Horses, Boats, and a Hug

A ride in a horse-drawn carriage and a cruise on the river , are popular and romantic ways to view a city like Prague. It is not for everyone though. Me, for instance, I'm rather shy, and the ride in a carriage is not for shy people; the glances and turning of heads of the passers-by might be embarassing.

ride in a horse-drawn carriage

As for a cruise, I'm not on very good terms with boats and ships. For some reason, I feel rather unwell on vessels. I've promised myself to 'work on it' , but there always seems to be something more important on my agenda. Pity!

Anyway, a cruise on the Vltava river offering spectacular views of its bridges (Karl bridge the most famous among them) and the landscape around including the Castle complex, The National Theatre, and more , is I suppose, a lifetime experience. I've noticed all kinds of boats there and the possibility of various tours according to duration, price, luxuries.

evening on the Quay; there are also night cruises

On Petrin Hill, they offer assisted rides on horses and ponies. Near the funicular terminal, there's a sculpture (mentioned by me in a previous post) showing an embrace between a man and woman (both naked). Two little ones , brother and sister, were intensely looking at it, giggling and discussing it. I wished I could understand the language. Perhaps I could have learnt something ...'out of the mouths of babes'. Sometimes kids surprise us with their wisdom and their mature understanding .

The father got angry with their interest in the statue, so he put them on a horse to keep them away from it. A horse- ride is not cheap, but then education does cost money.

horse riding on Petrin Hill

"Young Girl Putting On The Stocking"

'Young girl putting on the stocking'- that's the name of a fine stone sculpture in the greenhouse of Estufa Fria located in Park Eduardo VII in the heart of the city of Lisbon. Estufa Fria is a botanical garden which houses vegetable species from all over the world, a fish pool, waterfalls, creeks, statues, ponds, exotic plants etc.. It has three main areas (three greenhouses: the hot, the cold and the sweet).

The garden of Estufa Fria

A great attraction in Lisboa:

The nude, the stork , the trees

Exotic plants, shrubs and seeds.

young girl putting on the stocking

Stork in the Estufa Fria

Various plants in the greenhouse

In Portuguese , the name of the naked young woman statue is: 'Menina Calcando a Meia' -'menina' -meaning "girl'. Well, she seemed rather a big girl , in a very sexy posture. Anyway, the statue looked beautiful , and so did the contrast between its light color and the lively color of the greenery around.

The Park , inclusive the greenhouses, is visited by many children. When I was there I scarcely saw any, as it was school hours time. It would have interested me to see their reaction to the nude. And this reminded me of an episode in my hometown - a visit to the house of an acquaintance of mine, a school teacher whose hobby was painting. When I entered the living-room, my eyes caught a painting on the wall representing a woman in nude. "Who painted this"? asked I politely. "Me", came the reply from the school teacher "and if you look closer, you''ll notice that it's Me in the picture. I'm not ashamed to tell you that I like my face, I like my body, and that's the result".

Well, I liked her attitude, and so asked no further questions, although I was curious as to how her two boys and their friends reacted to Mom's nude.