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.