Prague, Czech Republic - August 4, 2006

After a poor night's sleep with my worldly and expensive possessions wrapped under my arms (I was in a converted classroom with 20 other people), I awoke for another day of exploring the great city of Prague. Understanding the layout a bit better and the transportation system, I was able to plan a route to take me to most of the city's landmarks in a single day.

In the centre of traffic - the electric street car is what I used to get too and from the hostel. Today, my second and only full day (since I arrived yesterday, albeit in the early morning) in Prague. I exit the streetcar behind one of the mighty towers of which 1/3 is visible in the middle of the island. From here I can walk to Vaclavske nam (Wenceslas Square) to complete my trek to its far end.

The end of Vaclavske nam (Wenceslas Square) where King Wenceslas himself sits astride his mighty steed (this is one of the largest equestrian statues in the world I believe). This monument to everyone's favourite Christmas carol figure stands in front of the national museum and looks down upon the large rectangular square that is more reminiscent of the modern layout of Paris than a medieval city.

More spires, I didn't count to see if there were a thousand or not.

Frank Gehry's world-famous "Dancing House" is supposed to resemble two dancers. Its original name was "Fred and Ginger" after Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. I suppose this adds the postmodern to the list of architectures that Prague is already famous for. These photos are dedicated to Rosa, former VP Academic of OUCSAK.

On the waterfront. Prague is a city that spans both sides of the river Vltava and has almost as many bridges as spires, as one can tell from this picture, these two bridges aren't far apart. This looks to the west bank which is the "newer" half of Prague, but still over a millenia old.

Riverfront housing. The cobble-stone boardwalk actually allows me to take enough steps back to get part of a city block of Prague in focus. Each house a slightly different colour but the roofs dotted with the same collection of satellite dishes!

The Vltava River divides momentarily to encompass and island-park.

Another building with intricate details but no story - that I know of. Two musicians adorn the balcony of this house - perhaps centuries ago it housed a composer of some consequence. Now just another of a thousand stories of Prague.

I can't remember if the focus of this picture is the insane mesh of streetcar cables crisscrossing this intersection or the old building with its magnificent roof decorations - including what looks like a chariot bolting full-tilt over the edge.

The colour and tone of this work makes the central figure resemble a Ring Wraith from Lord of the Rings. Perhaps another monument to Good King Wenceslas.

King Charles' bridge, one of the oldest bridges remaining in Europe and a feat of medieval architecture in its span. This was the primary entrance from the west bank into the old city of Prague and thus was equipped with guard towers on either end to prevent invading armies from crossing. As Prague grew and expanded onto both banks, the royals built Prague Castle on the western hill overlooking the Vltana and the old city.

The near-still water of the Vltana casts a good reflection of the pink clock tower and its neighbouring buildings.

The almost eye-searing orangeness of it all begged to be photographed.

Looking up from Charles Bridge through the guard towers on either side of its western entrance. I can just imagine soldiers standing on the crossbridge between the tours dumping pitch and shooting arrows at invading foreigners - much as Steven Harper would like to do.

My view from that same tower crossbridge looking West. St. Nicholas church on the left and the famous church from Prague castle looms on the right hand side while screaming tourists run for cover from my terrible wrath below (sadly off screen).

Yours truly - the pathetic and lonely traveller who quickly sets his camera to automatic in order to have a picture of himself in Prague. I wasn't too happy with this photo but people came up the tower after me and I didn't want to get caught taking pictures of myself.

The possible victims of wrath. Tourists stroll through the guard tower of Charles Bridge.

An ancient sword. This reminded me of the sword in the stone and since swords are fundamentally and in their very essence cool I was forced by the categorical imperative that I cognize a priori to photograph it.

Looking East. The throngs brave the weather to cross Charles Bridge (right) while the historic centre of Prague is visible by the twin-spired Tyn Church and town hall. In the distance the modern phallo-tower adds another thrust to the Czech skyline.

No real reason to include this photo but I love rooftops and someone won't be able to complain about this post if I don't give them some rooftops to complain about.

One of my many attempts to contrast new and old, global and local, commercial and theological (both nihilistic values?) in Europe. Most of them failed or are vague, this came the closest so I'll include it here and then sit back triumphantly as if I've made some artist point that wasn't already obvious to everyone and could have been done better by a ten-year-old.

