Tag Archives: trees

Jul22

Letenska Park in Prague

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Wednesday, 26-June-2024


On Wednesday, I headed up to the North of my apartment, aiming for the art museum that lay perched up on the hill above town. To get to it, though, I’d have to cross a river and scale the hill… And, most excitingly, take a walk through Letenska Park! I mean, okay. Full honesty – I hadn’t heard of the park before, and I’m not aware of anything that really makes it stand out in the grand scheme of things. But it’s a park, and I enjoy getting to walk underneath trees and around flowers, so… You know what? I’ll get excited about parks regardless of how widely known they happen to be.

After the Museum, I actually came back through the park to finish my exploration – I’d had a good time wandering through originally, and since my route home would take me around it anyways… It was a really nice diversion from the cityscape and the depths of the salt mines that I’d been growing accustomed to. Nice breezes, swaying trees, and countless citizens of Prague enjoying the summer warmth. There were swimming areas, tennis courts, playgrounds…

Something I’ve really enjoyed about Europe, if my readers will accommodate my diversion from the park itself, is that people seem to go out more often. I don’t mean to bars or restaurants, though that may well be the case. I mean to parks, to beaches, to meeting spots. This may just be my experience in Oregon, but I hadn’t found that people really “got together” that much anymore… yet here I see people sitting in the parks, watching the World Cup, or just playing lawn games together. It’s neat, and I’m excited to see how similarly Dubliners act.

Back to the park – it was beautiful, had a cool (yet creepy) playground with strangely-threatening quadrupeds, lots of flowers and open spaces, and some simply lovely views. 10/10, would stroll around again.

Jul16

The Warsaw royal castle gardens

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Friday, 21-June-2024


On my way back into the city after visiting the CD Projekt RED studio, I noticed a gate with a garden behind it.

The gate was open.

I mean… how could I not walk through? That would just be rude, right? Right.

I may have watched “the secret garden” one too many times as a kid. I admit to nothing.




Now, to be clear, this wasn’t just some random small garden that a family owns. I mean, okay, it was a garden that a family owned at one point, if you want to be technical. But that family was the family of Casimir the Great, in the 1300s, who happened to be the king of Poland. So… kind of public access these days.

Anyways.

It was a garden, it was lovely, and I enjoyed taking a few moments to wander around and appreciate the cool air filtering between the trees. The fountains, the shade, the quiet greens… A very lovely escape from an otherwise quite warm day.


Jul1

A walk through Kadrioru Park

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A walk through Kadrioru Park

Friday, 07-June-2024


I really liked Tallinn. I bet I’d really like the rest of Estonia too, especially what I’ve heard of the forests and wild places, but for now I can definitely say that I really liked Tallinn.

I’m making a point to visit a lot of awesome places on this adventure, but I’m also making a point to go with the flow, and let myself smell the roses on the trails I set myself on. Kadrioru Park was a good example of succeeding in that goal – I was originally aiming for the Kumu Art Museum, but had to walk through Kadrioru to get there…

Which meant that I spent a few hours wandering an absolutely glorious city park!


The park is built around a massive palace built by Czar Peter the Great, and so it was this really interesting combination of a palace garden and a public park. There were causeways with huge flowing streams, flower gardens and broad walkways that were clearly intended for nobility to stroll around… but there were also semi-wild sections where you could be forgiven for almost forgetting that you were in the capital city.

Definitely a lovely park, and an excellent diversion on my way to the art museum!


(Ironic note – while writing this post, I learned that the palace build by Czar Peter the Great now houses it’s own art museum! So… I got distracted by an art museum on my way to an art museum. But didn’t go into the art museum, because I was going to the art museum. Ohh the trials and tribulations of Ben)