Thursday, 15 June 2006
I took the 23:07 train from the Munich Hauptbahnhof. The train was pretty crowded, and I was seated together with a few Americans who seemed not to have taken a shower for quite a while. To them I was known as the "damned Canadian". I'm not sure what that means.
Friday, 16 June 2006
The train passed by Nürnburg at about 1:00. The Nürnburg Station was full of football fans cheering, shouting, running, you name it. Once in a while the broadcasting system informed these fans (in English) that the next train to Frankfurt would depart at 1:30.
I was rudely awakened in the middle of the night for a ticket check. Then at 4:00 I was awakened again by a German and a Czech customs officer for a passport check. The train pulled into the Prague main station at about 8:15.
Laura and I were supposed to meet up in the information centre in the main station. But to me as a first-arrival, the main station was hopelessly large. I lined up at a counter, wanting to ask about where the information centre was, and to change some Czech crowns. By the time I figured out, it was about 8:30. There was no one in the information centre. Having failed at the meeting, I was in a pretty bad mood. It took me a while to figure out how to buy the metro ticket (the personnel at the station was not helpful at all). Curiously, the vending machine only admitted coins, but all I had was bills. I went to the information centre, wanting to change coins, but the person refused. At this point, infuriated, I gave him five Euros, and instructed him to give me only coins. Case closed.
First I rode to the Florenc bus station to buy my bus ticket to Krumlov (Laura was in Prague yesterday and I asked her to buy tickets for me, but at that time I had no idea whether or not she actually successfully got the tickets before they were sold out). Not to my surprise, the bus I was looking for was full already, so I needed to buy a more expensive ticket for an earlier train. Oh well--I guess the money spent, in economic terms, is my compensating differential for being a risk averse person.
Then I went to the Muzeum station. As I emerged from underground, I was confronted by the statue of Wenceslas (and a large number of photographing tourists). I walked down the Wenceslas Square, turned left along Na Prikope (I am henceforth omitting the accents--sorry), coming to the Namesti Republiky. It was about another 10 minutes of walk before I arrived at the Travellers' Hostel on Dlouha. While I wanted to reconfirm my booking for the next night, since Laura had stayed here the previous night, I just wanted to check whether or not she was still there (she was not). Feeling every way like a person defeated, I walked towards the tall Tyn Church and the Staromestske Namesti. This must be the main square in the Prague old town area. Though buildings surrounding the square were impressive, they were clearly of distinct styles and eras. Standing near the middle of the square was the Jan Hus Monument, while to the side, cafes. Kafka once had a residence near here, so I also spotted a Franz Kafka bookstore. The Astronomical Clock was located on the southern end of the square, but according to Laura later, it was not functioning recently.
I wandered across the square, but somehow veered off and lost my bearings. I ended up in sv Mikulas Church, and only at this point did I recognise the sign "Charles Bridge" (in Czech, Karluv Most). The series of pointers directly led me to Karlova, and the heart of the Prague old town, which, just like old cores of Regensburg and the like, was filled with quaint shops and buildings, and cobbled streetways.
By the time I arrived at the Charles Bridge, the place was nothing but a sea of tourists. I first climbed up the tower on the old town side, watching the Charles Bridge (actually more so the crowd than the bridge), the Vltava , the Hradcany (Castle District), and to my back, the Stare Mesto (Prague old town, filled with red-roofed buildings).
Charles Bridge spanned the Vltava River, known to me via Smetana's famous "The Moldau", which exactly described this river as it flowed from the Bohemian forest to Prague and beyond. The ancient bridge was built from stone, consisting of several arches as the base. On two sides there were many curious statues, some religious, some historical or dramatic. Beneath the shadows of the statues, there were different artists, mostly musicians, and souvenir sellers. Soon on the other side I was greeted by the Mustecka street. There was no lack of restaurants on either side, but the problem was choosing the right one (I was quite hungry by that point). A German once advised me that for a meal in Czech Republic one knows one is ripped off if one spends more than about 5 Euros (= about 150 crowns). Indeed, the first restaurant that I came across had goulash and other dishes that sold for 280 crowns. Eventually, I came to Jo's Bar, which was recommended by my guidebook. The lunch nf sandwich and fries cost me 190 crowns, but it was so much that part of it became the bulk of my dinner too. So I guess I was not ripped off.
I crossed the bridge one more time, stopping at the old town side. At 12:00, this place was the second meeting place for Laura and me in case our plan went wrong. The meeting was successful, and after a brief discussion, we decided to visit the Josefov (Jewish Quarters), perhaps one of the best-preserved of its kind in Europe.
We purchased a ticket that allowed us to visit several synagogues housing artifacts documenting the historical Jewish life in Prague, as well as the Jewish Cemetary, which was very crowded because it was said that this was the only legitimate place in the city to bury the Jewish dead.
Then we headed back to the Staromestske Namesti (the old town square), bought ice cream along the way, and continued onto the Wenceslas Square (where I had come this morning). We hopped on the metro at Muzeum, and headed to Rotyzly bus station, for the 15:30 bus that would bring us to Cesky Krumlov in 3.5 hours.
Saturday, 17 June 2006
After a long bus ride back, we arrived in the Rotyzly bus station once again at 18:50. Instead of heading to the Travellers' Hostel, we decided to explore the Mala Strana region (south of the Hradcany castle hill). We took the metro to I.P. Pavlova and continued on tram #22 (the tram line infamous for the number of pickpockets; but that Saturday evening there were not many people on the tram) across the Vltava to Ujezd. We had planned to ride the funicular up the hill, visiting the Petrin tower, but the funicular was closed for repairs, so we started walking up a path (following the trail of a group of people). The path zigzagged about the funicular line, and soon we were about half up, encountering a restaurant. Here we were bewildered, for there was no clear indication as to which direction was up. It was around 20:30 and the sky was gradually growing dark. So after some photos of Prague, we went down. Even though we did not get to the Petrin tower, we did have quite a nice, paronomic view of the city and its pronounced structures.
