garrison beau scott

So we made it to the gates of Troja, and that was it. I really didn’t mind so much, that day was a concrete lesson in the value of the journey as opposed to the destination, and the journey was only halfway complete. We still needed to walk home. There are pictures you take, that before you even snap the shutter, or frame the scene, you know will be special. This day I felt I had more than my share of them.

There would be a few more on the walk back to our hotel, one of which will reman as my all time favorites. You can view it here as I’ve already posted it.

But our story doesn’t end there. On our very last day in Prague, I managed to gain a portfolio review at the Chamber Gallery of the Josef Sudek House of Photography, and from that meeting I received an exhibition the following July. And so we would return to Prague, and ultimately Troja. This time, we’d walk through the gates and explore not only the amazing grounds, but the museum that at one point was the Summer Palace. And once again we walked from our hotel and revisited the places that were the scenes of the previous pictures. It was like seeing old friends after being separated for a time. I had become so intimate with these images, printing them for the show and building the portfolios and such, so it was pretty cool to stand in front of them once again and not have to worry about anything like shutter speed or people walking in front of the scene. I could just stand in awe of that which drew me in originally.

I hope to go back to Prague, and visit these old friends once more. Maybe sit on these benches and catch up.

One of the drawbacks to not reading your guidebooks, is the possibility you might miss an important bit of information regarding the places you are going to end up visiting. Case in point, had I read anything about Troja, other than it was “further afield,” I would have realized it was the Summer Palace, emphasis on Summer. And this being November, which isn’t a summer month, Troja would be closed.

So this is all the farther I got to seeing the palace. The front gates.

But this wouldn’t be the last I’d see of Troja, fate would have it’s influence on me yet, I’d just have to wait a few more months to understand that.

We’re still in Stromovka Park, but the signs are indicating that we’re close to Troja, which is just outside the park and across a footbridge that spans a small river. But before we begin the next leg of the journey, as the title says, an interlude.

I’m a spiritual person, but I believe that’s a very private affair and my beliefs have no place in this blog or in general discussion. Let’s just leave it at that I’m spiritual, and as such I feel that I’ve found myself in places because of it.

To that end, if ever there were a moment in time where I felt that I was destined to be a photographer, it was when I snapped this shot. Well, not at the time of exposure as at that instance, I had no idea what I’d done. So I guess it was while I was in the darkroom and saw the first test print come up in the soup. When I framed up the buildings and added in the vast expanse of the sky, I had no idea what was forming on the emulsion. I just liked the juxtaposition of the old building crowned by tress and the sky.

During the printing stage, I had to add a bunch of extra time just to get any detail in the clouds, and when I accidently went too far, I found, well…

…this

Now, I see “it” as plain as day, others do as well, and some see something totally different. Some just see a cloud. I can’t help but think it’s a sign that I’m doing what I need to be doing with my time here. That is to say, walking around with my head in the clouds, tripping on how beautiful and random life can be in the string of fleeting moments that make up our existence. A second or two here or there, a glance down instead of up and what we’re supposed to discover slips by us. Unless you believe you’re tapped into the life essence that will put your two feet in the exact place they’re destined to occupy at the exact moment of time that enables you to witness those tiny miracles that re-affirm, “You Are.”

Once we passed the Industrial Palace and left the Exhibition Grounds behind, and entered Stromovka Park it felt as if were transported into another world. Being late November, it seemed as if we were the only ones in the entire park and had the long meandering paths and trees to ourselves.

As I mentioned in my last post, when the park was created in 1268, it’s original design was as the Royal Hunting Park, a use that continued through the reign of Rudolph II (1576 - 1611). It was during his stewardship that the park grew in size and these were built.

Being a man of the renaissance and a Habsburg, Rudolph II and a few creative ideas under his silken and billowing sleeve. He wanted to make a grand entrance for his guests, so he had underground tunnels built from Letna, where one would get on a small boat and float on the man-made river to a series of openings built into the hillside of Stromovka. They would then disembark and enter the park through one of these gates. And then go shoot some deer.

Hidden Entry, Praha, 2001

Just about at the point where we thought about turning around, as we had gotten lost in all senses of the word, and not just exploring lost, we turned the corner and saw a sign for Troja. I had remembered the name from the section in our guide book that listed places to go visit “further afield.” So we decided to keep walking and rolled up on the Industrial Palace which serves as the entrance to the Exhibition Ground and Stromovka Park.

The Industrial Palace dates to 1891, Stromovka Park has a history that goes a bit farther back. In 1268, Czech king Premsyl Otakar II founded Stromovka (place of trees) as a royal hunting park. But first, the Industrial Palace, as shown here with some of the temporary scaffolding used for an event we either just missed, or were too early for.