Week of Chaos pt.4: Wednesday

I’ve clearly spent too long in France. I keep forgetting we’re in Prague and defaulting to thinking about us being in Frenchland. We decided to get up early today and do Breakfast; this didn’t happen, surpisingly. We did get out before noon at least. The plan was to go to Wenceslas Square (which isn’t in any way square) and go from there. Wander wander wander. Some very large buildings around here. One rarely sees the horizon – which I’m used to, living in a city, but Edinburgh has considerably more horizon, being built on more and larger hills and having large chunks of green space to split the place up. Postcards were bought, we passed another thousand or so performances of Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusic and kept wandering. Stopped for lunch, which was lovely (although we were served by someone who was practically a child and the restaurant wanted us to PAY to use their toilets! I had no cash so slipped away from a tutting cleaner; Helen was less fortunate...), watched the astrological clock thing in action – while hardcore tourists cheered it on – and then went up to the big museum at the top of Wenceslas not-really-Square before splitting up(!). Helen was told when and where to meet us and she went off shopping while Ollie and I went to look at Liliova, an area we had bypassed yesterday. Nobody takes down posters here. They just keep plastering them on top of each other, which makes for some fascinating advertising strata. They’re best when they start to peel around the edges. There appear to be gas lights in the streets as well – I must check when it’s dark and they are lit...



Mozart is around every corner. Apparently Don Giovanni was premiered here (Ollie posed outside the venue in question, although I think the Nazgul statue in memory of the piece is far more interesting than any Mozart is likely to be). There are also a ton of puppets on sale, Black Light Theatres on every other block and an astonishing number of Absinthe- and tobacco-related shops. They advertise Absinthe not by how strong the alcohol is but by the mindbending effects of the active ingredident. Weird, yet appealing... The buildings are a tour de force of trompe l’oeil. Very often I have to squint at them to decide whether they are excitingly built or just very well painted to look like they are relief stones, rather than flat painted surfaces – which they invariably are. There’s also a water feature around every corner, some as fountains, some as washing/drinking places. The people of Edinburgh complain that the city is undergoing constant roadworks (even pre-Trammage) and that there is scaffolding everywhere. Prague is, in this, a sister city. While the roadworks are fewer – the trams are well-settled, hurrah! – the scope of the building works take some time to sink in. There is scaffolding everywhere! And unlike Edinburgh, the centre of Prague is almost entirely made of good Old buildings, rather than being a hodgepodge of classic architecture, 60s monstrosities and new builds, so I dread to think what they’re doing. Perhaps it’s a lot of cleaning, as the old buildings still have that industrial patina which Edinburgh has mostly lost over the last few decades; many of the most interesting buildings are pretty much black. I’d also love to see the reaction of the moaning Edinburgers who bitch that the roads and pavements are uneven and a danger to pedestrians/cars. The pavements here are generally made of tiny cobbles, about 2” square and often in interesting patterns. They are not, however, even. I often find myself slipping on broken, torn up pavements and car tyres sometimes make particularly dstressed noises as they pass. We made our way back to Wenceslas Square Boulevard and Helen, turning up rather early in our eagerness not to abandon her. Stting outside a coffee shop waiting for Ollie to fetch some cold milky caffeine drinks, I felt an urge to take photos of the cobbles and submitted to said urge. On looking up from my attempts to make small square stones appear interesting, I realised that there was a Local looking between me and the cobbles wth a look of bafflement on his face. Grinning awkwardly I put the camera down, but we seemed to provide considerable entertainment for the remainder of their stay. Naps have been the theme of the week so far. On Monday we all collapsed for hours after little sleep and a long journey; Tuesday I passed out after dinner, followed by Helen and Ollie fell asleep in the bath. Today I skipped my nap, so I will probably collapse about 2300h, while the others romp around all night. Oh well. Tomorrow we are off to meet everyone and head to Susice; we’re a little sad about this as it’s been quite nice having no pressure to meet Mayors, climb mountains, perform etc.