Praha

Here is an update on my recent trip to Prague, Czech Republic. Pictures and text.




Nick and I (the usual suspects) left Cologne on Friday, May 23rd and took a short (1 hour and 10 minutes) flight to Prague. There we first took some money out at an ATM right at the airport in order to be able to pay for transportation to the city. The only problem was, the ATM spit out 1000 Czech Koruna bills, which is equivalent to $65, and we knew there was no way anyone would make change for that. So Nick astutely asked the Exchange Office lady to break down a 1000 into smaller bills. Problem solved, right? Well no. The transportation to the city center involves taking a bus to the metro and then once in the city you can either walk or take the tram. We paid for our bus tickets on the bus and that was ok. However, once we got to the metro stop, there was an automated ticket teller that only takes coins. Nick had only enough for one ticket, so I had to visit a store at the station and buy something in order to receive some “useful” change. The only problem, the lady (God bless her soul) didn’t speak a lick of English. So what did I do? Well I spoke to her in my native Serbo-Croat (omitting case declination on purpose), pronouncing every word really slowly while accompanying each one by international hand signals….I said: “jedna voda, velika i ovaj sendvič” (One water, big, and this sandwich). She understood me and off we were to Prague.
By the way, the first leg of the transport from the airport to the metro stop, Prague resembled newer parts of Sarajevo in many ways. There were these old school trams running around and these newer, Communist-era apartment buildings filling the landscape. I thought that was pretty interesting but I also knew that once I entered the city things would change dramatically. And they sure did.
Nick and I made it to our Hostel in no time. We checked in and headed out for some food. We opted for a pizza place recommended by the guy at the front desk as we wanted something quick and easy and decided to save our Czech cuisine experience for later that night. Pizza was ok. Staropramen was excellent.
After quick, late, lunch, we walked to the city center. We walked past many of the main city attractions, such as: The National Museum, Powder Gate, Old Town Square, and Tyn Church. All of these sites were beautiful, very unique. We wanted to do a first round, quicker tour of the city on the first afternoon there and then come back the next day to see it again. We went to Charles Bridge, Karluv Most, next. This is probably Prague’s most famous landmark. I must admit the place is awesome. It features both religious and historical figures as statues. I haven’t done my research on this but my guess is that this was one of the first bridges built to connect the banks of the Vltava River. My only complaint about this beautiful object is the amount of tourists it attracts. One literally needs half an hour to cross it and it’s hardly two football field lengths long. I guess, even though I am traveling around as a tourist, I resent my own kind (tourists) as we somehow unintentionally (hopefully) ruin the experience for others. Or at least, my motto is to act the least touristy as I possibly can; otherwise you don’t get to experience the true culture.
After this long walk, we decided to leave visiting the Castle, Petrin Tower, Jewish Quarters, and Gehry’s Ginger Dancing Building for Saturday. With nothing else on the agenda, we went to a Bier Garten on a small hill on the north side of the city. This is an awesome spot as one has the view of the entire city in front of him.
That night we went to an original Czech cuisine restaurant and had some really good food. I don’t necessarily remember the names in Czech, but it involved all sorts of meats, cabbage, potato dumplings and gravy….yummy. And the portions were enormous.
After dinner we went to a couple of night clubs recommended to us by two Slovakian girls studying in Prague that we met in Cologne. We were the only foreigners at the first place, which was pretty cool. It was really interesting to observe young Czechs having fun and dancing to some old school American music. The second club was fun as well. Interestingly enough, the music played at the first place was also played here. This of course wouldn’t be strange if we were talking about the current Top 40 Hit List, but this was your old(er) 80s and 90s music mixed in with the occasional more recent dance hits. Around 3am we decided to call it quits and headed back to the Hostel.

