Prague, in search of

Bob's been travelling a lot, but just now he finally stepped behind the Iron Curtain. In Prague, we hoped to find a 19th century cityscape, peppered with gothic churches and imposing communist block buildings, difficult to pronounce heavily accented words, diverse pilsner beers for less than $2/pint, and restaurant bills under $30. We did find some good bargains, but at many places, the prices looked more like London prices. Some places straight up gouged us. For what we did find in Prague was a stream of tourists like we have never seen before. Look at how many people are on that bridge, below.

Prague is not a large city, and the tourist sights are in a compact area and limited in number. I don't have the statistics to prove it, but I believe the number of tourists per tourist site would be much higher in Prague than in Paris and London, which although much bigger cities, they also have so many more sights to visit. Over the past dozen years, I think the secret about Prague, with the low prices and Baroque city center, is out, and us, and all of the English and Russian tourists, are coming in droves to see for themselves. With neighborhoods full of foreign people, Prague prices could be expected to rise to levels similar to those of what the tourists would expect back home.

This is the Charles Bridge over the Vltava River and dates from the 15th century, although repaired many times over the years. This view is from the balcony of the apartment we rented through Airbnb. The apartment had a very old world feel, with high ceilings, chandeliers, wooden and creaking floors, and no television.

Our apartment was on the fourth floor of the white building. Notice the hordes of walkers. Our street wasn't really a tourist street. It was near to the Charles Bridge. These people are just overflowing from there. Notice also a van with an advertisement on it for "Bake Shop" -- not particular evidence of Czech authenticity.

At a riverside park near our apartment, Charles Bridge to the right. Finding local parks for Bobby to enjoy himself is a common activity in our travels with child.

Spending so much time near the Vlatva, Bob developed the hobby of finding boats on the river, pointing, and shouting "Bwoht!"

Just after crossing the Charles Bridge, at the bottom of the hill on top of which is Prague Castle. Later, after this picture was taken, nearby I bought a $5 handful of grapes at a shop on this street (HUGE tourist traffic spilling over the bridge on the way to the castle), not paying attention to the price or exchange rate: 22 koruna to the US dollar.

On the grounds of Prague Castle, our intrepid, independent little tourist was marching out in front of us, just like his gugu back when she was a teenager.

Other than spotting boats, Bob's number one Prague hobby was spotting trams scurrying across the city streets. Each tram induced excitement. Christine and I figured out how to buy tickets and ride these trams. We finally made it on one, and Bob's sense of accomplishment was so blissful that he fell asleep.

Walking through the streets of central Prague, Bob's walking skills are reaching new heights as he is more insistent on walking most places himself. Rachel says the Ergo Baby folded down around my waist has become my signature look.

Goulash at U Medvídků, a restaurant and hotel dating from the 15th century. Czech food features red meat, heavy sauces, and potatoes -- most of those ingredients are present in this dish. (Goulash is more properly called Hungarian, but it was very common to see the Czech variety on menus around town.) Wild boar was on many menus; I finally relented and ordered it; based on this experience, I would never choose wild boar over, say, steak or chicken. We did try some Czech wines; there are indigenous Czech grapes; the red wine was a bit jammy, but the whites were dry like a Reisling.

The Little Mole is a popular cartoon character from the Czech Republic that, from behind the Iron Curtain, became popular across eastern Europe and Asia. We bought this ball for Bob so he could always remember his good times with the mole in Prague. We saw his likeness all around town. Bob enjoyed taping his nose with one finger wherever he could find him and saying "bizi," Chinese for "nose," but when Bob says it, sounding more like "bee-chu." I found this vestige of Eastern Block consumer culture interesting. The region didn't produce much consumer culture that anyone would want to remember (think of the cars: Lada and Yugos), but it's not surprising there were at least a few products that became popular, though not in the West. It may also not be surprising it came from Prague, which is a historically wealthy city in the region, even during the communist era, and was a bit rebellious of the Soviet moral order (see, Prague Spring).

I don't feel we learned much about the genesis of modern Prague. We didn't see the wide boulevards flanked by square columned buildings and block high-rise housing that we've seen in other communist cities. Maybe one finds these Soviet artefacts in the Prague suburbs, and we were mostly in the old center. But Moscow is an old city and in the center has such Soviet characteristics. Why is the Prague streetscape so old? It didn't see much fighting in World War II or was just rebuilt? We visited a Prague history museum, but it was not super informative, most of the building was empty, and it focused mostly on the medieval period. Museums in Prague are just a bit awkward -- or so said the tourist reviews, so for the most part we didn't bother. Prague is apparently not a great museum city.

English and Russian chaps like to go to Prague to party. In the evenings, we saw the streets start to fill with people talking loud and boisterously and looking for hooligan exploits. During the day we saw party promoters handing out fliers for, as they promised, the most epic pub crawls. Our budget airline flight from London was full of groups of (usually tattooed) English men heading to Prague to party.

We didn't find our favorite city in Prague. We did find some good beers. Bob found trams, boats, and
the Little Mole. And our apartment, with its balcony and unparalleled view of the old city, was top notch. It will be a while before any of us return.