Our second day in Prague was unstructured. Personally, I had a single mission: I needed to collect our train tickets to Krakow. The instructions emphasized that the tickets were NOT at the train station. We had to go to the Lesser Quarter across the river Vltava/Moldau.
Years ago, I read
A Romantic Education, by St. Paul, Minnesota author Patricia Hampl. I was so impressed by her descriptions of Prague, I made a promise to myself to visit the golden city she wrote about in this lovely memoir.
Hampl was writing before the fall of the Iron Curtain, and her descriptions were of a city worn down by the Communist regime. The Prague she wrote about is not the Prague we encountered on this trip. The Prague of 2013 is fresh and charming.
We started our day at a little cafe so Leah and Mike could get a spot of breakfast.
Leah ordered a hot chocolate along with her vegan-style breakfast.
Once they were sated, we headed west. En route to the ticket office, we walked along the river.
I knew Prague had a reputation for being one of the most architecturally
engaging cities in the world, and this stroll confirmed that report.
I took these next two shots for my friend Leonore Baeumler because of her love for all things Goethe.
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| The famous "Goethe Institute". |
Seriously, this city has an embarrassment of architectural wonders. It was amazing we made any progress, given how often we stopped to take photos.
Finally, we approached the Charles Bridge (aka Karluv Most). We passed through a short arcade before arriving at the bridge.
Once through the arcade, we were greeted by this sculpture of Charles IV, the namesake of this phenomenal bridge.
The bridge itself boasts 30 statues gracing both sides of the bridge.
There were a number of vendors as well. Mike persuaded one to let him don his straw boater.
This statue has one of the more interesting stories.
According to one of the sites I visited, "This statue is the oldest on the bridge. ...The saint is presented in a traditional way, as a bearded capitulary
with a five-star glory, standing on a tripartite base. The base portrays
scenes from the life of St. John of Nepomuk, including the confession
of Queen Johanna and the saint's death. In 1393 St. John of Nepomuk was
thrown from the bridge into the river where he drowned. In modern times
it has become traditional to touch the bridge here; this is held to
bring good fortune and to ensure that the visitor will return to the
city of Prague." I wish I had known the story about touching the bridge.
Once again, we made our way quite slowly across the bridge due to our collective penchant for taking photos.
The best statue of the bunch was this one:
According to the site I consulted about the Charles Bridge statues, "The most spacious and expensive sculpture on the bridge... was intended to
honour the two founders of the Trinitarians [John of Matha and Felix of Valois], the order that supervised
buying back and redeeming of Christians in captivity under Turks. St.
Ivan, the saint patron of Slavs was added to the group for unknown
reasons. The base depicts a cave in which three chained Christians are
praying to the Lord for salvation."
Leah and Mike graciously posed for me before we crossed over to the "Lesser Quarter".
And then it was time for business. I had consulted a map before we set off on our trek and so thought I knew where I was going, except that I was off by a couple of blocks.
The Lesser Quarter, or Mala Strana, has a different architectural style than the Stare Mesto (Old City).
We ended up in a lovely park, which was clearly NOT near the ticket office.
Having taken such a long time to get there, a few of us needed to find a public restroom. Finding a public toilet ended up being an adventure in itself.
We finally asked someone to direct us to the facility, which was across the park. It became clear that it was pay toilet.
The attendant was not a cheerful sort. As we opened the door, she was quick to indicate that we needed to close the door. The cost was 10 Czech Karuna, but all I had was a 200 CK bill. She gave me my change in coins, which was challenging for someone just getting used to the currency. Once I was done, I went to dry my hands, but I couldn't find towels and the box on the wall didn't seem to be functioning. I asked the attendant for towels. She was standing outside smoking, holding open the door she had asked us to close. Her response to my request for towels was "Electric" whilst gesturing with her fingers (similar to miming piano playing).
All this, and we hadn't yet found the ticket office. That's a story for another day.
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