Prague: Old Town and Vltava River

From Amsterdam (read here, here and here), Chin Fei and I flew to Prague and stayed over a night before my family came to join us from London. Our flight to Prague was delayed for an hour. We were all sitting inside the plane, waiting for the engineers to fix, what I think was, the luggage compartment door, that couldn't be opened. By the time we arrived Prague airport, we had to wait for another 40 minutes or so because the luggage compartment door couldn't be opened again (even after they fixed it!). It was quite spooky waiting at the airport because even though there were other passengers there too, there wasn't anyone else at the airport! No immigration or custom officers, the information desks weren't attended, shops were closed, etc. I didn't expect to have an airport closed, even though it was 10 pm! Luckily we had researched our place first before we came here or else we would be left stranded in the middle of nowhere!

On the street where we were living. Funnily, everyone, yes everyone, including Chin Fei, wore a striped t-shirt, except me! I don't know why they all picked the same style! Looks like they have just escaped from prison. Haha. :P

The old buildings, just like in Melaka

Honestly, the Czechs aren't the friendliest people of all. I guess it's because most of them do not know English. It was really hard to communicate. The first Czech we met was the bus driver who drove us from the airport to a train station. He was older and didn't know English so the way he spoke by giving directions, seemed quite rude and offended the tourists. Some tourists couldn't board the bus because they had big notes from the currency exchange and the driver couldn't accept them and just waved them goodbye. Thank God we had smaller change from my brother! The train station isn't disabled-friendly too and poor Chin Fei had to carry each of our 20 kg luggage bag in each of his hand, going down the stairs. No one bothered to offer us any help as all of them were rushing for the train. So unluckily, we couldn't get on the train and well, we were the last 2 passengers on the platform, not knowing when the next train was (although we knew it wasn't the last train because we had researched before, the last train time). When we went to the information booth at the train station, the man wasn't friendly at all and just asked us to wait. It got to one point that I was thinking, why are these people like that?! A group of gang teens came, and we became very wary but luckily more and more people came soon after. Then we met a lady who knew how to speak English and told us that the train comes every 10 minutes or so. Nice. They really should display the time of the next train! At least people know!

At night, from where we stayed. You can barely see anyone in the city!! Sounds like Perth to me! LOL.

Having said that, there are some Czechs who do not know English, but are still helpful and tried to make us understand their signs. Hehe. We were at a supermarket, wanting to buy still water because all of us hate drinking sparkling water (it just tastes funny!), so we asked a man whether the water bottle we were holding was still water (because we didn't know how to read the words on the label). Funnily, the man turned the bottle upside down and then back up again, mentioned a word we didn't understand and pointed to the water. Well, we didn't see small bubbles, purchased 6 big bottles, to find out that it was sparkling water. Damn. In the end, I learned to press the bottle. If it's hard to press, it means it's sparkling (because of the gas); if not, it is still. I don't trust Chin Fei and my brothers because for them, every bottle, be it sparkling or still, is easy to press and dent it! Argh. Strong men. So it was my task each time to press the bottle when we wanted to buy water. Tee hee hee. :)

Anyway, back to Prague. Our hostel that we lived in was right in the city and it was awesome to be living near Prague theatre, Národní divadlo. The architecture of the building was in very fine detail, with every sculpture being carved (I think?) meticulously. In day time, the building doesn't look very spectacular because it is old and dirty and the tram wires make it an eye sore; but at night, the building turns into a magnificent-looking grand castle or some sort. Like a mini Putrajaya. :)

Day time. Look at the tram wires!

At night. Nicer right? Hehe. :)

I guess the main tourist attraction in Prague is the river? No? The Vltava river creates a border that separates the Prague Castle in Castle District and Lesser Town, with Old Town Square. So on day 1, we spent the whole day on Old Town Square and the surroundings and the next day, we crossed the river to visit Lesser Town. We walked along the Vltava River and the view was amazing. At dusk, it was even nicer with the sunset. And you can see people paddling their boats too!

See what I told ya? All striped t-shirts!