The entrance of Prague Castle with close up of enormous violent statues. The guards (first photo) behave much like the British Royal Guards and don't move, smile, etc. They just stand outside their little boxes until their shift is over. Unfortunately I have no idea if any business - governmental or royal - still goes on in the castle. Tourists were allowed easy entrance to the courtyards and such, so if so they're quite lax on security. Perhaps they figure the enormous brutes guarding the entrance above the guards is enough to immediate would-be malcontents from any impropriety.

This looks almost like one of those eye puzzles. This was part of the luxurious neighbourhood that still surrounds the castle area.

In contention with Tyn (and maybe St. Nicholas) for the most famous church in Prague is St. Vitus Cathedral which stands within the grounds of Prague Castle. Noted for both its twin spires (a la Tyn) and still greater clock/bell tower in the centre - not to mention surrounded by the mini-spires of its gothic buttresses - this church really tries to out-do the rest. There is too much of a good thing, however, and for me it didn't really stand out in comparison to the copper-roofed St. Nic or the unique facade of Tyn. Still - quite nice. I especially liked the gargoyles - now that's architecture.

Toning down the spiralic testosterone is the Basilica of St. George, one of the oldest churches in Prague - predating St. Vitus, Tyn & Nicholas. Built in the Romanesque style of the 10th century it is one of the finest examples of its kind still remaining. As one can see from the photo it doesn't look a day over 200.

The single tree standing in the courtyard of the palace on the hill. Probably because my creativity has been wiped out by movies this draws comparison in my mind to the 3rd Lord of the Rings movie. Thus far two LOTR comparisons in one post. No good...

A tattered Czech flag symbolizing the occupation of their homeland starting with the Sudetenland in 1938 and ending with Soviet "liberation" in 1945 which saw the modern, progressive and westernized Czech pulled eastward behind the iron curtain. One of the most interesting pieces of memorial art/sculpture that I've seen. Most military monuments in Canada and western Europe seem so greco-roman in their sepulchral majesty. This seems more tragic.

I found what I wasn't looking for. How could I have been in the city of Kafka for two days and not have even remembered that I was walking along the same streets as the artist himself. So it was by complete accident and surprise, and of course delight, that I stumbled into this part of town - the old Jewish sector where a number of synagogues and the remnants of the old ghetto remain.

No need to speculate about the automatic mode this time. A fellow tourist volunteered to snap the photo of Franz and I.


Well, that's about it for Prague. I had strolled around the poor city for hours and it was time to head home. But wait, its almost 7 o'clock on the dot!

I made it back in time to see see the town hall astronomical clock in action. As you can see, the windows have opened and little religious dudes are paraded out for a quick wave at the crowds below. Not exactly fascinating but this is what counts for showbiz in Prague a thousand-years ago. Fine by me.

Last view of Prague.

Prague, Czech Republic - August 3, 2006

Ah, Prague. This is really the anomaly of my trip, completely outside my path from Germany to Italy, France and then finally Holland. At the time I was planning my trip, as anyone at Access Justice knows, Prague was a point of angst. In my original "pie-in-the-sky" plan, I had hoped to see much more of central Europe including Slovenia, Vienna, and of course Czech Republic. As my plan shrunk due to time and money constraints Prague seemed increasingly unlikely - it was far to the East of Munich (my otherwise most eastern city) and was not on the way to anywhere else. Not to mention the time constraints meant I would have to travel all the way from Freiburg to Munich to catch a cheap flight and then return in time to go to Venice on the 6th. Thus, to go to Prague would have to be for Prague alone, by air and for two days. After much humming & hawing, I bought a return ticket from Munich to Prague. It would be well-worth it, despite my short stay.

The story begins in Freiburg actually, where I left that evening on a 5 hour return trip to Munich which would see me disembark at midnight on the 3rd and my plane left that morning at 6am - meaning I had to be at the airport at 4, and leave Munich by train at 3 since its about an hour's ride by schnellbahn - schnell schnell. This left 3 hours of roaming Munich with my 75lb pack in the middle of the night - making good use of the 24-hour McDonald's (god bless fast food globalization) - before I was off to the other side of the (now defunct) iron curtain.

My hostel was on the outskirts of the historic city centre, behind which lies the blandness of modernity, which I attribute to the period of communism under which Prague and the Czech Republic as a whole stifled under for half a century. The Phallic Tower (in the top picture), however, proved to be a key orienteering landmark.

The magnificent entrance to the medieval centre of Prague. Unlike most of the other sites I had visited so far, Prague avoided most of the destruction of the world wars and so its historical endowment is largely genuine. Prague looked and felt much older than Germany, whose towers, walls and landmarks seemed to shine with the same Disneyesque lustre as Schloss Neuschwanstein. Prague was dingier, dirtier, more crowded and complicated - perfect!