On the way back, we took a longer walk across the Most (bridge) Legii and ended up in the Nove Mesto region of the city (New Town, just south of the Old Town). Laura had explored this place already on Thursday, but she showed me the old National Theatre (and the new, glass-walled theatre adjacent to it, in stark contrast), as well as the Fred and Gary house. According to Laura, the house, known to Americans as the Fred and Gary, was interpreted by the Czechs to be two revolutionaries dancing. Indeed, it was one of the wackiest constructions I have ever seen. I cannot describe it, but will simply let you judge for yourself in the photo that I took. It did, in a sense, look like two people dancing, but if I were to be fully literal, the "female" partner had five pairs of feet, and thus must be a centipede of some sort in disguise. The male, if you ask me, reminded me of R2D2.
We took the metro to Namesti Republiky, and walked to our hostel for checking in. Travellers' hostel, I feel, was a little bit inferior to Hostel 99 of Cesky Krumlov, but was still, to the most extent, a very agreeable hostel. I was bedded in a 16-bed dormitory, and the lockers, across from the beds, were spacious though could be filled with garbages from previous users. The two second-floor washrooms were basic, and often crowded (understandably, since they were shared by about 28 people). But there were more washrooms on the third floor, which proved more pleasant. On the third floor, there was also a bar. Beer was sold there. When I visited the place, there were about 10 people there, and a television tuned to the ongoing Worldcup match. Down on the first floor across from the check-in desk, there were two computers offering free internet access. Even when I tried to use the internet early in the morning (i.e. 7:00), I still needed to wait for a moderate 5 to 10 minutes.
Sunday, 18 June 2006
The dormitory had the windows open, and throughout the night (even at 6:00) there were people outside partying, shouting, celebrating, etc. As a result I was awakened quite frequently. I woke up this morning with a sore throat (which I was not surprised since before I left for Czech Republic the whole family with whom I stayed got sick).
We set out before 8:00 and headed to the Hradcany, wanting to get the most out of the castle district before all the vexing tourists came. The ticket office only opened at nine, but before then we had a good half an hour seeing the exterior of the castle and the churches, and savouring a good view of Prague again.
We first entered the Old Royal Palace, founded about a thousand years ago. Unlike castles such as the Neuschwanstein which was less than 200 years old, when we entered the Prague Castle, I had a feeling that the castle was really old. For example, the banquet hall had wooden planks as the floor, something never seen in palaces or castles built after the Renaissance. Next we visited the basement, exhibiting various objects signifying Bohemia's past. Included were prehistoric utensils, ancient coins, medieval crosses, clothes, swords, armours, and bones, and Renaissance books and decorations, and more recent objects.
St. George's Basilica, to the east of the Prague Castle, had a quite unique interior in that most of its ceiling was milky white instead of being filled with decorations. We had wanted to visit St. Vitus Cathedral, but there was a Sunday Mass going on and the cathedral would not open until 12. Tant pis!
We then walked around the Royal Gardens, seeing the Belvedér summer residence under construction. We walked down the Golden Lane, a slightly claustrophobic alleyway filled with shops selling souvenirs. Beyond the Golden Lane, each of us had different destinations in mind, so we parted our ways.
I first visited a nearby medieval jail--which really had nothing much to see. Then, coming down the hill, I walked back to sv Mikulas Church, which I had glossed over on Friday. Though I did not enter it, the western end of the church was a generous square with a statue looking up towards the castle hill. I crossed the Charles Bridge again and back, seeking amidst the lining statues a knight with a golden sword and a lion at his feet (according to a rough reading, the knight tried to kill a lion in order to add the lion to the Bohemian coat-of-arms, but the lion helped him kill a dragon, and in the rest of the knight's life the lion became his most faithful companion). I did not find it. Back in Mostecka, I walked down to the south into the Kampa park along the west bank of the Vltava. Eventually I came to Mala Strana again (where we had visited yesterday evening). There were a couple of recommended restaurants here, but most were not affordable (because by that time I only had about 150 crowns left). I stopped at a rather popular bagel shop, and bought a jam-spread bagel for lunch (30 crowns).
I walked across the Most Legii again, this time catching a view of the faraway Vysehrad (which was also portrayed in Smetana's "The Moldau" but which I did not have a chance for a close-up view during my stay). Then I took the metro to the train station. At the train station I also bought my dinner--and literally emptied my pockets (of Czech currency): when I left Prague I only had 1.5 crowns available for spending (and 30 crowns = 1 Euro).
The train departed at 13:15. After a stretch of underground railway, the train emerged south of Nove Mesto. For a brief while, as I looked south, I caught a glimpse of the nearby Vysehrad castle, as dramatic as Smetana's chordal brass section that specifically described the castle. Then, as I crossed the Vltava the final time, I had a glance northwards of the broad Bohemian river and the bridges on it. A very fitting last glance of Prague.
I did not reserve a seat on the train, which was very crowded. As a result I needed to stand about 4.5 hours to Schwandorf in Bayern, then to Regensburg. For a while, it was fun standing right beside an open window, feeling the wind whooping past, and watching the Czech landscape go by, the music set in the medieval modal scale that I had heard in Krumlov still echoing in my mind.