I can’t remember when last I’ve ever been so tired. We were awake for 22 consecutive hours (you can’t count one and a half hours in the plane … and those are over and above the said 22). But we’re here, and our studio apartment is amazing … and thank you, Hirsh, for basing us outside the main tourist zone. Yikes! Did we really think we were the only ones who had the idea of going to Prague in May? There are wedding ladies in white pantsuits and short veils, there are bridesmaids in matchy sashes, future bridegrooms in silly donkey or Superman costumes, hordes of beer-swilling grooms’ mates, and then there are the concert-goers who’ve come to listen to all sorts of live bands playing for free in a park down the road from us. Only one day out in the heart of Prague’s Old City … and we’re already exhausted.
What we’ve seen so far, though, has been inspiring. No contest. Here’s (part of) Day One. First, our apartment.
Above is our view from the studio apartment, which is very airy and light.
The architecture is all ice-cream colours, very inspiring and pretty.
Elaborate architecture with extensive decorative detailing, and always statues and faces and bas reliefs.
Classical window detailing, red doors, Romanesque arches …
But then the almost fairy tale castle-like architecture.
And the Art Nouveau flourishes.
FUN is also a part of the city …
A rabbit’s (hare’s?) revenge …
Matryoshka dolls in all shapes and colours …
Pretty, pretty ballerinas.
Pole dancers on highway walls, graffiti outside a very smart, expensive store.
Two poles of madness … Albert Einstein was also visiting Prague, and I thought only South Africans did the toyi-toyi. This was a portable toilet near the concert venue.