Alfons Mucha

Alfons Mucha is to Prague what Antoni Gaudi is to Barcelona; one sees Mucha's work everywhere. We went to the Mucha Museum and to an exhibit at the Municipal House, and later, to the Slavic Epic in Moravsik Krumlov, in Moravia.

You may never have heard of Mucha, but

you have seen his work and that of many

imitators; the Style Mucha is nearly

synonymous with Art Nouveau...slinky

women, flowers, extravagant ornamentation

Typical

After a few years' struggle in Paris, he took

the arts world by storm--applied/commercial/

graphic arts--in the 1890s as the poster artist

for Sara Bernhardt; after that, nearly

everything bottled or packaged came to have

a Mucha design; champagnes, biscuit tins,

cigar boxes, you name it

The Mucha window in St. Vitus' Cathedral

Closer up; wildly successful as a commercial artist, he

devoted the second half of his life to nationalism and

"serious" art, painting the 20 massive canvasses of the

Slav Epic--we'll see later--this stained glass window

in St. Vitus', as well as currency, postage stamps, and

other items for the newly created post-WWI Czechslovakia

(the Hapsburgs had ruled Czechslovakia for centuries)

Municipal House

Sights from the beautiful Municipal House and the main square in Stare Mesto.

The Medieval Tower next to the Municipal

House

Smetana Hall, the great concert hall in the Municipal House

Entry oramentation for the Municipal House

One of the several gorgeous restaurants

Another

Downstairs, the Czech dining room/beer hall, incredible

paneling

Glass-work like this everywhere

Nearby, towers of the Church of Our Lady of Tyn

The massive statue to Jan Hus, in the main square; Hus was

the earliest of Protestant reformers, burnt at the stake after

his capture (by deceit) and refusal to recant

Rathaus tower and the astronomical clock;

the crowd was wowed, but we've seen better...

Old New Synagogue

Prague's Jewish Quarter, the Josefov, is one of Europe's oldest and largest and includes many historic sites.

Not least of which is the Old New

Synagogue, Europe's oldest surviving

synagogue

Built in the 13th century, small but identifiably Gothic in

architecture; only very slightly enlarged and remodeled

from that time

More interior

Sanctum sanctorum, so to speak

Still more interior

Slits cut in the thick wall so the women-folk could peer in

Medieval donation box

Flag in the shape of the hats Jews were forced to wear

Another, younger synagogue

With clocks

We're still pondering this one, although it is clear the

woman on the right is listening to an iPod

A glimpse into the old Jewish cemetery,

where some 100,000 are buried, under

12,000 headstones; they were allotted very

little space

Prague Food and Drink

At a place called Beseda, in Mala Strana, which claimed
to be the original Pilsner Urquell restaurant, we stopped
for a snack that became a meal; he's pouring my mug of
PU; note bar...an old vat

Prague restaurants are branded, in the sense that
they serve only one brand of beer; Urquell is by
far most prevalent; one also sees Gambrinus,
Budweiser (the Budweiser), Staroplamen (Prague
brewery), Birrell; the lager version of beer was
invented in nearby Pilsen

I am no connoisseur of beers, but, let me tell you, this is not
Coors or Bud light! Very flavorful, especially the hops; and
very cheap, relatively speaking; Vicki and I practiced the
Czech mode of toasting, that is, clicking the tops and the
bottoms of the mugs, setting them (briefly) on the table, then
drinking

We shared an assortment of Czech cheeses and a bowl of
cream of garlic soup; best cream of garlic soup ever for me

Restaurant decoration; OK, Mozart, who did a
lot of time in Prague, obviously did not drink
Pilsner Urquell

A few nights later we dined at the Staroplamen brewery
restaurant in Sicha, recommended for high quality local
dishes and few if any tourists; this is goulash and the
bread-looking things are dumplings; plain brown sauce
and chunks of beef; Vicki had a similar pork dish; this is
hearty fare, as they say; the beer was good, and the
cigar list actually appeared on the menu

The Staroplamen Brewery in Sicha, across the river from
Nove Mesto ("new town"; founded in 1348)

Prague has a very lively international restaurant scene, with
French, Italian, Asian, everything really, well represented;
the reason for this is that Czech food is so, um, hearty; you
can't eat it more than once or twice a week; in the Jewish
quarter, a few days later, we ran into a credible Belgian
restaurant, called Les Moules, and pigged out, me on the
moules (it's been since Annecy, I think, that I had moules),
Vicki on the largest pork T-bone ever seen; even had Duvel
and other great Belgian beers

Moules at Moules'

Later in the week, however, we had to go back to Beseda for
the garlic soup, this time with a roast pork, duck, beef assortment; and PU

Ye Olde Absinthe Bar and Museum

For some reason (Kafka? the Bohemian thing?), absinthe is very big in Prague, featured in all the liquor and souvenir stores, and even this Absintherium, a bar and museum. We abstained. I tried it once, in York, of all places, and did not like the bitter aftertaste. (In addition to the bitter aftertaste, it's also alcoholic, a stimulant/depressant, an aphrodisiac, habit-forming, and, in the traditional version, deadly). Fortunately, there's plenty of other stuff to drink in Prague.

Outside the Absintherium; "all to go"

Inside; scores of brands, flavors

I think this collection of spoons, used to mix sugar with the

stuff (5 parts water, too), constitutes the museum

Absinthe slushees; seriously

Another Night at the Opera

Tuesday we went into town late and saw an interesting opera/ballet performance of Bizet's Carmen (Nietzsche's favorite opera), then wandered about the Josefov and the Stare Mesto at night (with thousands of other tourists).

The show was a kind of combination opera/

ballet, oratorio-style singing, ballet going

on meanwhile, even some old cinema of

Seville; interesting; it was at the Divadlo

Hybernia, across from the Municipal House

Bizet's music is glorious

Entrance to the Municipal House; we

visited it a few days later

Its adjoining tower

Tower of the Church of Our Lady of Tyn

(I think)

The Rathaus Tower

Prague's astronomical clock

Looking across the Moldau to Hradcany Castle

And St. Vitus'