Pottering around Prague

or

I didn't fit it all in last week

I finished my last post by recounting the game I played with myself i.e. stop and stare at something and see who copies you.  I also availed of one of the Hop on, Hop off tours.  There were so many to choose from and a quick look at Tripadvisor showed most got bad reviews.  I asked at my hotel which one to recommend and chose on this basis.  Interestingly I noticed that the leaflets on display there seemed to change daily, but I digress.

The bus tour I chose had three separate lines, red, green and yellow plus a complimentary boat tour and my ticket lasted 48 hours.  Well prepared, I had brought my own headphones and listened eagerly.  There was a choice of 22 languages, but alas no Irish, so I made do with English.  Breaks in the commentary were filled with Smetana's Má Vlast.  It's a good tune, so I enjoyed it each and every time, but I wondered if I up staked and moved to Prague would it start to wear a bit thin?

I also booked a tour to Kutná Hora, about 70 kilometres east of Prague which took place on Czech National Day, 28th October.  This day celebrates the founding of Czechoslovakia after the first world war in 1918.  Shops close for the day, so I reckoned it would be a good day to get out of town and see a bit more of Bohemia.

Year bones were arranged

One of the highlights of the tour, and the reason I wanted to go, was a visit to the Sedlec Ossuary which contains the bones of over 40,000 people.  However, on the way there, our guide explained that it was created in 1870 as a tourist attraction.  She later added that it was also representative of how fleeting life is.  It left me feeling quite uneasy.  I had assumed that there was a spiritual or ritualistic reason for the displaying of people's skeletons, but learning that it was simply to attract gullible travellers such as myself left a bad taste in my mouth.  Not because they were trying to rid me of my coins, but because it seems like such a lack of respect for the dead.

Some of the bone arrangements

The reason for the ossuary dates back to 1278 when some Henry, the Abbot went to visit the Holy Land and brought home a bit of soil which he spread around the grounds of the Church.  Because of this, the ground were considered holy and many people wished to be buried there.  After a while, it became rather crowded and skeletons were dug up and put into storage to create room for more burials.  Anyway, the bid for tourism worked.  People are still flocking to see the macabre display.

The other cool thing about Kutná Hora is that the only thing open, apart from restuarants, on the National Day was the Lego museum.  Eagerly I paid my admission and spent a happy forty minutes looking at the exhibits.  Afterwards there was a play area for the children, but I was only offered the chance of a cup of coffee.  Apparently adults aren't allowed to play well.

Hard Rock Cafe

Back I popped to Prague.  All sorts of people come here, from those interested in culture, art or music, to the medical tourists and those looking for a good time.  I met a mother with her two daughters, both of whom had travelled to get breast implants.  Apparently they're half the price as in the UK.  I could have had a Thai massage in my hotel bedroom which was next to the Hard Rock Café where I witnessed the detritus of society stumbling out.  I even saw a pair of crutches in the bin outside it one morning.  The miraculous healing powers of Pilsner, or was it Absinthe?

I also witnessed a number of weddings, all of Asian couples.  There were a lot of Asian tourists there.  At one stage, while sitting taking a breather, I observed two girls taking turns taking photos of each other outside the Hard Rock Café.  I offered to take a picture of them both, whereupon they shot me a look of pure fear, shouted no and scurried inside.  I mean, I was well dressed and on a walking stick.  Did they really think I wanted to rob their smart phone, and even if I did, that they would not be able to outrun me?  How sad to be so suspicious of the world.

My final bout of people watching was in my last hour in Prague while eating a sausage in a small park off the Old Town Square (Do you want a spicy or non-spicy one?  Eh, the red one).  A couple from England were there with their small son Luke, probably about 3 years old.  There were also some pigeons milling around hoping for some scraps.  Luke took the opportunity to chase them with pure delight, all the while shouting "Guinea Piggy!".  His poor parents kept trying to persuade him that they were pigeons, not guinea pigs, but young Luke wasn't having any of it.  "Guinea Piggy! Guinea Piggy!" ringed out through the square as I picked myself up, with a smile on my face and prepared to head for home.

A final instalment on Prague next week where I warble on about a string chamber orchestra