Prague

We had heard that Prague is a great place to visit for quite a while. When we lived in Italy in 2006, Mike's dad, Hank, spent several days there before coming to see us. Several other friends have been there since then and we kept getting great reports. It was time to see for ourselves.

We took the train from Budapest to Prague, going through northern Hungary and western Slovakia. The scenery evolved as we progressed - northern Hungary looked less bleak than we thought it might, but retained much of Budapest's grey tones. Western Slovakia was picturesquely rural and agricultural - apparently quite the breadbasket of Eastern Europe. Eastern Czech Republic showed more color and order and wealth, and Prague exhibited its vitality from its outskirts in.

"Vital" is the word that we found ourselves returning to again and again. This is no small feat for an ancient city striving to maintain its heritage identity while creating a modern niche in terms of trade, education, mass transit, and new markets. Tourists come for the history, architecture, the sights, the tours, and the entertainment, but if the city lacks vitality, there is little reason to consider returning. "Been there, done that," doesn't apply if the destination continues to evolve and attract. Prague does.

By a fortuitous quirk of hotel overbooking, we ended up removed from the tourist-heavy Old City, but close enough to access it easily by the city buses and foot. In our daily trek through the newer areas, Wenseslas Square, and the Old City, we got to experience various facets of the city, and our hotel was fabulously quiet, unlike those close to the Old hub. Not to mention that we were within a block or two of three vegetarian restaurants and a great little natural foods store. (More on this later: the VRI to city vitality.)

So, what's to like about Prague besides the wealth of vegetarian amenities? The Old Town, intact in spite of two world wars, and brimming with beautifully built and maintained architectural treasures;

The Charles Bridge - along with Charles Square and Charles University - was named after King Charles, a regent who actually may have deserved the tributes. The Bridge, seen here from the center toward the Castle side of town, is dotted with various statues all along its length, serves as a public market and gathering place, and is home to several buskers and groups of buskers.

View with statues, the Prague Castle, and the Vlatava River.

Atypical busker.

Typical tourists.

Typical buskers.

The Prague Castle, within which is the St Vitus Cathedral. The castle continues to be the seat of the Czech government, and is the world's largest functioning castle.

Interior of St Vitus Cathedral.

There is a tower within the cathedral that is open - for a fee - to folks who want to climb to the top. Personally, I have never liked heights. Mike talked me into it. I'm glad he did.

View of interior of Prague Castle yards, the west bank of the Old City, the Vlatava River and its bridges. The views were amazing.

The cathedral roof and another tower. This church is the most heavily gargoyled structure I have ever seen:

Look closely at the gargoyle outspouts across the top. If you have a computer with decent resolution, you can see that they look a lot like little pigs with crowns and wings. When pigs fly!  I only wish I could have gotten a closer shot, but that would have entailed flight or mountaineering gear, or a fancier camera.

Back in the center of the Old Town, in Charles Square, one finds this fabulous Astronomical Clock on the City Hall. People flock there to watch the hours struck, as the figures you see all move and a rooster crows, and other mechanical marvels unfold. It is beautiful, and keeps the hour, the day, the month, the season and the year.

Home of Franz Kafka. Prague was his birthplace, and is duly proud of the distinction.

Prague's civic tribute to Kafka. There is also the Kafka Museum, but what would that contain? Giant cockroaches? "The Existential Room"?

Prague is the home of a Jewish quarter. There are several old synagogues and an impressive cemetery. The cemetery contains over 17000 tombstones, all on less than one acre. Though Prague took in a wandering group of dispossessed Jews when few other communities would consider it early in its history, the resident Jews were not allowed much land and even less for the purpose of burial. We went into a synagogue which is now dedicated to the inscription of the names of those Jews killed in World War II from the Prague area. Each name is written by hand on the walls of the inner chambers. This in itself is powerful, but when I saw surnames of folks I now know: Fink, Schaffer, Schmit, and, yes, Hoffer, it was chillingly personal.

Anyone who has read The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay will remember the Golem and its connection to Prague and the Jewish Quarter. I refer those who have not, back to the novel - a wonder. The Golem lives on in tourist souvenir booths, where one can now buy little Golems to take home. We didn't.

Perhaps there is a connection from the Golem to puppetry. At any rate, Prague is home to many many marionette shops and a marionette theatre. Almost anyone can end up as a puppet, it appears:

Pirate puppets.

Royal marionettes, court figures and jesters.

Witches!

We also saw marionettes of current politicians, celebrities and other cultural targets.

Protestantism and independence, linked not only psychically for the Czechs, but commemorated together in the town square by a statue with the figure of Jan Hus at its focus. Hus was a priest with a mind toward reforming the Catholic Church more than 100 years before Martin Luther came on the scene. His mistake was to take his ideas to Rome, where he was killed. Modern Prague has taken his spirit of reform and independence as its inspiration. We went on a "free tour" led by an ex-pat American, a totally enjoyable time with well-told stories. He verbally depicted the 1989 Czech Revolt at Wenceslas Square, in which over 200,000 Czech citizens gathered peaceably, then took out their keys. Each person jangled their keys, and the combined effect spoke their frustration with their sense of imprisonment relative to the world and their own freedoms.

Jan Hus to the left, with the oppressed of Prague to the right.

Prague, home of Alphonse Muncha, became a germinal point for the development of Art Nouveau. There are myriad examples all over the Old Town.

Classical music: Every church in Prague seems to host some variety of musical concert almost every night. There were a whole lot of organ music concerts of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Pachelbel’s Canon in D, and other standard fare. It became a challenge to find a concert without that kind of boilerplate repertoire. We ended up going to a chamber music concert at the Music Academy because we wanted to avoid an organ concert, and because it promised to cover some Dvorak. Lo and behold, they also did the perfunctory – and their hearts truly were not in it – “Spring” from Vivaldi’s 4S, and P’s C in D. But the Dvorak was lovely, the musicians obviously cared more about it (I watched bowing technique as a visual cue, and it proved very indicative), and it was a lovely evening in a beautiful concert hall.  

The Academy string quintet. Note the imposing organ looming in the background. If we had a taste for organ music, this city would have been a goldmine.

Finally, this note: In Prague, the Vegetarian Restaurant Index to a City's Vitality was cemented. We had noted this as a possibility in London, where the most VRs were in the most avant-garde section of town, and decided that it has credibility while here. It's a simple premise: those cities with more vegetarian restaurants are the most vital. Witness Portland and Eugene, Oregon. The link is young people. See, when you have a city that is attractive to young people, you have a city that is more vital and you have more VRs. Simple, obvious.