Prague
6/10/00 - 6/11/00

Donya removed cat fur from her clothes as we rolled through the Czech Republic. I found this multilingual sign interesting, probably because it has Russian on it -- our first sign that we were really in the East! We stopped at a train station at the border which had the most beautiful roses growing, but I didn't get photos. Finally, we arrived in Prague. As we got off the train, Richard hugged me and wished me a happy birthday! I'd totally forgotten it was my birthday! What better way to turn 30 than to be so busy worrying about trains and Germans and Prague and luggage that you forget you're getting older! Donya found the graffiti on the escalator interesting, and then we saw the architecture! It didn't take us long to realize that 1) we were incorrectly dressed for Prague, where people are decidedly casual and are not used to goths and 2) that the men -- primarily the German tourists -- were going to have a lot of fun at our expense. Some quotes: "Girls! girls! Girls!" -- spoken by Czech men, in Czech, when we entered a tobacco shop / beer bar so Richard could buy tram tickets for us; "I smell babes! Babes in the air!" -- spoken in heavily accented English at Vaclavsky Namesti. Most others just stared at us; it was truly strange and not too enjoyable. Everything else made up for it, though.

Although I'd been to Prague once before, in February, I didn't get to take as many photos on that trip (I failed to bring a power converter to plug in my digital camera!), so here at last are photos of some of the amazing Prague buildings! In particular, this is a church

Art Nouveau, or Secessionist, architecture and Art Deco and Cubist styles can be found all over the city, and many buildings have grotesques, masks, relief, and free-standing carvings on their facades.

These buildings are primarily Art Nouveau style.

I'm not sure about the building on the left, which looks neo-classical and Moorish to my untrained eye but the other one shows all the earmarks of Art Nouveau -- organic lines, nature and feminine motifs, and pastels colors.

The door in the center is classic Nouveau. These buildings date to the early 20th century, anywhere from 1900 through the 1930s. The two photos on the right are inside a church.

More from inside a church. I dubbed it the Church of the Oar D'Or, and the second photo is of the Door of the Oar D'Or (That's "Door of the Golden Oar," but it's more of a tongue twister the other way!) the second photo from the left, the ice-cube thing, is a Soviet era glass building, which is right next to one of the most beautiful buildings in Prague.

Carvings, reliefs, and more facade decorations. It's hard to walk down a street without falling in love with the buildings.

More carving, and a gate next to the ugly Art Deco lamp-post which I didn't photograph. This is right next to Vaclavsky Namesti, the main square. the remaining images are from a Moser crystal shop! We stopped in looking for a wedding present for Donya's mother, and we just lucked into the best crystal shop ever, which is set inside an old home.

Every wall, door facing, and window was decorated with inlaid wood and stained glass!

Nearby, we found an exotic flower shop, and I couldn't help but photograph the pink pineapple and bizarre, tiny orange berries. the carvings are outside the national opera house, I think. I believe this is neo-classical style.

More of the same. I don't think I could ever tire of it!

Donya touched the spot where St. John of Nepomuk was martyred, for good luck, I think. This is on the Charles Bridge. In the Lesser Quarter, at the castle-end of the bridge, there's a little canal, where we walked in search of food (FYI: there's none there). Prague has a lot of this style of decoration, called sgraffiti,, where they chip away one color of plaster to reveal the color beneath. This is a combination of some cubist and some floral motifs!

More sgraffiti,, a view of the city from the Castle, a gold Egyptian-esque winged cougar, and the magnificent Cathedral of St. Vitus!

The Cathedral and the buildings in the Prague Castle complex are amazing... you really have to just see them to believe it.

We wanted to visit the Stag Moat and Golden Street, which is quite old, but we couldn't find a good way down. Instead, we looked out over the moat, and heard wild gypsy music coming from the other side! Actually, it was an Egyptian musician at a world music festival just on the other side, but it was exciting and mysterious to hear the music as we looked over this positively medieval landscape!

Retreat | Onward