GreenMan Rantings from a guy named Devon

Berlin & Prague Trip: Prague

After a 4 hour train ride, we arrived in Praha (Prague) late, around 7pm. Our tour guide, Ladi, met us at the train station and lead us to our hotel. It was dark and everything looked very foreign. More foreign then Germany. I think it was the writing. In Germany the words are close to English, in Praha it looks like Russian--allot of strange characters and not many vowels. It was nice to have Ladi lead us when it was dark. Arriving in a new place at night is, in a word, unsettling. Once we all checked in, we had a nice Praha dinner in the hotel restaurant. It was allot of meat, bell peppers, sauces, and spices-- very Russian goulash type stuff.

The next morning (Oct 1), after complimentary breakfast at the hotel restaurant, Ladi took us for a city tour. We walked around exploring the architecture of the city. Praha has four main styles: Baroque, Art Noveau, Renaissance, and Cubist (which is native to Praha). It also has some others, like Gothic. One main character of Praha is that the sidewalks are cobble stone, like in Germany, but marble cobble stone. It gave the city a very strong, and some what wealthy, felling. The first main building we saw was the "Grand Hotel Europa." The hotel was built in 1889. Its unique interior has appeared in many films, for example, "Mission Impossible" with Tom Cruise. It is also known as the "Titanic restaurant," for its cafe was used as the model for the actual restaurant on the Titanic. Later in the the day, Pam, Rachel, Briana, visited the cafe. We had drinks in the art noveau cafe, relaxed, all while listening to the piano play "It's a Wonderful Life."

On the tour we saw all the different styles of the city, as well as the history. One primary cultural aspect of the Czech Republic is its marionette theater. Now, Pinocchio is an Italian story, but the Czech adopted it as their own when they created many marionette plays biased on the story. Along with marionette, Czech is known for glass work, painting, crystal, and absinthe. Czechs flourished during the bohemian era; as well as France. Now, a little on Absinth. Absinthe is Swiss, but was very popular during the bohemian era, so it is equated with France and the Czech Republic. Each place has there own recipes; the French recipe being anise flavored. Whereas the Czech recipe, being know as the true "Bohemian-style absinth," contains little or no anise, fennel, and other herbs that are found in traditional absinthe. Yet, like its traditional counterpart, it contains wormwood and a high alcohol content.

Back on the tour we came to the famous Astrological clock, nativly known as "Orloj." The Orloj is a medieval astronomical clock mounted on the southern wall of old City Hall in the old town square. The Orloj is composed of three main components: the astronomical dial, representing the position of the Sun and Moon in the sky and displaying various astronomical details; "The Walk of the Apostles," a clockwork hourly show of figures of the Apostles and other moving sculptures; and a calendar dial with medallions representing the months. The clock was first built in 1410, then redecorated in the medieval style in the 1490. A gruesome medieval story goes that the original maker's eyes were gouged out in order to prevent him from making a similar clock for another country.

Later that day a group of us found the Frank Gehry's "Dancing House." The group of us arrived my subway and walked up the street. We got to the street corner and just could not find the building. Then Briana said, "Hey, look up." We all were standing under the building and felt like fools. We walked across the street and took our photo. That night we all had dinner in a fancy restaurant. Now, Germany is known for beer, but the Czech believe they make the best beer in the world. And they drink it to prove it. The Czech people drink an average of 160 liters of beer a year, per person. That's a lot of beer. After dinner we all went back to the hotel.

The next day (October 2), we met Ladi for another tour. This day we toured the Praha castle grounds and gardens. We saw a terrific Baroque style garden with amazing views of the city. We also saw the Praha Castle, which is Praha's parliament building now. In the garden of the castle we saw over 7 peacocks just wondering around. Interestingly, the male peacock is very iconic, but the female peacock is not-- even though very beautiful, dressed all in white.

Later that night we all got together and went to a performance of the famous Don Giovanni marionette play. As I said, the Czechs are known for marionettes. The play was very good. It was a bit hard to follow, so I looked it up when we got home. You could tell they had done his before--everything was done to a "T." It had some comedy to it as well. After the play, we all went out for some drinks. Some then went back to the hotel, some went to a club. I went to the hotel and packed.

The next morning (October 3), we took a chartered bus to the Praha airport and flew back to Bonn. The flight was only 1 hour and 30 min long. It was a very gray day, good for traveling. I now have a day to recover and do laundry. Then, Sunday (October 5), I'm off on my week adventure with Briana and Brent. I am talking my computer, so I could blog as I go or when I get back. But, I may not have time when on the trip. We shall see.