Prague, Czech Republic Part 4: Easter

One of the reasons for picking Prague for the long Easter weekend was because they really get into the spirit there—at least secularly. There are Easter markets in many parts of the city (although after a point, they seemed pretty standardized. You can only see so many ugly beer steins and candles…) and on Easter Monday little boys buy or make little switches that they use to playfully whip the girls they like. At least that’s what the guidebook said. I can’t say I actually witnessed that.

Being on “vacation” over Easter was a little odd, similar to the time in high school when I was on the New York spring break trip and the holiday didn’t seem real somehow. Natalie, Nadia and I found an English speaking church that had a nice service, though not really the same as being at home. Still, the festivities around the city were at least a welcome beginning to spring.

An Easter tree rising above one of the markets


This doesn’t necessarily fit with the theme, but the gardens were in bloom so it feels like spring to me. Hooray for self-timers (and balancing cameras on tree branches!)


Floral excitement


The main stage in the Old Town square featuring some traditional (maybe) Czech music


Eggs are almost as big a deal in Prague as they are in the Ukraine. Here’s one of many many stands selling them


A man etching into some eggs and a girl painting on some



And some eggs themselves


Some considerably less-traditional music on the stage. (Yes, that woman is playing a washboard…)


To be concluded…

Prague, Czech Republic Part 2: Arts

Alphons Mucha
I honestly didn’t know much of anything about Prague before going there. Even after looking at a couple of guidebooks I only came up with one thing I absolutely had to see: the Mucha Museum, a collection of the works of Art Nouveau artist/designer Alphons Mucha. I suppose I’ve been trained to appreciate his work from a very young age since my dad has devoted our guest bedroom (which is now where I usually sleep when I’m home) to Art Nouveau and Art Deco motifs. The line quality and color of the work is exquisite and seeing examples of the original posters even increased my appreciation.

It wasn’t too terribly far from our hostel so we decided to check it out the afternoon we arrived. The collection was a good mix of work, including prints, posters, proofs, sketches, and even reference photography from his Paris studio.

Proof print of the breakthrough “Gismonda” poster, showing that it had to be lithographed on two stones because of its size


A look at a few more posters. An original copy of the Gismonda poster is in the center and another proof (without the final black ink applied) is on the right


The museum also features a nice video about his life and influence on the art community and society at the time.

The city also has a tourist-trappy restaurant and cafe themed around Mucha. I didn’t eat there, but some of our group did.


There were also no shortage of boutiques selling Mucha-themed pieces, such as this collection from a storefront window.


The beautiful St. Vitus cathedral includes an interesting array of stained glass windows in a number of artistic styles. Mucha designed one of these and his is very impressive.

The whole shebang


And a couple of details. I can’t wrap my head around how they achieved the color of this in glass



I’ll share some more pictures of St. Vitus in a future post.

Marionettes
During one of our explorations, Nadia, Natalie and I came upon a few amazing shops dedicated to mannequins. It is hard fully capture how intricate and beautiful they all were on film, but here are a few images.
Also, it bears noting that while we were in the shop “What is Love?” (popularized by SNL’s Roxbury Guys) began to play on the radio. We resisted the urge to bob the mannequins’ heads in unison, but it was tough. Furthermore, we would later hear the song again during the course of the trip. Apparently Prague’s about a decade behind us in music.






Sculptures
Ran across a variety of interesting sculptures and statues during the travels. Here’s a look at some of them.

This was above the entrance to an apartment building. Pretty interesting…


At the end of the Charles Bridge, looking across the river towards the Mala Strana quarter of town


Stylized crucifix from the Basilica of St. George


The base of a lamppost near the castle


Outside a random restaurant. The medallion, which is lost in the glare, says “Hands Off” hence my pose…


These three are from a really cool fountain we found while getting a little lost. That’s me in the middle of the last one, though I now realize my air-guitar is for some reason being played left-handed




I have absolutely no clue what’s going on here. We were walking through a little mall and this was in the middle. The girls kept walking, prompting me to ask, “How can you possibly have no reaction to that?” Apparently they’d seen it earlier


Franz Kafka statue by the Spanish Synagogue


Memorial to the victims of Communism and totalitarianism, near the Hunger Wall


I think this statue has something to do with oppression or torture, so I guess my expression isn’t that appropriate


John Lennon Wall
There’s a wall outside a church in the Mala Strana quarter that was graffitied with an image of John Lennon after his death. Since that time people have added their own messages of peace and love. It’s not the most obvious thing to find in the city, but I managed towards the end of the trip.




Miscellaneous
Some other random arts-related photos from the trip.

Frank Gehry designed this “Dancing Building.” While I don’t always like his work, I think this is pretty effective due to its glass facade (rather than his seemingly-favored metal).



Quite possibly the best poster ever


Saw these cartoon characters in several stores. I liked them a lot, especially the hedgehog



Outside of a pub, called—that’s right!—the Red Lion


The last thing I did in the city was visit UPM, the museum of decorative arts. They had a nice collection of Czech graphic design as well as glassware, clocks, etc. The special exhibition featured Japanese poster design and was well-curated. Photography was prohibited so all you get to see is the poster


To be continued…

Prague, Czech Republic Part 1: Introduction

Easter weekend was a 4-day event in Geneva, with Good Friday and Easter Monday both work holidays. Thus, a large group of the other interns and I embarked on a trip to Prague to make the most of our time off. Because I re-visited several areas of the city on multiple occasions (I because I think it would be pretty boring), I’m going to eschew a chronological narrative in favor of subject-based posts. However, to give some context, I will of course have to start out with a brief overview.

8 of us (me, Farhad, Nicki, Caroline, Melissa and Meghan from FI plus Nadia and Natalie from the EAA) left after work on Thursday and caught a 3-hour train to Zurich. There, we boarded an overnight train to Prague, my first experience in a sleeper car. It was… interesting (though perhaps moreso for Nadia and Natalie who were in a room with a couple drunk guys and another couple). I actually managed to get sleep, but I’m not looking forward to spending 13 hours on a train again anytime soon.

clockwise from lower left: Melissa, Caroline, Farhad and Nicki. This is basically about as much room as we had for 6 people on the train

We arrived in the city just before noon on Friday and checked into our hostel, which was more like a large apartment converted into housing. We were met by Meghan’s friend Lindsey who came in from Paris so our total number was 9. We were given a 4-person room, a 2-person room (for Farhad and Nicki), and 3 beds in a 7-person room. Nadia, Natalie, and I ended up in the large room which would have been fine, save for the two Italian guys who spent every night snoring like lawnmowers and the old sick guy who arrived at 5am on day two and spent day three almost dying in his sleep (at least that’s what I infer from the sounds he was making). Not an incredibly restful experience.

Even so, the trip was great. Parts of the city felt like they had been imagineered by a theme park but it was all real.

A few images of various buildings and streets. Pretty pretty.





Of course, I also got to see some of the dirtier and more rundown areas on my morning runs including an area that appeared to be squats and an industrial park/loading dock. Good to keep everything in perspective, I suppose.

The next few posts will pretty much be photo blogs, breaking the trip into certain arbitrary categories. Here are some more pics of the city to whet your appetite: