A Tale Of Two Cities

Today was a much better day. The temps were just a bit cooler. We were a bit more rested. We were able to judge the city more fairly, and here is my impression:

Prague is a tale of two cities in one. One city is absolutely stunning. The level of pristine and history-infused detail on practically every building on practically every street is amazing. I can't think of another city I have ever visited that is absent urban eyesores to the degree that Prague is. The only physical blemishes we ever came across were some slight signs of age, or renovation underway.

But there is another story here, too. A city has to be more than a showpiece. It has to have a character independent of tourism and it has to be home to a thriving community of locals who live a life independent of tourism. Otherwise, it is little more than a carnival ride. Here Prague fails. In a day and a half, I literally could not identify a single Czech-speaking person who wasn't working in the service of tourists. I saw no evidence, whatsoever, that work was being done for any purpose other than the advancement of tourism. Each beautiful building lining each beautiful street has at least four floors of living space above the street-level shops, yet I saw no evidence of life in those windows. I have no doubt that there was some life going on that I did not notice on such a brief visit, but I also cannot think of another city I have ever visited so completely dependent upon tourism and so devoid of a living character of it's own.

This bothers me because I want to like this city very much. Certainly the beauty of it makes it desirable. I suppose if I left the city center for the c.1950's suburbs, I would find the real Czech neighborhoods (just as you would in any large city in Europe - that's where the people with families and not a lot of money live) but then that wouldn't be the attractive and historic city we envision, either.

Today we visited the castle hill area and say the sights there including the castle gates (top photo - just before I snapped the shot I told Annie to kiss him on the cheek - notice her big smile and the guard looking at her out of the corner of his eyes), St. Vitus Cathedral (second photo, with a nice, quirky character all it's own), and some castle apartments (third photo). While up on the hill, we also saw Strahov Monastery and it's library, and the Loreta Church.

Then we came back to our hotel, had a light lunch and a rest. In the evening we returned to the old town across the Charles bridge and wandered some of the same streets that we stumbled through in a sweat-mired haze yesterday. We also walked through the Jewish quarter a bit and saw this amazing block of buildings which included a synagogue (bottom photo).

Walking across the Charles Bridge in the evening means running a gauntlet of souvenir sellers and street performers. It is festive, entertaining and charming, and entirely devoted to tourists. It is such a double-edged sword. We are tourists, after all, so it is a little unseemly to be complaining about other tourists. But when tourists are all you see (except for the vendors selling to tourists) you feel a little like you might just as well have visited Disney World...