it's 4pm on Friday afternoon and i've just had a day which closely resembles a lot of days I have in Melbourne. I received a phone call today, and the person on the other end of the phone asked me "what are you doing?", the answer to which was, "i'm just in a cafe, doing some work". those of you who know me a bit will know that that is a very typical thing for me to be doing, and I enjoyed it just as much here on the other side of the world today as I usually do in Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn. The only thing that's different is that it's a bit of a shame for me to have work to do while I'm here! But that's ok - it's 9 below zero today, so an excuse to stay inside is most welcome.
I've taken myself to the Next Level of seeing Prague as a tourist. I have all but banished myself from using a map, as I'm now at the stage where I know which tram sort of goes where, and how useful that is to me. There are a few key points in the city from which I know how to get home, and I am now taking great pleasure in getting completely lost between them. I love meandering into little side streets and finding restaurants, little shops and hidey holes that usually just get stampeded past by the tourist throng. I'm doing lots of walking around, lots of stopping and watching, resting against a wall or in a little sidestreet watching things unfurl before me. I think in Prague it's important to look up often. There are so many beautiful spires and ornaments and statues and decorations and little jokes and surprises that can be missed if you keep your consciousness at eye-level, like the statue of Lenin near Betlemske Namesti, hanging by his right hand onto a wire about 8 metres above the ground. Apparently it's a joke characteristic of the inimitable Czech humour - something to do with when capitalism fails he can just jump down from where he's hanging, and his right fist will already be raised in solidarity and strength. Apparently if you're Czech that's hilarious :)
The No 12 tram takes you from the Mala Strana side of the Charles Bridge to Delnicka, where I am staying. It takes you from the centre of Tourist Hell - postcard shops and crystal shops and McDonalds - through the middle of what looks like Czechs doing it hard. There are shitty housing commission flats, people living on top of each other in cardboard box-style housing, doing their shopping in the cold, and it throws into stark relief the contrast between Prague for tourists and Real Prague. I love seeing both. I love seeing how a city with such majesty and mystery and beauty and charm must also have a seedy underbelly. A mundane, grotty and difficult post-Soviet state of existence. I don't know why that makes me appreciate the place more, but somehow it does...
J x
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