On Saturday we took the tram directly from the Hostel to the Prague Castel. This site is located on a hill overlooking the entire city. It is an amazing place. It is actually an old fortress, a small city that now functions as a tourist attraction. The amazing thing about this place is the church that resembles Kölner Dom; it is built in the similar style, although on a smaller scale, but it is still comes forward as this great Gothic temple. Because of my best friends, the hordes of tourists, we decided not to wait in line to get into any of these buildings; but we did walk all around the complex and proceeded taking the road towards the Petrin Tower, which is a series of parks. This was probably my favorite part of the city. We were practically 5 minutes away from the center, yet the nature was well preserved and the surroundings were really quiet. So basically even if one were to live in Prague, he/she could escape the city life by going on a short walk to the wooded areas located on the adjacent hills.
From the Petrin Tower one can really see the entire city (even better than from the Bier Garten described earlier) as the tower goes up in the air a good 50 meters I believe.

After our ascent up the hill, followed by climbing to the top of the tower, I was a bit winded. In fact, on our way down my legs started cramping up and I had to stretch. Pretty funny as I usually don’t get cramps even when I play sports and it’s not that I am out of shape; it is just that my muscles aren’t used to going up and down hills. We made it downhill going through an older part of town that features many embassies including the US. At the bottom of the park there is a monument dedicated to victims of Communism. The sign stated that it is meant to remember all those who suffered, whether they were persecuted or had to endure rule of fear during those years. Interestingly, the monument comprises of human figures that are incomplete (check it out on my pictures). This creates an interesting optical illusion, especially when seen at night as the statues are lit.
After the long walk we visited a street vendor and had some good Kielbasa with senf (mustard) on a bun. It was delicious. I took a picture of the street vendor. It is quite an intricate little shop in the middle of the street, I almost feel guilty calling it a street vendor.

On Sunday, we visited other remaining spots. The Jewish quarters, Josefov, is believed to be the oldest Jewish settlement on the old continent. Besides the old Synagogue, there is an old cemetery dating back to 10th or 11th century (don’t quote me on that one). Another historically significant fact in this area of town is that it was here that Franz Kafka was born. Kafka is considered by many to be the best classical German language writer. I was looking around the area to see if I can figure out where he got the inspiration for his Metamorphosis masterpiece; if he had lived in Amsterdam, I think I know where to look, but not here. Jokes aside, I always feel in presence of something great knowing that an artist who influenced (and still influences) many people, was born in the exact area I am visiting.
Another interesting fact is that Prague, as well most of the current Czech Republic, was populated mainly by German speaking people; even as recently as WWII but were forced out in a combination of Hitler – Stalin occupations. Most German speaking folks were Jews and therefore targets of both these dictators.
Next on the agenda was Gehry’s dancing building. This is one of the most (if not really the only one) modern buildings in Prague. I saw works by this architect already in Düsseldorf and was extremely impressed. But this building is something else. I think I took about 4 or 5 pictures. The variety of shapes create an illusion of movement, hence the dancing in the name of it, but one really must take a look at it closely to see how well it is done and yet is very functional.

The last part of this post I want to dedicate to talking about one of my favorite writers, Milan Kundera. He was born in Brno in the Czech Republic but spent most of his Czech days in Prague. Since the late 60s he has lived in Paris. He wrote several books that deal with human relationships, while in subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) ways criticizing the Czech Communist regime and its servitude to the Soviets. Because of this he was persecuted by the government and forced to flee to France. Anyways, most of his early works, which were written in Czech (now he writes mostly in French) are set in Prague. And during this trip I was re-reading his masterpiece: The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Everywhere I looked; all the middle-aged Czechs I saw on the streets, I tried to imagine them as subjects of his work. Also, I wondered about the places he described; I wanted to know if I was near any of them; I must have been, the city is not that big, I thought. It was an awesome feeling; I could totally imagine these people going through life the way he talks about it; and the reason I focused on the middle-aged group was because those were the ones that lived through the Soviet occupation and the Communist regime. And even if Kundera didn’t specifically write about any of the people I saw, his work certainly spoke for most people in that era.

Well, it is getting late. In a few days I have my first exam. I cannot believe it’s already been two months since I’ve gotten here. Time certainly flies by when one travels. So, on the agenda for me next are:
- Channel Management exam on May 31st
- Amsterdam trip June 5th – June 8th

Till later

Stasha