Blogabroad
by Mary Pinckney Waters

March 20, 2006 - Prague

In the 14th century Charles IV, Holy Roman emperor, made this city his home base. A couple hundred years later Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler, developers of the laws of planetary motion, worked together there. In 1883 iconic author Franz Kafka was born there. And in March 2006 six exchange students from Bamberg traveled to the Czech Republic’s capital, Prague, for their own piece of “the golden city.”

This was my second time in Prague. I had visited it in summer 2003, when I did my first exchange to Germany for five weeks in Wittenberg. That summer was my first venture into the Eastern Hemisphere, giving me a teaspoonful of European culture through several excursions in eastern Germany. The only other passport stamp I received that year was from the Czech Republic, and it was there that Prague – more than all the cities I’d toured, including Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden – entranced me with its fairytale air and “lebensfrohe” (“happy for life”) mentality.

All but one in my travel crew were Prague-virgins, although Thom, of Charleston, S.C., had attempted to go there once before, but had been forced to turn back at the Czech-German border as he had forgotten his passport. Each of us received a “don’t forget!” text message from him the morning of our departure.

After an almost-seven-hour journey from Bamberg to Prague, we took turns withdrawing Czech korunas (CZK) from the train station’s “Bankomat” (ATM). The currency system took some getting-used-to. Handing out 150 korunas for a meal initially felt extremely uncomfortable, but once we considered that about 24 korunas equals a dollar, a six-buck dinner was much easier to swallow. Despite the dauntingly high numbers, we found Prague prices generally on the cheap (student-friendly) side.

That is, as long as we were being charged fairly. As an international tourist trap, the city has earned a rep for pickpockets or scam salespeople, so we decided to be a bit defensive when we shopped. In a restaurant, for example, we were careful to mentally the note the prices of our entrees and drinks, as well as the menu’s policy on tipping, to avoid any surprises on our bill.

We stayed a short walk from downtown in “Hostel Elf,” a popular backpacker’s spot covered in colorful graffiti inside and out. Its pluses were its community kitchen, free Internet and friendly staff, who gave us a 15% discount to an excellent restaurant a few blocks away. The few menus we saw during our stay in Prague never failed to be extensive in variety: ordering was always a pleasantly difficult decision. The first night we feasted on well-selected dishes and tried the famous original “Budweiser” beer, Czech lager brewed since 1265.

The next day we made the sightseeing rounds. First we strolled through the street shops and vendor tents selling collectibles and souvenirs. Prague has an exceptionally large amount of these stores in comparison to other big tourist cities I’ve visited. Much of the merchandise is art-oriented, as the city has been a cultural center of European life as long as its existence. In addition to selling “Praha” T-shirts and carrying bags, many vendors sell Bohemian jewelry, handcrafted toys or original pieces of art depicting city sights.

While perusing store windows, we came upon a locale smothered in fire-red signs reading “Sex Machine Museum.” Insatiable curiosity drew us in, along with a student admission discount, costing each of us around $7 – probably the most fascinating $7 I’ve ever spent. After a couple blush-faced minutes of middle-school giggles, we gained our composure and examined the three floors of exhibits with interest.

The museum was not just an adult store in disguise; in fact, it had no gift shop. It presented gadgets used in sex throughout the course of time – some of which conceived centuries ago – and presented historical information with each. A few examples: “underpants with (a) stamina-reinforcing mechanism using walking force,” a “love seat” used in a 19th-century brothel, and an electric anti-masturbation device.

Following an hour and a half of sex history, we walked to the Old Time Square, which includes the Astronomical Clock or the Prague Orloj, parts of which date back to 1410. From there, we visited the famous Charles Bridge, a construction that stars in countless visual masterpieces. Arching over the Vltava River, it is lined with romantic lampposts and 30 magnificent sculptures and was scattered with picture-snapping tourists, art vendors and couples holding hands.

Finally, we hiked up to St. Vitus Cathedral, an astounding gothic-style church founded in 1344. Just before you reach the front of it, you pass through a tunneled walkway, blocking your view of the cathedral until the moment you leave the shade. The result: this phenomenal structure sneaks up on you, forcing you to look up at it in awe. The moment is too powerful not to experience in person.

Mary Pinckney Waters welcomes your comments and feedback: marypwaters@yahoo.com