the road abroad.: Prague with a little side of STUNNING.

PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC

My guide book’s first sentence was ‘Prague is stunning.’ And it sure was. I’ve been to quite a number of cities at this point and left this one thinking it was my second most favorite. It felt very manageable. There was so much to discover throughout the windy streets that led to and from the old town square. I loved that it was a pedestrian city with charming trolleys ringing their bells.

I had one day of warm weather so I walked across Charles Bridge (aka the busy bridge), which was filled with lovely paintings and handmade jewelry. I met a couchsurfer from New Mexico, named Trenton Boyd that happened to be following the same path through Munich, Berlin, Prague and Vienna. so I teamed up with him for a week. We took a walking tour of the city and were able to watch the famous Astronomical Clock in the town center. Every hour, tourists surround the clock and watch as the figurine skeleton comes to life and tolls the bell. Three other figures follow suit and the two wooden kookoo-clock-type doors open up. The on-lookers ‘oooo’ and ‘aahhhh’ as the twelve figurine apostles poke their heads out to the crowd one at a time. The show concludes when a real-life bugler plays from all four corners of the balcony! It was pretty impressive for a 600 year old clock!

Another highlight of the tour was Wenceslas Square, a common boulevard that is popular for protests and community gatherings. The marvelous National Museums was perched up on a hill that led into the square and was the sight of a couple historical events worth mentioning. During WW2, the museum was damaged during WW2 when it was invaded by the Nazis who mistook it for Parliament! During its refurbishment, they purposely used a different color mortar as to show the solemn effects of war. In January of 1969, it also marked the location where Jan Palach set himself on fire in protest of the invasion of Czechoslovakian by the Soviet Union in 1968. A group of Czech students, in vluding twenty-one year old Palach made a pact to set themselves on fire in order to bring world-wide attention to the demoralization within Prague. He suffered from third degree burns for three days in the hospital before he died on January 19, 1969. While on his death bed, he pled that his fellow cult members should not succumb to the same fate- the pain was too great and no one even noticed. Over 40 years later, that same location is one of the most flourishing sights of capitalism in all of the Czech Republic!

Here you can see the different color mortar

I was feeling extremely lazy one day and decided to see a movie for the first time in about 6 months. I had never heard of Woody Allen’s ‘Midnight in Paris’ but I was more than pleasantly surprised! It was one of those movies that had great tempo- it just continued along a positive path for two hours. I was actually disappointed when it ended. I hadn’t encountered the same splice in time periods that Owen Wilson felt in the movie, but I had felt foreign over the past couple months. I had visited some of the most prestigious museums in the world that showcased the same influential artists. I think it felt even more special since I had just visited Paris a few weeks earlier…and was lucky enough to get caught in the delightful rain. The movie was so charming- truly entertaining.

From the soundtrack- "Let's Do It, Let's Fall In Love"

Another great find was an old box elevator that consisted of maybe 8 box cars that continuously rotated around a rectangular path. There were no doors. The carts just went up to the fourth floor until a large wheel shifted it over to the cables that brought them down. Trenton and I spent a good half hour just playing on the elevator. We ignored the signs (written in two different languages) that said ‘Get Out!’ at the fourth floor just to see what would happen. I took a video that rivaled the Blair Witch Project but was unable to upload it to the blog.

We met three very cool Asian girls and one not so cool American guy when we visited the John Lennon memorial wall. The tributary graffiti began after Lennon’s death in 1980 and peaceful messages have continued to decorate the wall today. It’s amazing how one personal can make such a lasting ripple effect throughout the world. Nearby, I also snagged a picture on the ‘Love lock Bridge’. I’m not sure how this tradition of securing locks to old bridges got started but apparently there are similar bridges all over Europe. It has even been banned in some places since the weight of the locks has caused significant damage to the structure of some ancient bridges. Who could have guessed?

The famous Prague castle was erected in the 9^th century and was the home of the Kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman Emperors and Presidents of Czechoslovakia and Czech Republic. It sprawls over 570 meters in length and 130 meters wide- the largest in the world! I was kind of castled-out so I didn’t pay entry to go inside. The castle grounds were impressive enough and I was able to go inside some of the cathedrals as well. On the way down, we found a small vineyard and robbed it blind of both red and green grapes. What a nice, sweet treat!

Otherwise, I found Prague to be very inviting with its elegant cafes and restaurants. I had the thickest, most delicious hot chocolate of my life- I can never go back to Swiss Miss. The Bohemian Glass was also a spectacle. Fyi, Prague is in the historical region of Bohemia, hence the term ‘Bohemian’. Being a good son, Trenton shopped around for some impressive crystal stemware to send to his mother overseas. We were completely shocked to the find a 24 hour post office in one of the main squares! Twenty four hours! How can it make sense to keep a post office open throughout the night? I wish they had spent more time packing the stemware because every glass except one broke on its way to New Mexico. What a bummer for Trenton.

I took one very memorable day trip outside of Prague to visit the bone church in Kutna Hora. Talk about unique! The church was first made famous in the 13^th century when an abbot returned from a visit to the holy lands of Palestine with a pocketful of soil which he sprinkled amongst the surrounding graveyard. From that point onward, demand to be buried in that cemetery was very high amongst the aristocracy. By the 17^th century, space was unavailable and old bones were exhumed and stored within the church. In 1870, Frantisek Rint was commissioned by the church to display the bones in such a way as to remind people how fragile life is and that death is inescapable....we should make use of our time on Earth by serving the Lord and being good Christians. The last part tends to be left out. Upon entry into the church, I was greeted with this impressive display of bones in the shape of a chalice! They had several rooms stacked with skulls, a masterpiece chandelier made of every bone in the body, and a ‘Coat of Arms’ actually made out of arms. Sick!! It was REALLY impressive and not nearly as creepy as one may imagine.