Nocturnalist – 26/6 – Prague 1

The metro shuts down after midnight, which can be a massive hassle if you are planning on staying out later. There is still transportation, but unless you can spring for an Uber, you are stuck with the (cue horrible screaming) Night Tram. It seems everything becomes topsy turvy at night because the regular trams are completely fine but for some reason the Night Trams are evil and confusing. We spent way too long out at night on sketchy places trying to figure out how to get home when Google Maps wouldn’t cooperate. What an adventure!

Whether you are going somewhere or coming back, everyone out past 2 am has an interesting story, especially when you are wearing an outfit as pretty and put together as hers. She seemed much too elevated for the dirty street stop we were crashed out at.

Morning Glories – 25/6 – Charles Bridge

As there was a significant language barrier, I am still not sure if they stumbled out of a club moments before this or were merely out for a friendly walk at 5 am. Either way these boys were tired and sat down in the middle of Charles Bridge, as you do. I mean where else would you get views so good? But I still might prioritize sleep.

The blue lighting is from very early morning, just after sunrise on the river and gives this picture a different feel than harsh noon sunlight would. If only the man to the far left were wearing a cooler colored shirt, this would be nearly monochromatic.

Nocturnalist – 24/6 – Old Town

For young tourists, clubbing in Prague is just one of the sights to see. As a huge city, there are certainly a lot of options; there is a club for everyone. For every generation too, as it turns out there are a ton of bars around, although that may not be surprising for a central European country. Czechs have a long and proud history of beer making (Pilsner anyone?) but also other liquors like Becherovka, out of Karlovy Vary.

Such sights as the one above are not exactly rare, and yet they are not usually captured on camera either. Talk about “fluidity of the moment” when most of the observers are also drunk. These guys hopped on stage as a group and started dancing before their selfie.

Morning Glories – 23/6 – Old Town

Clubbing in Prague is a given. One of the best, depending on who you ask, is called Karlovy Lazne, better known as the 5 Story Club. Like it’s name suggests this nightclub is spread over 5 floors, each of which has themed music like “Oldies” or “R&B”. Obviously I investigated for purely journalistic reasons.

The club closes at 5 am and unceremoniously kicks out the horde of drunks into the streets of Old Town. And they’re a loud bunch. Those with some sense left usually scurry onto the metro, which opens around 5 am as well. The rest remain where they were dumped and do something stupid practically immediately. From pissing in the river to trying to throw their buddy into the air, someone is getting in trouble or hurt or both. (Probably both).

A Thousand Words – 22/6 – St. Barbara’s Cathedral

Continuing our adventure in Kutná Hora, we went to St. Barbara’s Cathedral. Building it was begun in 1388 but it was completed in 1905 so much of the decoration inside, like these beautiful stained glass windows, happened in the early 20th century. However that does not detract from the hushed pious magnificence that all cathedrals seem to have.

There was a way for the public to get upstairs and view a lookout and a balcony, which gave excellent views of the interior and the exterior. However, I appreciated the views from below of all the cameras peeking over the edge. Someone didn’t bring a camera but instead just used their iPad.

St. Barbara is the patron saint of miners, perfect for Kutná Hora, because it is a mining town with an extremely prolific silver mine. We did visit the silver mines later in the day, which ranged from tight and cramped to cramped and tight.

A Thousand Words – 21/6 – Sedlec Ossuary

Today we traveled to Kutna Hora, a town about an hour east of Prague. One of the first things we did was visit the Sedlec Ossuary, better known as the Bone Church. It is a Roman Catholic chapel that contains the skeletons of upwards of 60,000 people. When the burials in the chapel had been closed down, a monk unburied these people and decorated the church with their skeletons. So many people wanted to be buried here because the abbot of the monastery traveled to the Holy Land in 1278 and returned with sacred dirt which he then sprinkled around the church.

The church contains a massive chandelier made out of bone that cannot be described, not even with a thousand words, and must be seen to be understood (and even then I’m not so sure).

Morning Glories – 20/6 – Charles Bridge

It is no secret that the views of Charles Bridge are idlyic, however it is another thing entirely to come out and pose in a wedding dress. Yet that is exactly what many brides-to-be do. They come out early in the morning, around 5 when the sun has just come up, with a whole photo crew when the crowds of tourists are still sleeping.

Usually if you want to capture this moment, you can blend in with the photographer, but if you want to get the whole prouduction as I did, you have to run up and catch them before they set up, and you might get a few strange looks too. At least I was just in regular clothes!

Around Here – 19/6 – Old Town

Small markets like this one are a wealth of interesting jewelry, food, and other small items. This one also had a metal worker, a glass blower, and a woman making pottery. This market seems to be open every day, or at least every day I’ve been there (either on purpose or happy accident). It seems incongruous that in the middle of such a big modern city are people making their living crafting things the way they have been done for centuries.

Yes this caters to tourists, but also the local people whose lives this funds. Pottery is not uniquely Czech, and neither are small markets. But the contrast between this market and right across the street is a large shopping mall feels “Prague” to me. Like a connection to history laid bare.

Noticed – 18/6 – Old Town

In a big city, it is necessary to live in apartments, or flats as they are called. In Prague many of the apartment buildings are brightly colored and often clash. However these are usually right on the river and make for pretty postcard pictures to represent the city. The “real” apartments, affordable for normal people, are grey or white stone and are much more useful than pretty.

Because of the (distressing) lack of air conditioning, most of the windows open. For each window pane, there are two windows that open inward. From what I’ve seen this is the standard even for businesses, which makes it very different from the always-closed windows in Texas.

While getting lost (as usual) we stumbled across a dead-end that ended with this apartment. At dusk the lights of the flat showed a man peeking out of his room, probably to see what all the noise was about.

Around Here – 17/6 – Charles Bridge

A snake! As a tourist attraction, this man was offering people to hold his snake. As I began to take a picture of him with his friends, the guy in the middle got angry and tried to hide; apparently he didn’t want his picture taken. The snake was the calmest one out of the three!

Tourist attractions like this are common around Charles Bridge and Old Town. Curiosities are meant to attract people’s attention and their money. However the man was quick to talk about and defend his snake so I’m sure he/she has a lovely home. While the thousands of tourists are certainly interesting, it is also easy to overlook those who live with in Prague year round and deal with them. It is an interesting paradox that they stand near Charles Bridge and attract tourists but don’t want their picture taken.