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Travel Writing: Prague
So, because I'd rather do this than study for my Linguistics test (tomorrow--eep!), I'm finally putting in the spring travels entry:
Prague
4 Fridays ago, following a 2-hours-sleep night of frantic gobbet-writing, followed by even more frantic last minute packing, I headed off with Dot, Hannah and Ruth for Dot's Nana's house near Manchester, thence to proceed to Prague. (Jennifer was to meet us at the airport.)
The journey started off with a big disappointment, as Jennifer was refused entry to the plane because she lacked an appropriate visa. We didn't realise you had to have a special travel visa to go to the Czech Republic with a South Korean Passport (even one with a long-term UK visa), but apparently you do. Bastards.
Still, for the four of us left travelling, Prague was lovely. I was apprehensive about our complete lack of knowledge of the Czech language, but we managed to muddle through all right mispronouncing key words like "thankyou" and "sorry". We stayed in a grungy little hostel in what looked like the beginning of the rougher part of town (lots of graffiti--and one of the taggers was called 'Tano'!), but it was very close to all the scenic stuff.
By far the coolest thing we saw was the Astronomical Clock in the central square. It's basically a giant clock that shows the sun and moon and zodiac positions instead of the time (which it needn't show, as the same tower has five other clocks on it to perform that function). We also saw the castle (location of the Defenestration!) and lots of ridiculously, amazingly decorated churches and synagogues. I mean amazing. Painted biblical scenes, gold-plated interiors (in some cases, like the Spanish Synagogue, the entire interior was painted with gold patterning), and there were giant statues, stained glass, crumbly crypts, the works! But even outside of churches and things, I have never seen a more ubiquitously decorated city. It seemed like every building had some sort of baroque-scrolled edging, fancy windows, a decoration above the door, statues on its rooftop, painted scenes on its upper walls, or all of the above.
It's no wonder so many people go to Prague--and they do: the city was absolutely crawling with tourists; we must have nearly equaled the locals in numbers (at least in the Old Town), and certainly surpassed them in the very touristy bits, like the central square). We had fun guessing the nationality of the various tour groups. Ruth wanted to join their ranks on a river tour, but during the time we were there we watched the river rise several feet, until it was overrunning its banks, so by the time we asked about river tours they were all cancelled. (I hear the city flooded a few days after we left; I hope it wasn't seriously damaged, and that all the people were okay.)
In addition to the sights, we saw some *cough* cultural things as well. When we passed a sign for a 'sex machine museum', we naturally couldn't pass it by--I mean what exactly would a sex machine entail? As it turns out, not much. They didn't have many things which could properly be classed as sex 'machines', though they did have several patents on the walls. Still, it was very 'educational' for Hannah. But we also saw actual cultural things, like the Kafka Museum, which produced my favourite quote of the journey, Hannah: "I just don't understand why the Kafka Museum had to be so depressing". On our last night we went to one of the famous blacklight theatre performances--but could have chosen better. We went to see a performance of Faust. With puppets. And fish. Lots of fish. And penguins, who were 'friends of snow'. Don't ask. On the way back I saw a sign for a Communist Museum situated above a McDonald's, but sadly we didn't have time to go.
Well, I have to get ready for class now. I suppose my entry on Wales will have to wait until next time.
Prague
4 Fridays ago, following a 2-hours-sleep night of frantic gobbet-writing, followed by even more frantic last minute packing, I headed off with Dot, Hannah and Ruth for Dot's Nana's house near Manchester, thence to proceed to Prague. (Jennifer was to meet us at the airport.)
The journey started off with a big disappointment, as Jennifer was refused entry to the plane because she lacked an appropriate visa. We didn't realise you had to have a special travel visa to go to the Czech Republic with a South Korean Passport (even one with a long-term UK visa), but apparently you do. Bastards.
Still, for the four of us left travelling, Prague was lovely. I was apprehensive about our complete lack of knowledge of the Czech language, but we managed to muddle through all right mispronouncing key words like "thankyou" and "sorry". We stayed in a grungy little hostel in what looked like the beginning of the rougher part of town (lots of graffiti--and one of the taggers was called 'Tano'!), but it was very close to all the scenic stuff.
By far the coolest thing we saw was the Astronomical Clock in the central square. It's basically a giant clock that shows the sun and moon and zodiac positions instead of the time (which it needn't show, as the same tower has five other clocks on it to perform that function). We also saw the castle (location of the Defenestration!) and lots of ridiculously, amazingly decorated churches and synagogues. I mean amazing. Painted biblical scenes, gold-plated interiors (in some cases, like the Spanish Synagogue, the entire interior was painted with gold patterning), and there were giant statues, stained glass, crumbly crypts, the works! But even outside of churches and things, I have never seen a more ubiquitously decorated city. It seemed like every building had some sort of baroque-scrolled edging, fancy windows, a decoration above the door, statues on its rooftop, painted scenes on its upper walls, or all of the above.
It's no wonder so many people go to Prague--and they do: the city was absolutely crawling with tourists; we must have nearly equaled the locals in numbers (at least in the Old Town), and certainly surpassed them in the very touristy bits, like the central square). We had fun guessing the nationality of the various tour groups. Ruth wanted to join their ranks on a river tour, but during the time we were there we watched the river rise several feet, until it was overrunning its banks, so by the time we asked about river tours they were all cancelled. (I hear the city flooded a few days after we left; I hope it wasn't seriously damaged, and that all the people were okay.)
In addition to the sights, we saw some *cough* cultural things as well. When we passed a sign for a 'sex machine museum', we naturally couldn't pass it by--I mean what exactly would a sex machine entail? As it turns out, not much. They didn't have many things which could properly be classed as sex 'machines', though they did have several patents on the walls. Still, it was very 'educational' for Hannah. But we also saw actual cultural things, like the Kafka Museum, which produced my favourite quote of the journey, Hannah: "I just don't understand why the Kafka Museum had to be so depressing". On our last night we went to one of the famous blacklight theatre performances--but could have chosen better. We went to see a performance of Faust. With puppets. And fish. Lots of fish. And penguins, who were 'friends of snow'. Don't ask. On the way back I saw a sign for a Communist Museum situated above a McDonald's, but sadly we didn't have time to go.
Well, I have to get ready for class now. I suppose my entry on Wales will have to wait until next time.