Praha

Capital City #9

We had an inkling that our camera was on the way out a couple of times before Prague, but when we arrived there it finally gave up the ghost. Everything works except when you zoom in, otherwise the image is washed-out and unfocused. In other words, everything looks like this:

Anyway, we arrived in Prague by a roundabout route that took us by van, which dropped us off at a train station across the border. No one came to check our tickets the whole train ride, which was alright. When we arrived in Prague it had just stopped raining and was only drizzling. We dragged our bags over the cobblestones that seem to cover every free piece of ground in the city, and found our AirBnB accommodation. It was nice, and inexpensive. The owner of the flat met us and showed us the place, and said how his assistant (!?) would come at checkout time to collect the key.

He also told us about a restaurant that served traditional Czech food that was just around the corner, and wrote down the name of the place for us, while warning us not to go to another place across the street. We ended up having lunch at the recommended restaurant, and discovered that traditional Czech food seems to fit firmly in the meat-and-potatoes camp. Anna had beef goulash inside a roasted bread bowl, with roasted onion, and I had roast rabbit, with potato dumplings and spinach. They were both hearty and filling meals.

Our flat was in a decent area of Prague, and one thing we noticed during our stay was all the dogs. Every second person (apart from in the tourist areas) seemed to be walking at least one well-behaved dog. Perhaps it was just the suburb we were staying in, or maybe Czechs are all dog-lovers.

The big thing to do in Prague apparently is to visit for stag parties, and we saw evidence of that, but really my impression was of a very touristy place, with buskers, bum-bag-wearing Americans investigating their Jewish heritage, Segways for hire rattling down the cobblestones, and the ubiquitous horse-drawn carriages with overdressed drivers. We saw the most exotic buskers yet, including a lady dancing with a boa (the snake kind, not the one made of feathers) and and some people who appeared to be Native Americans playing what I assume are traditional instruments. Here's a picture of one important landmark, an astronomical clock that had clockwork (really!) figures doing something we can't actually remember, it was so unimpressive. Note the crowds of people thronging the area in front of the clock. It's no wonder it's reputedly a pickpocket hot spot.

Here's a picture of another clock; this one has one of the faces in Hebrew, so naturally the clock goes anti-clockwise. It's all instagrammy because we hadn't figured out how to take photos that weren't all exposed like that yet.

Some of the buildings around eastern Europe have pictures painted on the outside of the building, like this one:

One of the other tourist hot spots is Wenceslas Square, which is more like a long rectangle, and which is the site of a bunch of interesting events that happened in the recent past. The Soviets (yes, them again) put down a couple of revolts during the 80s, when the Czech authorities weren't able or willing to be brutal enough. We looked at an exhibit on what happened, right there in the square where it happened.

Speaking of Soviet aggression, the Museum of Communism is an interesting place to go, detailing life for average citizens (comrades?) of Czechoslovakia under communism, how the country became communist, the various puppet regimes, and how the country stopped being communist. It was a little difficult to follow; I still don't have a proper handle on the timeline of events, but it was interesting anyway. They had pictures of the construction of a massive Stalin statue that must have been imposing – it was destroyed only a short time after it was completed, since Stalin was dead, and was no longer in vogue. There's also a section about a young man, Jan Palach, who burned himself to death to protest the government. He has an almost martyr-like status now, and I'm unsure of how to categorise him myself. Primarily because self-immolation is terribly sad, but also because it's unlikely to achieve anything other than a martyr-like status for the deceased. However, in this case, his death did precipitate a more active agitation for regime change. The museum also has a small exhibit on current abuses in North Korea. Definitely sobering.

The museum is situated near Wenceslas Square, above a McDonald's. The irony is not lost on them.

On one of our days in Prague we made the steep climb up to the Castle area, which has a bunch of buildings inside the walls of the small old town area on the top of a hill.

View from the top

Everyone wants to see the view.

Up the top there is a really rather impressive church, St Vitus' (anyone know who Vitus was?)

Outside

Inside

We had a good wander and saw a bunch of old buildings, but one of special note is this building. We're not sure what it is, but it's headache-inducing.

Those designs are just painted on.

The Senate Gardens are cool, although this:

is a little over the top. It's a drip wall which is meant to be... I'm not sure what it's meant to be, other than Gothic horror. Apparently someone thought it was a good idea to install this thing.

We've been making good use of the underground/metro/subway systems in the cities that have them; we'll get a three day ticket, and stick to the underground. It's easier that way, and we've got to know a few now. Prague has the longest escalators we've ever seen:

We took the underground to church on Sunday. Another International church, we arrived late, and slipped in just as the sermon was beginning. The sermon was on Stephen's message to the Sanhedrin before he was killed, and how they had made idols of the Land, the Law and Temple, worshipping the things rather than the Creator. I think it's a stretch to get that from that passage, but it was challenging nonetheless.

On the way to the bus to Vienna my bag (the Red Bag of Courage – as I've just dubbed it) became a metaphor for mortality. One of the wheels split. That was my new bag, new as of Stockholm. That'll teach me to buy cheap bags. You'd think.