Hot Milk in Prague
I only seem motivated to write this blog when I’m travelling. I’m not sure why that is as years ago I used to enjoy writing regular entries about everyday life. perhaps it was because I have always thought of the blog as a kind of fiction - that is all I can write - and that seemed to upset some people which took the pleasure out of writing. Anyway. Whatever. I am writing this on the train from Prague to Bratislava. I was thinking of going to Berlin to see Kit but instead decided to meet him in Prague for the weekend. Before covid struck we had planned to travel from Berlin to Prague and beyond and now more that two years later, with covid replaced by war in Ukraine and a crashing pound, this is the best I can do.
Yesterday I spent six hours wandering around Prague with hardly a break; just one for coffee and one for beer. In my mind I had the idea that Wenceslas Square and The Old Town Square - the one with the famous clock - were the same place. They are not. In a way it was lucky because I ended up in Wenceslas Square confused because it is not a square, just the magnificent ending of a wide boulevard. But being there led me to enter the baroque temple they call the museum and climb up to the cupola to see the city spread out below. I did not explore the exhibits, except for one on the Nazi occupation during WW2. It is the building that was the main attraction; marble and gilding everywhere; statues and frescos and domes. It was in the museum I had my coffee and a rather poor chocolate brownie. More on food later. My route from my hotel to Wenceslas Square looked quite straightforwards; a walk of about forty minuets perhaps; but my way was blocked by a steep hill like the keel of an overturned boat with a Soviet era memorial on the top and giant equestrian statue. Finding my way up the hill was not easy, there seemed to be no direct route and the paths twisted and circled their way up to the top. Descending the hill and heading into town I met with another barrier, a huge terrace of houses that blocked my way like high castle walls. I followed the terrace around looking for a gap and when I found one I was far off my original route. This seems to happen all the time if one tries walking any distance in Prague; massive terraces and blocks bar the way and wide dual carriage ways that cannot be crossed mean long detours in search of an underpass.
From Wenceslas Square I headed down the boulevard to the Old Town. The narrow streets and alleyways of the Old Town are naturally filled with tourists and shops bars and restaurants and for tourists. But that day it was not too crowded. There was a crowd around the the famous astronomical clock in the Old Town Square waiting for it to strike the hour. I would guess that there is always a crowd on every hour throughout the year, except perhaps the quiet hours from midnight til morn. The clock did not disappoint, the skeleton came to life and struck its bell; little doors opened and the Apostles paraded by. I stood in the crowd, watched and took pictures, but the workings ancient astronomical clock remained a mystery to me.
After the clock it was time for a short rest and a beer and cigarette and the now obligatory photo of Hot Milk. I read only a chapter or two in each new country I visit and am now over three quarters of my way through the novel.
Soon I will be in Slovakia and can read some more.
I have forgotten to return to food. There is actually little to say, on my first night I had fried cheese with boiled potatoes and tartare sauce with the large clear pilsner beer that seems to accompany every meal here. The restaurant was near my hotel and seemed popular with locals, I’d intended to return the following night but left it a little late and the place was packed. Instead I found a vegan restaurant close by and ate there. The food was given meat dish names but had little resemblance. The vegan calamari was very good, though not in calamari rings and deliciously crispy in an uncalamari way. The beer was the usual. Perhaps I will return with Kit at the weekend.