Prague (Praha)

My train pulled into Praha 'Hlavni nadrazi' (Central Station) at about 10 pm. Prague gave me a cold welcome. I have no cash (excepting a phonecard with 90 pfennigs on it, a 2½ Dutch Guilder piece, and a Canadian quarter). I find an ATM. A very disagreeable ATM. Despite servicing all the networks that my bank is a part of, this machine did not like my card. After, an hour of searching, I procured some koruna (aka 'crowns' or Kc) and headed into the snowy night.

Trainspotting at Praha Hlavni nadrazi.

I stayed in Zizkov, a working-class community east of the railway station. Since it is a working-class community, prices are reasonable. A beer here, in March 1999, runs about 12 Kc ($0.50) for 500 mL (roughly an English pint). There is a strange abundance of Americans in Zizkov, I wonder why.

The Wonders of Communism


The Prague TV Tower. Who designed this? Stumbling around Zizkov trying to locate my hostel in the middle of a cold, snowy night, I came up against this... uh... thing. It was designed to broadcast Soviet TV, now it broadcasts MTV... as well as actually useful things. At the foot of the tower is a small, inconguously old, Jewish cemetery.		The Prague Metro. Well, they probably couldn't build a decent clock-radio, but one thing the Soviets could build were subways. The Prague Metro is fast (you can cross the central part of Prague in about 15 minutes), convenient (stations are never too far away), and cheap (a 15 minute ride cost 8Kc - just over a quarter, Canadian). And the stations have a certain "charm" (but what are those bumps on the walls for?)

Sights and Sounds

After spending weeks in Germany, with it's shiny, modern buildings, Prague was a welcome change. The city was not heavily bombed and so maintained many of it's old structures. Two of the most striking are the Charles Bridge and Prague castle.

The river Vlatava (Moldau in German) winds through Prague. The Charles Bridge, with its statues and stone portals, crosses it. Prague castle, where the Czech government sits, watches over river and city from atop the hill. This scene, no matter how often I saw it, still gave me pause. Somedays, Prague almost seemed like a fairtale kingdom.


These two scenes are just across the Charles Bridge from each other. Trams and cars fight and jostle along Smetanovo, this is light traffic for Prague(left). While on the west side of the Vlatava (right), the sluggish waters of the Certovka (Devils' creek) turn the wheel of an old mill... on the left bank of the stream is Kampa, the lover's island.

Living and Letting...

I couldn't resist posting these photos...

Visual confession of an anadulterated slob. No, I don't like making my bed!

Martin and Mr. KinderSurpise. (KinderSurprise was procured from a liquor store for 500Kc. Why? Don't ask.		This is Julius Meinl, eastern Europe's version of 'Safeway.'

A Night Train to Budapest

"Passport Control," I was awakened at 1:30 am by Slovak border guards. They checked, stamped, mumbled and returned my passport. "Passeport control," I was awakened again by Slovak border guards. Why did they check us twice? Is anyone really going to get off in Bratislava at 3:00 am!?

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