Prague, The Beautiful

So let me tell you about Prague. A city of spires; beauty and architecture and history easily rivaling Paris; the heart of a country, long repressed, finally freed and now blossoming with enterprise, creativity, art, culture, invention, and a new vision for itself. You walk downtown along cobblestone streets more than a thousand years old and marvel at buildings created in all different architectural periods--this one's Rococo, that Romantic, and, there! Gothic, Baroque, and Renaissance. Elaborate, ornate stonework, soaring arches, stunning frescos, delightful balconies--each building has something about it that gives it a unique character amongst the others. And each has its history: Kafka lived in the upstairs apartment, or Mozart stayed in this one during the premier run of his Three-Penny Opera, or <insert name of famous person here> lived/died/had a baby/killed someone here in this building. Unbelievable.

The countryside is beautiful, as well. Lush, green forests with all kinds of trees; fields both farmed and wild; pleasant, rolling hills, dotted here and there with a farmhouse, village, or castle. The weather has been usually warm and mild, both day and night, with occasional cool & rainy spells, just enough of them to remind us that it's not Albuquerque or Boulder.

Great beer--absolutely world class. Good food. And on and on. I've found the Czech people to be generous, intelligent, and oozing with hospitality. And...well, you get the idea. I love the place. And Dio loves it, too.

Prague, The Ugly

Of course, even the Force has a Dark Side. Many houses and buildings here and there are cracked, crumbling, and in desperate need of repair (the contrast between the buildings in the center of Prague that have been restored and those that have not is striking). Most of the buildings from the communist era are simply awful to look at: blocky, raw, grey cement buildings with no redeeming features.

Many of the streets of Prague, especially outside the center, are horrendous. Around Zbraslav it seems as though every day they dig another huge trench through yet another street (mostly laying tons of fiber-optic cables for the phone system--this place is going to be wired to the hilt in a couple of years). Or a water main breaks, or an electrical main is going in, or, or, or. Two bridges across the rivers here in Zbraslav are currently closed for several months, requiring long detours. Driving around here is, well, interesting. Being a pedestrian is downright exciting. Bicycling is just plain stupid.

Prague, The Unpredictable

The lifestyle is relaxed and unhurried. The folks from Socorro would feel right at home with it. In Socorro, the word-of-the-day is manana. In the Czech Republic, it's zítra. Same translation. Of course, this means that it takes forever, it seems, to get anything done.

But the most striking thing about the lifestyle is how unpredictable it is. A few examples:

• I've already mentioned the streets: one day it's a normal, quiet street, and the next it's a World War I battle field. You drive on pavement for a while, then, suddenly, it's crazy, bumpy cobblestone...then pavement again. And of course encountering a straight street in the Czech Republic would mean that the basic Laws of Physics had suddenly ceased to apply.
• Every small- to medium-sized shop, bank, store, office, etc., and many large ones, as well, close for lunch. When is that, you ask? "Well, lunchtime, of course," your Czech guide will tell you. You mean, like, 12:00 to 1:00pm? "No," she replies, "I mean lunchtime, like, when the workers go to lunch." Oh.
• The pub down the street notified patrons that it would be closed from August 1 through the 16th (Vacation time, understand). Sometime around the 15th, someone had scratched out the 16th and wrote in the 18th. On the 20th, the sign read as before, but still the pub had not reopened.
• Grocery shopping is like going to a garage sale. You never know what you'll find in the produce section. (Those wonderful hot peppers that I bought last week? "We're out." When will you get more in? "I don't know.") They may or may not have any more bread by the end of the day, they may or may not have your brand of cigarettes. The cheeses? Well, they usually have a good Edam, but, well... Would you care for some cheddar that we just got in?

I could go on and on. Mind you, I'm not complaining. Really. It really fits well with our theme here of having an adventure! Very often the surprises are delightful.