A good view of Lesser Town and Prague Castle in the backdrop

Charles Bridge, where an episode of The Amazing Race Australia, was shown. Remember the holey statue?

Prague Castle

It's funny how Prague has an Old Town and a New Town Square. The Old Town (Staromestske) is the original place of settlement of Prague.

The narrow streets of Staré Město

The Bond girl :)

The gothic Tyn Church in the background

Tyn Church. Apparently, one of the towers is stronger than the other, representing the man in the family. So the towers aren't identical at all.

Staroměstské náměstí. Don't know what it is supposed to mean. Anyone?

The highlight in Old Town Square is the Astronomical Clock, Orloj, which I do not even know how to read! This clock was set up in 1410 and is the 3rd oldest astronomical clock but the only one that is still working. LOL.

The detailed mechanism of the clock consists of 3 components; the astronomical dial, showing the positions of the sun and moon in the sky and also other various astronomical details which perhaps members of NASA can understand? LOL; The Walk of the Apostles, which at every hour when the clock chimes, being striked by the figure of Death, which is a skeleton, will show the figures of the 12 apostles and other sculptures; and a calendar dial with medallions representing the months. At each side of the astronomical dial, there are 4 sculptures, representing the things that were disliked during the time when the clock was being made. The first sculpture is a man holding a mirror, representing vanity, the one next to him is a man holding a bag which is presumed to be a bag of gold, representing greed. On the other side, is a skeleton representing death and the one next to it, is a man holding his ukulele or some sort, representing entertainment.

The Figure of Death, holding a rope to strike the bell each time the clock chimes and the man holding his ukelele of some sort.

Can you tell me the positions of the sun and the moon now? What month are we on then?

After the fancy clock showtime (which many stop to watch), there will be a guy on the top who will blow his trumpet at every side of the clock. I have recorded this, and will post it up in the next post. :)

The Church of St Nicholas

From the Old Town Square, we walked to the Old Town Bridge Tower (Staroměstská mostecká věž), which is a gothic tower guarding one end of Charles Bridge, and heralding entrance to the Old Town. The construction of the tower was completed in 1380 and was used to protect the Old Town against the northern invaders. On the opposite side of Charles Bridge, guarding entrance to the Lesser Town, is the very similar looking Lesser Town Bridge Tower.

As we were walking in Old Town Square, at the intersection of Husova and Skorepka streets, we saw the most bizarre thing - a person hanging onto his life.

This work of art was created by David Cerny in 1996, and apparently, there is also the same art in London (why didn't I see that), Berlin, Rotterdam, Chicago and Michigan (really, Jin Ye?). The statue is Sigmund Freud, a famous psychoanalyst, and this work of art was meant to express what every person is supposed to do in his or her life - to make the decision to live life or to let go. David chose Sigmund as he is a Czech and is a famous target of controversy.

For those love Beatles, there is a John Lennon Wall, located at Velkopřevorské náměstí (Grand Priory Square), Malá Strana. This wall is filled with John Lennon-inspired graffiti and pieces of lyrics from the Beatles songs. Even though the wall was repainted, it will be filled with graffiti again. Haha. The John Lennon wall now represents love and peace.

Knowing that this wall is now owned by Knights of the Maltese Cross, who allows the graffiti to continue on the wall, obviously we did what everyone else did. :)

The good boy, Chin Fei, didn't draw anything because he said that he doesn't like Beatles at all. LOL. You know, after rummaging through my bag for a pen, wrote on the wall, I found that someone has already done something on behalf of me! Aih. Waste my time nia! :P

My name in Chinese! Ai! :)

We walked past a gate full of locks too, which symbolises love. Unfortunately, we needed our padlocks for our luggages, so we didn't lock one on. Hehe.

So I wrote on the wall again! Haha. :P

Other than that, we also visited the Jewish Quarter (Josefov) and Wenceslas Square (New Town) (where all the shopping is!!!).

Wenceslas Square (New Town)

Up next, the other side of Vltava River; Lesser Town, Prague Castle and St Vitus Cathedral. So stay tune! :)