Thursday, August 30, 2007

Prague ... Praha ... Pražská

We spent a few days in Prague, which was not enough time. Romana brought us maps, tourist books, and print-outs. She spent a day with us in Prague and showed us some of the main attractions and a few hidden attractions.

Matthew had "real" Budweiser - the original still made in Czech Republic. I had "real" Czech coffee. My spoon stood straight up (even before I added the sugar).



We saw the Charles Bridge (Karluv most) from above and from below when it was raining.


The Prague Castle Area
When "Prague Castle" is preceded by the article the, it should be followed by area or buildings or some other word so that nobody thinks that it is a single building. Prague Castle is really a whole bunch of buildings. Some of the buildings are modern and don't look anything like the Disney castle that we were expecting. (You know, the great big structure with lots of towers, tall walls, drawbridge, and surrounded by a shark-infested moat.)

We were standing inside the castle area and looking for the castle. We got blank stares and weird looks when we asked "Where is the castle?" When we tried to buy a ticket to see the castle, we learned that it isn't a the, it is a they ... and the tickets are sold separately.

Is this the castle? Not exactly. Every structure you see in the picture (plus more) is Prague Castle. The Gothic structure behind the kids is St. Vitus Cathedral, which is one of the Prague Castle buildings.


The Park (not labeled on some maps though huge)
Our FAVORITE part of Prague is Kinského Zahrada Park. There is very little mentioned in the tourist books. We found it because we decided to walk from our hostel to the castle area. We didn't want to walk along busy streets. We saw a green blotch on the map and a narrow walkway tunnel that seemed to go in the general direction of the green blotch. *Poof* we found ourselves in an endless oasis ... with well-maintained cobblestone paths, streams, waterfalls, ponds, castle ruins, a cemetary, a cable car, a museum, orchards, and probably lots more that we missed. It took us 3 hours to walk through part of the park.


The next time we go to Prague, we're going to spend a whole day in Kinského Zahrada Park. But, better not go late in the day and bring a good map. We ran into a couple of girls who said they had been walking around for hours and were trying to find their way out.

I was reading Dostoevsky during our trip for a mental boost of the eastern European culture. Stupid idea. I still love his writing (lots of sarcasm and double-meanings). But, it was written 150 years ago and the result was more paranoia than enlightenment. The frequent rain didn't help either. We spent just as much time crouching under the Charles Bridge with some of the unsavory city residents as we spent walking on top of the bridge.

An experience of Yana's helped to beat the funk. On our last day, we were walking in the pouring rain. We were "prepared" for the rain in Ann Brownell style. That means that each of us had a plastic grocery bag to squeeze over our shoulders or wear on our head. Needless to say, we were quite a sorry sight. Yana tried to use her plastic bag in as fashionable a way as she could but, honestly, plastic bags are simply not fashionable. So, Yana started to silently pray a Hail Mary. Before Yana even finished her prayer, a woman walked up to her and handed her an umbrella!

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