The national opera house.

Attempting to fit the guard tower into my viewfinder was difficult enough. The black makes it look so much more sinister than the cheerful towers of Munich and Freiburg.

Prague's architecture is the real prize, one can - and I did - wander aimlessly for hours just looking at how the streets unfold, feeling completely lost in the maze of tall buildings that have loomed over the narrows streets for centuries. Modernization is slow but evident. Here the past and future seem to evolve together instead of one at the expense of the other.

The town square is marked by two massive and unique churches and the old town hall.

This one, the town hall, is known for its ornate and complex astronomical clock which on the hour gathers a massive crowd to watch its original cuckoo-like machinery promenade some biblical figures at the two windows near the top (photo two above).

Looking across the square (Staromestske nam or Old town square) lies the famous twin-spired Tyn church.

Diagonally from the town hall lies the majority of the square with its monument to Jan Hus, a 600 year old martyr. I couldn't quite remember the commercial, but I'd surmise that this is the spot where Coca-cola gathered a few hundred Czechs for its famous humans-as-coke ad.

The Jan Hus monument.

The seemingly random and bountiful art-as-architecture of Prague. Every building, no matter how ordinary, seemed to have details crafted into it.

Window as Art (No story, Just Liked This Shot)

The clouds menace from behind the Tyn church. Unfortunately, my trip to Prague coincided with the cold front that (finally) rescued me from the stifling heat of Munich. Sunshine probably would have made the city shine but I loved it even in the gloom - and it bodes nicely for some of the photos like this one.

One of my favourite pictures of Prague, capturing the street and its historic church (alright you've had enough of the church).

Building as storybook and character. I later noticed this same building was in the photo of Prague in the Lonely Planet.

Vaclavske nam (Wenceslas Square). Named after the good king, no doubt, the most famous Czech and a saint to boot. This is part of the New Town (Nove Mesto) although within walking distance of the Stare Mesto (Old Town). Still, we wouldn't consider it new as it was founded in 1348.

Back at the Hostel

Prague is also a standout city in my mind because it was my best hosteling experience in Europe and the only one where I really came to meet and talk with so many different people. The hostel itself was in a school (elementary I think) which was turned into a hostel for the summer (a smart way of providing some extra revenue).

Meet Spain's Charlie Chaplin. He may talk with a lisp (which made communication extremely difficult despite my knowledge in Spanish) but that won't hold him back from his career as a mime. He came to Prague the same day I did from Zaragoza (he pronounced it tharagosa - now I lived in Atizipan de Zaragoza in Mexico so the word was familiar to me, it still took me a good deal of time to recognize it).

The World Cup lives on with Brits, French and Brazilians competing for Foosball supremacy.

And now, one of the best parts of the night. Absinthe! The stuff is a legend (and the real thing will probably remain like that if government's have their way). Either way, what's considered illegal in the West is at least partially legal in the East, and although it wasn't 97% or hallucinogenic, the 160 proof, 80% green juice was good enough for me.

Preparing the Absinthe. Two shots are readied, one for myself and another for my french companion. I was worried that the drink would be too much for his constitution but, hey, they invented the stuff.

After adding a sugar to a spoon, we then soak the spoon in the absinthe (without letting the sugar spill into the shot) and then light the absinthe-soaked sugar on fire.

A flaming spoon of sugar turns the little crystals into a liquid.

Mix.


Cheers.


Shoot!

Maybe it was hallucinogenic - it looks like I actually phased partially out of existence in this photo.

Tada! Now keep 'em coming!

The wonderful Czech and Slovak administrators of the hostel. It definitely adds something to have an organization run by youth for youth. Chaos mainly. But in this case it turned out to work nicely.

Raul, from Brazil, showcases his talent.

Two British dudes show that smoking can be homoerotic.

Some more oral fixation.

A game of strip-foosball takes a turn for the worse for the Reds.

The Satanic and the Occult emerge at in the midnight hours of a Prague hostel. No, just a blurry night photo because there was low light.

Sophie (two above) and her drinking, smoking, swearing french friends arrive late on the scene but are committed to catching up on the drunken debauchery.

So that was Day & Night 1 of Prague, Czech Republic. I can't promise you the same wild action for my second night in the City of a Thousand Spires, but there will be some castles, bridges and Gehry's dancing building!

PS. The french dude who drank the absinthe did one more round with me before disappearing for the rest of the night. Goes to show you that drinking is best left to the french girls.