Prague
Unfortunately, things didn't get off to a great start. I barely made my connection in Atlanta because of a delay in Hartford, and then in Paris, with a razor-thin connection window, I was bussed all the way across DeGaulle and then all the way back to get to my gate. Fortunately, they were waiting for me when I got there, although they didn't know it until someone finally asked what my name was. Then, after I arrived in Prague, I waitied for Kevin and the other two as we had arranged, but after three hours they hadn't arrived. I paged them, called home, everything. They were nowhere to be seen. So I got a hotel in Wencelas Square (Ramada) and took the shuttle bus into the city. What else could I do?
It was getting dark by the time I got to my hotel, so I grabbed my camera and tripod and decided to take some night shots while I walked around Wencelas Square - which, by the way, is a little bit of a red-light district, if you know what I mean. Not so much early on, but later in the evening I would notice it got a little seedy.
Wencelas Square is the heart of the city. It seems like there is always a lot going on in this area, and it made for a good starting point. The city is having a sculpture exhibition right now; you can see part of one of them on the left. The square is bordered on one end by the National Museum; some 6 blocks away is the other end. There is still some light in the sky at this point, but not for long.
The main attractions of the square are at the southeast end, which is across the street from the National Museum. There is also a large statue of King Wencleas, which is lit up at night along with the dome of the Museum. And with the automobile sculpture placed there perfectly, it made for one great shot - but I had to get low to the ground and retract my tripod as much as I could to get the right angle.
The Statue of St. Wencelas is huge and occupies the SE corner of the square. This is the same King Wencelas as in the Christmas song, and the statue has seen all the major events in Prague since the 19th century. In 1989 the statue was clearly visible in the student protests and the following anticommunism rallies. This square was packed with over 750,000 during those rallies, hard to believe when you look at it now.
Shortly after I took this picture, my tripod platform opened spontaneously and out popped my D70, falling to the ground. The sidewalks in Prague are actually little tiles all arranged nicely. My camera didn't like them. The Sigma lens is toast, but fortunately the camera itself is OK, and I had the original lens that came with the camera as backup.
A short walk to the northeast out of Wencelas square the next morning and a turn to the left, and one finds the Prasna Brana, which I only thought of as a cool-looking building when I first saw it, but it turns out to have some history; it was a major gate to the old city (Stare Mesto) and has some great views from up top, although I never made it up there.
Past the Prasna Brana, you soon find yourself at the Old Town Square, in Czech known as Starmak, is the liver of the city. This is where you find all the outdoor drinking places, as cafes spill out onto the square. Unfortunately the weather wasn't very good, so there was at least no temptation to sit down yet!
On the near wall of the building ahead is the Astronomical Clock. This amazing device, which has been here for several centuries now, tells not only the time, but the time of year and the moon phase. I found it somewhat difficult to read, really. This point is the start of a lot of walking tours; therefore the area in front of the clock is packed, with tourists and guides gathering for the start of their tours, in multiple languages. I even saw one tour being led by someone with a Uruguay flag.
One of the city's premier attractions is the Charles Bridge, which connects the eastern part of the city with the western. It is very touristy, with artisans and musicians all along, and as it is pedestrian only, it is a good, safe way to get to Prague Castle, one of the other premier sites that I was unable to get to due to time constraints. I took this picture from the Manesuv Most, which is the bridge just north on the Vltava river.
Here is another of the city's sculptures on exhibit. I believe I saw this on Na Prikope, which borders the northern end of Wencelas Square. The crosses look rather like Soviet-era anti-tank barriers, and maybe that was the whole point, but as I didn't see any description of the piece I can't say. Ironically - or perhaps not - this is located quite near the Museum of Communism, which I visited later in the day, and which I recommend to anyone who is going to Prague.
The hills on the other side of the Vltavsa river are called the Malostranska area, as far as I could tell. You can see part of Prague Castle in the top left of the view. I just thought this was a pretty scene, one that really captures the feel of what Prague's architecture is like.
Something I had always heard about communism is that they produced beautiful public works, like subway stations. And Prague would bear that out; the ornate design of the walls on this station speaks to that old creed, that art and public life can and should intertwine. And like the subways I would see in Germany, admission is based on the honor system: you buy a ticket, validate it at an automatic machine, and if no one asks you for that ticket they wouldn't be for the wiser. No tokens or cards to swipe, just proof that you paid. A receipt, if you will. But that's it.
My reason for using the subway was to return to my hotel and stay another night at the Ramada, because as of this point - noon on friday - I still hadn't received an email reply from Kevin, Peter, or Greg. So at this point I am still alone.
Sitting in front of the National Museum, and thus in full view of the traffic along Mezibranska, is this fountain. Unfortunately I have not been able to find out any other information about it. So this picture will have to do on its own.
Besides the Metro, which is the underground transportation system here, Prague streets are often filled with rails for the tram, whose cars are either red or blue. These trams ride with traffic, much like the ones in Toronto or San Francisco, and the same ticket that works for the subway works for these. I didn't have a chance to ride one, but I got out of their way several times!
At the north end of the Wencelas square was more of the sculpture exhibit, and here we see Superman crashing head first into the ground, with a nice young lady posing next to him so you can get an idea of the size of the sculpture. This was a popular piece; every time I walked by it, there was a line of people waiting to take their picture with it. And some good news: right after this, I checked an internet cafe and lo and behold, Kevin had emailed me. Their flight to London was late and so they missed their connection to Prague and arrived much later. Since I didn't know where they had made their hotel reservation, I couldn't have waited for them, but we were now going to meet at 5pm at the Old Town Square, and our trip could begin.
We spent the first night together by exploring some of the night spots in Prague, which ended with shots of Absinthe, something I do NOT recommend to anyone. But it was a good time anyway, and the next morning we closed our respective hotels and got this shot of the four of us before we went to the train station for our trip to Berlin. The three of them stayed at an apartment building that doubles as a hotel, so they had lots of room and a very nice woman working as the liason who took this picture.
For the trip to Berlin, we would be travelling along the Vltava river until we got to Nova Ves, when we would go though a plain until we picked up the Labe river, which would take us into Germany. We were travelling first class, so we had our own compartment for the four of us, and a very nice train car. It was also the last car in the train, so I could use the back window to take pictures. This first one is pretty non-descript, but a common view.
Somewhere south of Usti Nad Laben and probably north of Litomerice was this castle on a hillside that we all decided looked pretty cool. I don't have any idea what it's called or what town we were going through at the time, but I think you'll agree it's a pretty sight.
As we went through the city of Usti Nad Laben, we saw this bridge coming up and I made absolutely sure that I got a good picture of it, for obvious reasons given my love for bridges. This is the Mariansky Most, crossing the Labe in the heart of the city. This is a cable-stay bridge, which is still not seen in America but quite common in Europe. I'll discuss it more on the bridges page, but it belongs here as a waypoint in our trip because it is not too far from the German border.
I suspect that this building was located in Decin, the last large town that we would go through while in Czech Republic. Shortly after this point, we crossed the border into Germany, and for the first time on the trip I got a passport stamp - and got two. One for Czech Republic (they do not stamp at the airport), and one for Germany as an entry point. It would also be the last time I got a stamp until I got home, and that was only by request. So that was it for Czech Republic. On to Germany!
Proceed to Germany and Berlin
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