your mind with his work. 

So he went to Paris, was commissioned by Sarah Bernhardt to do a poster for her and then a few zillion. Not wanting to be stuck in a single groove, he went to America for a while and then settled back in Prague, devoting his last many years to Slavic themes. He just happened also to be a prolific and breathtaking painter.

From there to the JERUSALEM SYNAGOGUE.

Like the Spanish Synagogue, this is done in the Moorish style and it simply beautiful.

I wonder if this very short video will work.

I toured the other Synagogues last week, but I took no photos for several reasons. The Pinkas has rooms with 77,297 names inscribed on the walls. These are among the millions who were murdered in the concentration camps and on the streets. Tourists today are practically sprinting through snapping their little memories like they are in Las Vegas. When you leave that shattering experience, you then wander through the Old Jewish Cemetery where bodies have been buried many, many layers deep.

I can only add that none of that stopped me from appreciating this wonderful place.

And finally, up a tower for a Room with a View.

Let us now give thanks for our laptops and Netflix and the universality of microwave popcorn, otherwise it would be Law and Order re-runs in Czech.

ART UPDATE

I was right about the Chinese Zodiac figures greeting you at the Veletrzni Palace.

More importantly, they were created by the famous Chinese artist and dissident, Ai Weiwei.

All of this new information comes to me from my wonderful Praha guide of last week, Dana.

This is exactly why we travel and meet great new people!

REALLY BIG ART SHOW

[By the way, you can CLICK on any of these photos in this blog to get the full larger view.]

And there you have it. Six huge floors of modern and contemporary art from Czech and French masters starting in the 1800's.

You know you are in for a ride, as you approach the building.

I am not sure if these figures on the cafe terrace are meant to be the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac, but that is what they seem to be.

The building itself appears from the outside to be one of those functional communist monoliths until we walk inside and look up in the famous atrium.

How green is my thingamajig?

The permanent collection is free to the public and to start you take the elevator to the 5th floor. You are confronted at once with the extraordinary work of a prolific and beautiful African artist who paints often on jute sacks.

Wouldn't you love to have her in your front hall and come home to her every night? She might make all other things bearable.

And, above, there is his signature - El Sy.

Moving down the broad staircase to the 4th floor, you find acres of 19th century Czech paintings and sculpture, and, like almost all of European and world art at that time, you see us moving out of the dark and into the light.

This piece is called "Birch Trees" and it reminds me of Manitoba and Ontario and of Canadian artists of the same period.

The third floor hurls us quickly into the 20th Century.

Then, half the vast expanse of the floor is given over to the great and famous Impressionists. They are all there - Gauguin, Matisse, Sisley, Monet, Van Gogh, Renoir (many pieces and paintings) and a few signature Picassos.

and an entire room of Georges Braque

And that was it for me, kids.

This is an exhibit that cannot possibly be absorbed in one visit.

I ended my stay with a scrumptious bowl of tomato soup on the terrace reading a murder mystery and watching a very little kid flying by with great expertise on a scooter or whatever these contraptions are called these days.