Walking And Gawking In Prague

Other cities have their Louvres, their Coliseums, their Houses of Parliament, but Prague is the most consistently beautiful and interesting city we have visited, architecturally anyway. There are important sites and sights, but we mostly enjoy just walking the dense old neighborhoods, appreciating the great variety of historic architecture. Sometimes I do feel a bit foolish standing there staring at a building and maybe snapping a pic. But then someone walks up with one of those big assault-type DLSRs and snaps the same pic. We exchange knowing glances and move on to the next beauty, probably right next door.

Anyhow, we did two walks to the Dancing House recently, one via New Town and beyond to Smichov, across the river, and the other via Old Town and the riverfront. Below are some scenes along the way.

Just a few hundred meters from the Palac Archa,
this new-fangled office building; we are confining
our visits to historic Prague, just the four interior
districts; out in the burbs there is no doubt much
newer construction

Another block away, on a side street, another art
nouveau beauty

Older train station

"Czech Musicians" fountain and sculpture by Anna Chromy;
in a park 

Another old tower and 700 year sweep

We're going with more Rondo Cubism on this one

Ditto

Side by side art deco and art nouveau

And more Rondo Cubism

Judging from the dates, 1878 and 1903, this one would have started
as neo-whatever with art nouveau added later; not uncommon

Neo-wedding cake

One of the more colorful blocks

And anther great street

The Dancing House, aka Fred and Ginger, a
collaboration between Vlado Milunic and Frank
Gehry; perhaps the most photographed building
in Prague; typical Gehry...in its eye-catching and
originality...

So we have crossed the river and walked through a great farmers
market (subsequent post on Prague food and drink) and landed now
at our ultimate destination, the Fancy Fries shop in the Manifesto,
apparently a resto-incubator in Smichov, up river from Mala Strana;
love those fries; may do it again...

Now in Old Town Square, appreciating the Old
Town city hall tower and windows

Still 32 minutes until it goes off, but a large crowd already has
gathered to see the "astronomical" clock; this is true gawking;
one doesn't see all that many tourists on weekdays; rather more
on weekends

City hall facade

Neighboring beauty

When in doubt, call it Rondo Cubism

Contemporary weedy/seedy look

Facade of the huge National Theater; would sit nicely aside the
Palace Garnier...

Beautiful stretch along the river

Among them; note caryatids; there were 18 caryatids/
telamons on one block just before the Dancing House

The weather has turned chilly, and the sidewalk
cafe blankets are out

Excellent weather for chai, espresso, and carrot cake; at a cafe
called Grom...with a view of the Dancing House 

Walking back, the river and National Theater 

Prague Portals And Doors

A selection of some of the doors and portals we've seen on our various walks...and of course they all look better on a computer, and not a phone

Oldest of the lot, 1598...or maybe 1698

Emily In Prague?

So there we were, walking down the street, minding our own business, when again there pop up the bright lights, heavy electrical cables, trucks and vans for hauling equipment and props, a portable generator, a catering truck, lots of busy serious youngish people toiling about, and...boxes of Christmas ornaments and a mound of freshly cut Christmas trees. Interestingly, the storefront where all this is happening has been re-signed as a "librairie...papeterie." (A combination unlikely to exist in France: a papeterie is a stationery store; might have popular magazines, but few or no books; a librairie is a bookstore.) Our default interpretation of these kinds of occurrences always jumps to Emily in Paris (for laughs), and so we infer that it is Christmas-time in Paris, and Emily is meeting/has met her paramour du jour in said librairie/papeterie. Vicki has read that the French occasionally do Paris scenes in Prague because there is so much art nouveau here. Or possibly it is the Emily's little sister spin-off, Priscilla in Prague. Stay tuned.

Spare parts

Lumières, caméra, action...