Troja Palace and Prague zoo

Another place to visit outside the tourist zone is Troja Palace, a late 17th century summer palace. Again you need a tram to get here, and probably a bus too, but I like walking so did without the bus. This is a really beautiful place, and, surprise, surprise, almost totally deserted. The exterior is truly lovely (if you like a classical building) and inside the frescos are impressive. It doesn't house the usual furniture etc, but rather than be empty it houses temporary exhibitions; while I was there art nouveau sculptures and Czech glass. Overall, very satisfactory.

An aerial view (on an information board - I didn't hire a light aircraft)

Side view of the exterior

Sometimes one can tempted by an opportunity. So I am up here at this palace and almost across the road is Prague Zoo. What does one do? Yes, go for it. What can I say about Prague Zoo? Its full of kids (more than animals) and Czech kids whine as much as any other nationality. It is quite a vast zoo, and even then there were still parts shut off due to the floods. Not for example as attractive a zoo as Budapest. I wouldn't go out of my way to visit it, but since I was out of my way, it was probably worth going in. Actually the photos make it look better than it was, which is partly a tribute to the skill of the photographer (I know, I am so modest) but mostly as you can't hear the whining of four year olds just out of shot.

A simulation of Indonesian jungle

You can't go wrong with penguins

  But ground squirrels are even more cute

A nice animal enclosure. But, if you look carefully, lacking animals. They just don't train them right. They are there for our entertainment, but give them a decent sized enclosure and they all congregate in a dark corner.

Again, huge enclosure but lack of animals. Luckily my long lens managed to tease some out in the distance...

If you are wondering, this is  a close-up of slumbering aardvarks

Not just any deer. This is a Pere David's Deer from China which has long been extinct in the wild.

I can't help feeling a good comb is needed here

Now for Przewalski horses. One of the zoo's star attractions is this herd. Also extinct in the wild I believe, the key thing of interest being that these are a primitive form of horse, an ancestor of all  our modern thoroughbreds