It’s nice to be pleasantly surprised and Prague is still surprising us.  We moved here because of all the available activity and lately have been taking full advantage, such as a concert (free student recital of superior quality at Prague Conservatory) on Thursday and a musical (Chess: interesting play but beyond the capabilities of most of the performers) on Friday night.

So Saturday was a stay at home day with the highlight of our TV year, Eurovision final, on that night.  But with a couple short errands to run we walked to Jiriho z Podebrad Square knowing there was something going on called Pink May.  This, it turns out, is a wine tasting for Czech rose’ wines.  Evidently it was well attended throughout the day with a variety of music and other special events on the state.

We were fortunate to see these folk dancers and the extremely intricate costumes of the women; just like expensive dolls on souvenir shop shelves.

Being a warm day we walked home by a circuitous route through Mahler Orchards, a small park in front of our building.  There we noticed workmen wiring some strange-looking pipes and the word Pyrotechnics on their van.  Aha, fireworks tonight. So the indefatigable researcher, Karin, got on the internet to find out what was going on–to no avail, this time.

But I got out my camera, put on a tripod and set it for night scene.  About 10 P.M. we decided they wouldn’t be tonight after all   Then about 11 when the last Eurovision song–from Ireland–came on there was a whoomph and bright lights out our window.  I rushed to open the window and turn on the camera while still trying to enjoy the spectacle.  On Paros we had fantastic fireworks directly in front of us but this is the first time they were so close we could see the individual pieces burning just beyond reach.  We had to lean out the window and look up to see them all.

This is my favorite of the tower.  See my Zizkov Tower Fireworks album for the series of 9 including artsy colors.

So, if we hadn’t by chance seen the display being set up, we could have been dangerously startled.  As it was we continue to be amazed at the rich diversity of life in this city.