Wednesday, April 7, 2010 (Part 9):As you may already have realized, our "itinerary" in Prague was not what we had originally planned. Because of closings on Easter Monday and the added twist of running our of money on Tuesday, we seemed to be constantly retracing our steps to catch up and see some of the sights that we were unable to see precisely along the schedule we had planned.
One of the places we had planned to see on Tuesday (before we ran out of money) was the 13th century Strahov Monastery. In particular, this Monastery is know for its "Philosophical Hall" -- a massive library with floor to ceiling bookcases and a beautiful ceiling fresco. So, after lunch on Tuesday, we started our hike to the Strahov Monastery. It is located on a hill, east
of the Prague Castle, and I was huffing and puffing by the time that we got there.
We immediately asked for directions to the Philosophical Hall. Upon entering the Hall, there was an entry fee to be paid. And if we wanted to take pictures (which of course we did), there was an additional fee. The woman selling tickets did not speak much (if any) English. She was trying to communicate something to me about taking pictures, and I misunderstood here. I thought she was simply confirming that I wanted to pay the extra fee. As I realized later, she was trying to talk me out of making that extra payment.
We proceeded into the Hall only to discover that they were in the process of performing a total renovation. All of the books had been removed and the room was covered, floor to ceilin
g by scaffolding. We couldn't see a thing! Since I'd paid for the privilege, I took a picture of the scaffolding. The trip was saved from being a complete waste of time because there was another room - the "Theological Hall" that was still open to viewing, and we enjoyed that.
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