PRAGUE!

Prague may be my favorite place yet this semester. It is simultaneously gorgeous and gritty. Rare combination indeed. Like Vienna the enchanting streets go on and on and on – people live in work in buildings that, to me, are veritable works of art. It does not, however, have the money of Austria, emerging as it did from the grip of the Soviet Union after the Cold War. This made it a particularly fascinating border to cross – nothing about the train or natural landscape changes, but immediately one can observe more potholes, less efficiency, crumbling structures, less industry. Government and money matter! (In contrast, I had to be told by the train conductor when we crossed back into Switzerland from Austria. About the only difference was a slight increase in those typically Swiss window shutters…and yes the Swiss are more on time than anyone else, but one can hardly fault the Austrians for that.)

I have rarely been to a place as saturated in completely divergent histories as Prague. Ancient and powerful Prague and the modern Prague devastated by communism and revived by activism are layered over each other wherever you look. Danika and I started our first day in Prague with a confused wander through town… definitionof winding, confusing streets – the squares either extend further than you expect or are dotted with random buildings splitting them down the middle, further turning you around.It wasa great place to be lost. We spent some time in St. Wenceslas Square, the site of much activism in 1968 Prague spring and the 1989 Velvet Revolution towards shedding the yoke of oppression. Eventually we reached our target – the Museum of Communism. WOW. Truly well done exhibit replete with video footage of the Velvet Revolution and Prague Spring, speeches by communist figures and dissidents who held power between 1945 and 1989. Also plenty of interesting artifacts and signs for history nerds to read (in six languages, obviously).

Here comes the RANDOM. We went on a segway tour. It was hilarious – I mean, how could we take it seriously, right? But actually quite informative! A great way to see a bunch of the city without getting lost for a change. We zoomed around the Jewish quarter, up to the highest lookout point, over to the ancient Prague Castle, around the Charles bridge area, and all around the Old Town. I couldn’t stop laughing, it was fantastic. Danika and I even reenacted “Chimpanzee Riding on a Segway” – it’s a Youtube video… Highlight = I tried to twirl around too quickly on my segway at very low speed and… I fell off. In front of the house of the President of the Czech Republic. WIN. The sun set in the middle of our segway tour so we were able to watch the city light up from above:

The river picture on the right is a morning run along the Danube! Love having my jock friend to travel with.

Another Prague highlight was certainly the

Prague Castle which we explored in full the next day….. super! History nerd that I am, I thoroughly enjoyed the audio guide, one of the more in depth I’ve ever listened to. Beautiful Prague Views! Later we got a drink at a restaurant just to have the excuse to go down the narrowest road in Prague, which leads to it.

Prague was fantastic. I definitely want to return at some point in my life. I’m now in the middle of wrapping up my final research paper so a bit busy…. I will be better about blogging once I get through the paper J