I haven't been to Prague since 1993. 19 years is a long time between visits for any place, but the Velvet Revolution, in which Czechoslovakia became democratic (breaking from the Socialist sphere of Soviet influence), had only occurred in 1989, and the Czech Republic (where Prague rests) had just split with Slovakia in January of 1993. A lot has changed, but the city is still beautiful, at least to me. The front desk staff at our hotel didn't see it that way.
On our way out the
door one morning we noticed a light drizzle and the darkness that hinted at
a long dreary day. We stopped at the front desk to ask T for some
assistance.
"This may be a long
shot, but do you happen to loan umbrellas?"
"Yes, we do." His voice
rose at the end with a cadence that indicated English was not his first
language, but that we was comfortable enough to joke in it.
He pulled two
umbrellas from behind the desk and slowly opened them to test how well they
were working. The first worked well. He closed it and handed it to me.
"Where are you from, T?", I asked, curious to know where his brand of English originated.
"Czech Republic," he
answered, as he inspected the second umbrella. "I am from here in the Czech
Republic."
The umbrella was slightly broken. He peered deep into the heart of it, sizing up its faults. "Dirty,
disgusting and old."
I almost felt sorry
for the device that surely had kept many people dry during its life, but which had
seen better days.
"What, the umbrella?" I
asked.
"No, Prague, the Czech
Republic. My country is dirty, disgusting and old."
In a certain light
Prague is certainly all of that. However, for many tourists, the dirt
represents the centuries of dust that gives this place its charm. The dirt adds
authenticity. It hints at dark times under the Nazis and Soviets, and it
undermines any claims of Prague as a theme park, cleaned up just for tourist
enjoyment. Disgusting? Is he referring to the seamy underbelly that one
imagines to be all around? The “casinos” that operate 24 hours a day behind heavy
doors and blacked-out glass? The overwhelming presence of groups of men from
what appears to be Russia, Poland or the Baltic regions?
Old – no one can deny
that Prague is old. But, again, this is what draws so many from around the
world. Prague may have been on the adventurous backpacker’s itinerary twenty years
ago. Now it is filled with groups of high school and middle school groups from
around Europe. Groups of adults of all ages follow guides holding flags and
colorful umbrellas, speaking dozens of languages – German, Polish,
French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, and English of the U.S. and U.K. varieties.
Strangely missing were the Japanese tour groups that were so common and so
frequently discussed in tourism literature from the 1980s onward. The Japanese
are in Prague, but they tend to be traveling in pairs or alone. Could the
Japanese be the new post-group tourists?
For T, a worldly, humorous, man in his
mid-20s, I suppose his country’s age holds little attraction. For a country
with so many artists and thinkers who have been globally important and
innovative, there is a fine line between clinging to the past and celebrating
it.
Being from elsewhere, we celebrated the "dirty, disgusting and old" streets for three days. At times we struggled to squeeze past the masses of tourists just like us, but overall we loved the long days (sunrise at 5:00am, sunset at around 9:15pm) and the old buildings, many of them with architectural embellishments not commonly seen in most places - statuary seemingly holding up balconies, brightly-colored facades, paintings of designs and figures on a massive scale. It was a wonderful time of the year to be in a beautiful city.
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| The first time H has set foot in Prague (and the Czech Republic) |
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| On the Charles Bridge for the first time in 19 years |
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| Some of the "dirty, disgusting and old" sites on the Charles Bridge |
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| Throngs of tourists streaming between the Charles Bridge and the Astronomical Clock at Old Town Square. |
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| Old Town Square (with the tourists cropped out) |
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| Old Town Square with the tourists in the picture |
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| A morning walk to Petrin Hill |
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| H enjoying the morning sunshine |
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| Prague Castle as seen from Petrin Hill |
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| Prague Castle at night as seen from Charles Bridge |
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| The gate to Charles Bridge |
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| Just some of the wonderful architecture to see around Prague |
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| Antonin Dvorak, one of Prague's native sons, and a one-time resident of my home state, Iowa (in 1893, a century before I first visited his home) |
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| Gorgeous figures painted on random buildings |
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| Colorful, solid buildings everywhere |
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| Prague is sometimes called the City of a Thousand Spires |
