I'M IN: Prague
NEXT UP: Warsaw (via overnight train) then Krakow
I have had a fantastic week in Prague. This is a city with just about everything you could want: culture, history, beautiful architecture and Art Nouveau out the yin yang. It was great, also, to share this experience with my friends Amanda and Brian (who returned home earlier this week). The three of us historyed and musuemed and cultured ourselves silly (the Becks did this in a quite disciplined way that involved lots of getting up early whereas I, as usual, took it easy and spread out my activities over several additional days).
I like to take the eclectic approach where culture is concerned. With the Becks, I went to see one of Prague's specialties - Laterna Magica, or black light theater. We chose the "modern" version of black light at the Image Theater - not coincidently, also the cheapest ticket in town. I was expecting a lot of cool effects and neat dancing - it turned out to be both much more and much less. Indeed, at the end of the show I turned to the Becks and asked, "What just happened to me?" The dancing was cool, if not the amazingly inhuman brilliance of, say, Cirque du Selie, as were some of the effects that look like people are floating, etc. But the bizarreness of many aspects of the show cannot be overstated, particularly the pantomime elements which involved a Cops and Robbers through-story and lots of shooting people in the crotch. What? Right. Regardless, pretty cool. I loved the Czech documentary (with English subtitles) I stumbled into called Rene about the last twenty years of this ne'erdowell/sociopath/author's life, as overlayed with recent, turbulent Czech history. Rene has a tattoo that says 'Fock of People' on his neck, which tells you most of what you need to know about him (he is hardcore, sure, but in that look-at-me-Mommy, showy way) and yet his behavior over the course of the film continues to surprise and amaze (in good and bad ways). And I also went to the opera! Wednesday night, I saw Don Giovanni in the same theater where it premiered in 1787, which I think is pret-ty neat. The theater itself was great, if not the most spectator-friendly. I was on the edge of my seat the entire first act not due to plot anticipation, but to column and wall impediments. I moved down a row during the intermission and was a much happier camper. I took my safari binoculars along ("opera glasses") which I thought was ingenious, but I was the only person there with them. This did not stop me from using them, and engaged thusly I noticed that at one point the singer playing Don Giovanni was actually eating (both chicken and ham) and singing at the same time! I am not an opera buff, but I assume this is unusual? Also, was Mozart way ahead of his time using such an unsympathetic protagonist or what? I've always thought this was a modern thing.
On the history front: Becks and I visited the Prague Jewish Museum, which is actually seven different buildings over a three block radius. I found it extremely interesting and beautiful, especially the Jewish cemetery, which had a fantastic dappled light effect during our visit, and the Pinkas Synagogue, which has the names of all the Holocaust victims from Prague painted on the walls. This is such a simple idea, but incredibly effective as they just go on and on and on, and are written so tinily that at first glance it just looks like a pattern on the wall. My other favorite museum was the Museum of Communism, which was relatively small, but jam-packed with cool artifacts (gasmasks! propaganda!) and interesting yet even-handed displays.
And, yes, beautiful buildings everywhere! Once my camera dried out, I even got a few pictures. Favorites include the Charles Bridge (Becks were not as interested as I in recreating the INXS video "I was standing, you were there..."), Old Town Square, St. Vitas' Cathedral, the castle, more churches, etc. etc.
And yes yes, Art Nouveau: the buildings, the interior design, and mucho Mucha! Such a lovely and likable style.
I'm wordy and linky today! And, so, on to Warsaw. I'm hoping to have my first Couch Surfing experience there, or sooner rather than later at any rate. My last minute planning preference have been a hindrance to using this service thus far, but I am particularly determined to make it work now. Budgetarily it would be good, of course (I cannot feel good about paying $45+/night for a dorm bed), but as has been so apparent over the past few weeks, it's just fun to stay with people. One of my favorite aspects of traveling is getting to know people (friends and strangers) in different ways and couch surfing seems like a good way to do this. Anyway, here's hoping it works!
