Prague: Beer becomes very cheap, mayhem ensues..

With the Sammyd slush fund becoming what would be best described as 'precarious,' it was fitting that the end of this European tour would be in the reasonably cheap city of Prague. Tom and I arrived into Prague to be greeted by Archie - the owner of our rented apartment. Through an exchange of broken English (Czenglish?) we received the keys and were duly led down into the heart of historic Malostranska for what would be the first of many fine pilsners. It was here we learned very early on that Archie was partial to more than a few beers and we spent our first afternoon in Prague with our heads spinning.

Although we reached Prague in the lowest trough of the tourist season, we couldn't have arrived at a better time, with clean and fluffy snow draped all around the city. I can think of few cities in Europe where you can affordably see so much and varied architecture in the one place. Wonderful examples of Rennaissance, Gothic, Baroque right through to Art Nouveau and Deco can be seen rubbing shoulders with each other in the city. Prague's formidable artistic heritage is still very much alive, as Kaz and I experienced. We enjoyed a very special performance of Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik in the Alphonse Mucha designed Municipal House concert hall - a stunning example of Art Nouveau.

As a steady trickle of friends (those trickles being Kaz, Cade, Dylan, Nick and my brother Jack) from around Europe came to stay at our little pad, the Prague nightlife began to claim us as its own. After sensibly ejecting ourselves from one establishment we came outside to find a large fresh dump of snow. Promptly taking leave of our senses, a fearsome snowball fight erupted which wasn't over until Tom had been forced to eat a pint of snow, Dylan had nearly had an eyeball removed, Nick (bloodily nosed) launching snow-mortar attacks on the locals and I had copped an absolute thumper to the back of the head. It's amazing how much snow likens to a heavy rock once it's compacted enough. Great days my friends, great days..

Australia Day arrived and thanks to Cade, a six pack of Coopers red was specially imported to mark the occasion. Why we were bringing more beer into the country that basically invented the stuff, I don't know. Ironically, I was to mark the occasion with a more venerated Australian icon - the mullet haircut. In preparation for a job interview I had scheduled in London the following week, I had gone to get a haircut in an attempt to fool any potential employers into thinking I harboured a sliver of respectability. My requests in broken English for short back and sides came to nought with my barber. Despite my protestations, I returned home to be greeted by many a laughing face and pointed finger. A transcript of my immediate reaction to the mullet incident can be found on Amanda's blog here.

On my last day in Prague, I awaited our landlord and sometime drinking buddy Archie to pick up the keys. My phone rang and I had the following conversation:

Archie: ...euhhh
Sam: Hello?
Archie: It is ... Archie
Sam: Hello Archie, we're about to leave. Are you coming to take the keys?
Archie: Sam ... you should know ... last night
Sam: ...
Archie: This morning ... I wake up in vomit.
Sam: Right. I might leave the keys in the letterbox for you then.
Archie: I think ... this is best.

Poor old Archie.

Filmed in amazing Prague-o-vision:

Prague also suffers from the kitsch that afflicts much of Europe. This little marionette did make me go all gushy though..


One of my favourite photos, the view of the Prague high street from the national museum.


Cade, Jack and I went to this positively kooky 15th century bone church on a trip to the Czech city of Kutna Hora. Instead of burying war casualties and plague victims, some half blind (half mad?) monk named Henry decided to build a church out of their bones. 40,000 of them. It seems Henry wanted to bring the sense of impending death a little closer to his parish, instilling in them a sense of mortal fear and an urgency to repent. That's cool and everything, but cherubs become slightly less cherubic when they are surrounded by grisly human remains..


So here we are on the Charles bridge, surrounded by some of the best views of Prague and historic monuments. At this time, the sun was setting on the river and snow was just starting to fall. Do you think people are interested? No. To the side of the bridge construction was underway and a pole was being driven into the ground, captivating the minds of everyone who walked past. This is affirmation of my central thesis, that most people are morons.


Praguers get straight to the point, as demonstrated by this etching of a nationally celebrated event. The Thirty Years War (1618-1648) was touched off by an incident called "The Defenestration of Prague". The Bohemian nobility was in more or less open revolt against the Emperor, and, at a meeting of the Bohemian Estates at the Hrdcany Castle in Prague on 23 May 1618, the assembled Bohemian nobles took the two Imperial governors present at the meeting, namely Wilhelm Graf Slavata and Jaroslav Borzita Graf von Martinicz, and threw them out of a window of the castle and into a ditch. So popular was this method of deposing political leaders that it has been repeated several times in Pragues's history.

In other words, 400 years ago in Prague, the appropriate treatment of politicians was refined to perfection.



Australia Day 2005. My hair, my shame.

Once I had been follicly-sabotaged, the only thing for it was to don a singlet, pound back a few antipodean ales and say 'maaaaaaaaaaaaate' a lot. Relax, since this photo was taken, I have undergone mullet surgery and my coiffure is now peachy-pie once again.


Thought Prague wasn't ghetto? Wrong. Just to let the rest of the world know how it is, two statues were erected at the parliament gates. One is of a man bludgeoning another man in the head, the other - a man knifing another in the neck. It's basically the city saying 'yo, this is how we roll.'


Mon frere Jacques and Cade in the beautiful cafe of the Prague Municipal House, designed by Alphonse Mucha. The interior had all the simplicity of Deco but with the romance of Art Nouveau. Even though the coffee was terrible, we couldn't help but keep coming back.

Well thats it for now! I think I'll post one more update with my current living details here in East London in a few weeks. That'll be it though. I'm back at work now and have no time for such frivolous activity..

Cheers,


-dymmas