The weather in Prague has been grey, gloomy, and wet since I arrived yesterday, but the city of a hundred spires still has a self-assured presence and history about it. I’m enthralled by the Old World elegance of cobblestone and Gothic architecture, red-tiled roofs and copper-green domes. And in the current throes of autumn, the verdancy of the city’s trees and ivy-covered walls warming into fall colors, it’s easy to be taken in by the sense of place. People had warned me that I’d be put off by the crowds, which are certainly hectic and have additionally been exacerbated by Czechia’s centennial independence celebrations this weekend, but apart from the tourist top hits, I’ve found Prague busy enough to feel lively, but not so much to be tedious.
I spent my first day on the tourist circuit, making my way from Wenceslas Square up through Old Town and the plaza, stopping there just long enough to snap a photo of the clock tower; then through the Jewish Quarter; crossing a bridge over the Vtalva to the Metronome in Letná Park; through the park to Prague Castle; and again down towards the river, detouring past Lennon Wall, crossing back to Prague 1 via Charles Bridge. All the must-sees, dutifully checked off the list, so I could be completely free to explore off the tourist-trodden path today.
And indeed, today was much funkier and more captivating. I started at VNITROBLOCK for art and coffee and pretending to be a sneakerhead, then moseyed over to the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art to work out in the Hard Times gym exhibit and climb aboard Gulliver the airship. A short metro ride away, alighting at Florenc, I took a wander through the Manifesto market, got a second flat white at EMA Espresso Bar, then headed over to the garden at St. Agnes Convent, which was just the loveliest space of outdoor art and calm, even despite drab sky and drizzle. Back closer to Old Town, on my search for a postcard writing implement, I stopped in at the House at the Black Madonna and discovered an absolutely wonderful Czech Cubism exhibit. Then, finally, a perfect Italian dinner for one at La Bottega Linka, and a chance to sit and reflect.
我就站在布拉格黃昏的廣場 在許願池 投下了希望
那群白鴿 背對著夕陽 那畫面太美我不敢看。。。
So mystical! I was there on the same epoch. My judgment is that Prague is a city museum. Born on the 28th of October, my European trip that year was more for the 100 years of independence of the first Czechoslovakia republic from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. I celebrated a solo birthday and vegetarian fit dinner at Kampa Park located next to the Vltava River and close to Charles bridge.