Bars and museums

It's already getting cold here. Today's high is 57 degrees, despite brilliant sunshine.

Thursday night, a group of us tried to go to a bar, that's near the TV tower, called Palac Akropolis. (The TV Tower has TV-faced baby statues crawling up its sides. It's creepy.) The Akropolis bar was full and the music hall was packed with a performance already in progress. (Very strange music and a woman in flowing white slowly twirling in place.) So we ended up at a bowling alley around the block with communist-era documentaries on TV. If only the sound had been on and in English.

Yesterday, I went up to Vysehrad, a castle complex on top of a bluff. The cemetery is simply the most beautiful in the world. I don't even need to see all of the others to state that. Each grave is a planter garden, some with giant ferns, some with annuals, some overrun with ivy. This is exactly how it should be. I want to be California poppies and a bonsai jacaranda tree.

Walking around the perimeter of the complex, on top of the old fortifications, there is yet another stunning view of the city and the river. This won't get old.

Also, this week I visited the Mucha Museum and the National Museum. Disappointingly, the former had mostly mass-produced items from the original printings, but very few original drawings or sketches. The latter has extensive geological and zoological specimens, from preserved anacondas to a single one-cubic-foot salt crystal. That was a fascinating two hours.