Prague, Czech Republic

You know you're in Prague when...

Ok, so they were just in the midst of changing the clothes on the mannequinns, but it still struck me as strange to look into a window and see five naked people staring back at me.

TV Tower

This is the second TV tower I've been to in as many cities. But this time, I wasn't stupid enough to pay money to go up to the observation deck. And this one had some creepy, faceless babies crawling up the side. I didn't stay too long.

The tower is near J.Z. Podebrad station. It's a newer part of town, east of where I was staying. Apart from this, I don't think there's much reason for me to be here, but I decided to walk around a little anyway, since I had made the trip.

There was a small cemetary nearby and some interesting looking buildings. Took a few photos and headed westward again.

Still on the agenda for today:

1. Vysehrad (old castle area, from what I can make of the name)
2. Cubist houses

Vysehrad

I got off at Vysehrad station, which I assumed was pretty close to Vysehrad. But when I got out, all I saw was a big hotel and a highway. My little pocket map wasn't detailed enough to show me where I was relative to where I wanted to be. This is just great. It's not even 11am and I'm lost already.

Man, I used to be good at this sort of thing. I could go almost anywhere and reason out which way I should head to get to where ever it was I wanted to go. Not sure what has happened to me in the past few years to make me lose that knack. I should start carrying a compass with me.

After a little while, I did figure it out. It's all coming back...

The Vysehrad was about a 15 minute walk away from where I was, and after about 5 minutes of walking, signs pointing me in the right direction started appearing. You know, a better place for those signs would be in the frikkin subway station.

Anyway, here are the photos:

And here's what I came for, the cemetary. It's not nearly as big as Mt. Pleasant in Toronto, but beautiful just the same.

I don't know how long I spent in the cemetary, marvelling at the tombstones and the church.

I liked the one with the little children on it the most. Not because there's probably a dead kid lying underneath, but it reminds me of one I saw at Mt. Pleasant, years and years ago. I still remember the epitaph clearly:

"Why must God pick His most beautiful flowers first?"

Cubist houses

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I went to see the Cubist houses. I don't even really know what cubism is, apart from the fact that it has something to do with the 4th dimension (i.e. seeing all three dimensions at once), resulting in those weird-looking people that Picasso used to paint.

In the end, I found this. An office building. I'm obviously missing something.

Since it was still fairly bright outside, I figured that I would walk home. An hour later, I found myself not too far from where I had started. Screw this navigation crap. I'm just going to start planning things better.

I eventually ended up at the statue I saw on my first full day here. After that, I found my way back to Wenceslas Square and home. Picked up a duffel bag from an army surplus store I happened upon along the way.