beware of book

Yesterday was great. Our first full day of Prauging around. Sue graciously took the day off and she, Hemingway and I traveled all over town and hit three museums, a park with a giant metronome, a coffee shop and a restaurant. Late night we ended up at a blues show. Holy nixon it was a fun day. Select shots from the day can be seen here.

The first museum was a Czech Cubist showcase in the House of the Black Madonna, featuring cubist artwork, furniture and architecture. The crazy Czechs were doing this in the teens of the 20th century and the whole idea centers around no right angles. The art is very abstract, and sometimes we were wondering what the hell was going on. in the paintings or sculptures. The furniture and architecture however, were really cool. Almost art deco looking. With no right angles, nothing is square and it really stands out.

Next we hiked over to the Museum of Communism and I can tell you this place is a trip. The Czech Republic was occupied by the Soviet Union and was a satellite state from 1948 until 1989. It was really neat to read about and see the effect on the Czechs being under control of the communists. The museum did not paint a very pretty picture either. Above you can see the logo of the museum, a cute Russian doll with the vicious teeth of a communist regime. It's not all that long ago this country was very different, though its hard for an outsider to believe spending time here now. Seems like a fun, modern, capitalistic and democratic environment.

We also visited a modern art museum. Not much to say here other than my upbeat attitude about beating jetlag in a single day was a little misguided. I was hitting an energy wall from walking around all day packing my camera bag. More floors of art to see and more stairs to climb. I was getting tired but I knew I had to push on. No sense in letting jetlag beat me now.

After the last museum we made out way up to a clearing perched on a hill overlooking the city where a gigantic metronome now stands. This metronome is there to mark the city's musical heritage and to replace a massive stone statue of Stalin that was knocked down in 1962. I saw a picture of the Stalin statue at the communist museum. It was impressive. Too bad he wasn't so grand. Also at the top of this hill were tons of teenage skateboarders practicing their tricks and enjoying the nice weather. Can't blame them either. Funny though, those kids swarming around on their boards like flies, looked just like any smooth surface seeking American kids. No difference there.

We had a bite to eat at a decent restaurant and then we did some shopping at a mall to pick up a few things we needed. There was a fancy liquor store in the mall and I thought about picking up some nice tequila for the castle. They had a impressive variety considering it is so hard to find tequila in Europe. So I go to the shelf and I'm so pleased to see all my favorite flavors. Hemingway is asking me which kind I'm going to get. I tell her we need to leave and I don't buy any of them. We're walking to the next location in the mall and I asked Hemingway if she saw the prices. She said no, and I told her they were averaging 1500 crowns per bottle. Since the dollar is at an all time low, that works out to be just over 100 dollars a bottle. OMG. Now I LOVE tequila, but there's no way I am going to pay 100 bones for it. I'll just have to accept that I am way too far away from Mexico and when I'm back in over taxed Washington, I'll never bitch again about the prices of good tequila.

In this same mall I made my way to the bathroom on our way out and I had the biggest laugh of the day. Above each urinal was a picture of a life sized woman, looking down at what you were doing. I'm alone in the bathroom and laughing as I do my business, and then I get out my camera. You can see some of these urinal women in the above picture gallery link. It was also funny to see the look on some dude's face as he walks into the bathroom and I'm putting away my camera. What's up with tourists these days huh?

We took the subway back to Sue's place to rest up a little before we went out to a Prague jazz club to hear Stan The Man. Czech blues in a Prague club. We had such a fun time. Sue knew to call and get reservations at this place and we lucked out with seats right next to the band. The room was VERY small and was dug out of stone in the basement and the joint was packed to the gills. Sue and I had wine, took shots of Becherovka, and the three of us met a delightful couple from Australia. They are on a trip up here and going on to France (like us) celebrating thirty years together. Small ass club, great music and meeting super fun people. What could be better? Here is a link to some of the Stan the Man shots. Blues is a fine American export. :-)

Its snowing today and we're about to head out to explore the city more on our own. Sue had to work today, though we will get to go to dinner with her and do something fun when she gets off work tonight. Until next time...

Carez