SUNNY TUESDAY IN PRAGUE

This blog was begun in 2008 with a trip to Edinburgh and Dublin.

I followed it then in 2010 when I made a point of visiting Venice in February so that I might finally experience Carnivale.

Now, after much hew and cry, Prague & Budapest. May you enjoy and see something that sends you to your computer to book your next adventure.

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Prague is Venice without the water. Thousands of narrow cobble-stoned streets winding in on themselves so that even if you lived here for most of your life, like London & Venice, you would discover a new alley every day.

Nobody has been able to determine exactly when the first human settlements sprang up here, but the estimates are way back in the dark ages, and many buildings and neighborhoods still extant can be traced to the 14th Century. Facades of buildings cheek to jowl are baroque, renaissance, Gothic and every other manner of architecture including communist and modern brutal.

And like Venice, you often feel that you are a captive of a living postcard, traipsing past shops pf T-shirts and chotchkas, all claiming to be authentic, all clearly cheap knock-offs. The very black, very handsome men who sell faux Gucci bags on the streets of Venice are here in Prague selling one hour boat trips on the Vlatava River. They are dressed in starched white sailor uniforms and they smile all day long which must make it challenging to go back at the end of the day to cramped shared quarters. Do they save enough to send something home?

One searches for the cafes and restaurants in the side streets where a real meal might be had. Criminality is all around you - the Russian mafia are very big here and throughout Eastern Europe - yet the place itself is so beautiful, so winning you close your eyes to the lunacy and try to stay on the Czech strengths.

 Soldiers armed with automatic assault weapons stand guard in front of every ancient synagogue. Last night, the Spanish Synagogue, reputed to be one of the most beautiful in the world, hosted a performance of Ravel's Bolero. On the 15th, I will try to take in an evening of Gershwin.

 Kafka stands by to remind us of the cruelty, unpredictability and beauty of life.

Today, almost 5 hours of walking and many photos, many of which will appear tomorrow.