Prague

With much of the logistical drama behind me, I turned to exploring Prague. I’d spent almost a week in the very different Prague of 1998. Fourteen years and two seasons later, I was surprised both at how much was familiar and how much had changed. As the world changed over that time frame, Prague changed with it and even more. That February, I did a lot of indoor activities--I think I hit every museum in the Castle, and some elsewhere. It was wonderful to explore the city in the summer and to get a feel for the parks and gardens, and other green spaces.

Man, when it came to transition, this part of Eastern Europe didn’t f* around. People all over Budapest and Prague were friendly. Not everyone, but more than what you’d expect for Eastern Europe. I mean, who’s ever heard of friendly Eastern Europeans? We are not a smiley people. In ’98, people were surly. That was authentic. Museum guards loved to yell at you—so much so that they’d find a reason. They yelled at a friend for turning her head so that her hair might shake too close to a painting, setting off the alarm.

There was sure as hell no vegetarian food to be had back then, and now there are more vegetarian restaurants in Prague than in DC, and the ones in Prague actually don’t suck. Back then, we’d stayed in a youth hostel and bought ingredients to cook with at Tesco. When I unwittingly passed that Tesco, I instantly recognized it, thought, “that was our Tesco!”

I wouldn’t go as far as to say that the Prague of ’98 was sketchy, but it was most certainly still transitioning. We were kind of scared $hitless of it. Old train station dome, now a restaurant

Our arrival then wasn’t much less dramatic than my arrival last week. We got into the city the night that the Czech hockey team won the Olympic gold metal, beating out the Russian team. People from all over the country were in the capital, celebrating and drinking in the streets. That’s what we left the train station to see, and it was wild and scary for us. We’d come with a recommendation for a youth hostel, but all the hostels were full that night, so the tourist info people booked a hotel for us. We (broke students) were horrified—it was $40 a night for the three of us!

Oh, did I mention that we were warned before getting on the train that the conductors would try to scam us by asking for a surcharge, and we were to insist that no surcharge existed? It happened just as we were warned. And then, as the train pulled into the then-sketchy station, they made an announcement warning us to find real lodging, to avoid the people who would approach us and offer us a room in their home. It was depressing.

The tourist info people who booked our hotel also gave us directions to it: go around the corner and under the bridge, and take Tram 9. That sounded sketchy, but we had no choice. We passed the revelers and turned into a dark, unlit part of the city. We saw the ominous bridge. Weren’t we always warned about passing under bridges? Someone could jump down on you from atop. We had no choice but onward, so on we went, after stopping to take a breath and reminding each other to look up and be aware of our surroundings. All the sudden, J screamed. So I screamed. So M screamed. We screamed in turn for a few rounds, until it was clear that no one was jumping down on us from the bridge. We stopped screaming, asked each other why the other was screaming. M screamed because I screamed; I screamed because J screamed; J initially screamed out of relief: she saw Tram 9, and so knew that we were going the wrong way. Then she started screaming because we two were screaming. Oh, those were the days.

That once sketchy train station now rivals Victoria Station in style. It boasts, among other things, a Sephora and an organic food store, where I got some soy milk and could have gotten any variety of tofu, had I needed to, but at that point I discovered a multitude of vegetarian restaurants in the city. If there’s still a helpful tourist information office in the main train station, I didn’t find it; Prague attracts plenty of tourists these days without even trying—you can’t even get a free map of the city (luckily, I had one or two). Budapest, in contrast, goes out of its way to make itself tourist-friendly, with signs on every street corner and free maps at every turn. Maybe in another ten years, it won’t have to try, either.

I know this is a textbook obnoxious thing to say, but I’m so glad I got to know Prague in 1998, when, for example, the Charles Bridge was free of vendors (it’s now worse than the Great Wall) and Old Town Square owned its atmosphere. It was full of tourists even then, but it was free of Hundai-sponsored Eurocup screens. Old Town Square should feel eerie, dammit. It should not feel commercial or Disney-like.

It got better during the week. Nina's theory is that Prague gets fewer "international" tourists than European ones, who come for the weekend and go back on Sunday night. The city became less crowded, but stayed very hot. Nonetheless, all I did before and after meeting the group for our various get-togethers was walk around Prague. The nooks and crannies were just as rich as those in Budapest, with unique balconies, statues, and towers on just about every street grand buildings in every square and just plain neat-looking buildings everywhere. That's all small scale stuff; the city is also stunning on a large scale. Here's the dancing house by daylight--yes, I'm aware that some of you are not Gehry fans, but I think it's cool looking. While we're on cool shapes, check out the lighting in the vegetarian restaurant I went to for lunch one day. Here's the memorial to victims of communism Here's a view from inside a church in Old Town Square and one of the astronomical clock. And now for the avian photos: check out the pigeon on the statues on the Charles Bridge, the swans with the castle in the distance, and the peacock in the Senate gardens, which also boast ducks and owls, but I'll spare you those pictures. Here are some more views of the city at night:
One thing I didn't do in 1998 was visit any nearby towns. And so, I was excited about the day trips.