Thursday, December 4, 2008
Prague, Czech Republic
Looking up at the National Museum from Wenceslas Square.
The Wenceslas Statue.
As usual I am not doing a great job of getting out of bed at a decent hour but I sure am having a good time sleeping in. It is so nice to have a home base for a few days and not have to unpack and repack my bag so often. All my stuff needed to be aired out anyways.
When I did get my act together I headed over to the Narodhi Muzeum (National Museum) to check it out. It has been a few days since I have been to a museum so I thought now would be a good time. The museum was quite good.
The roof the National Museum.
Like all national museums it shows the history of the Czech lands, from pre-historic times until now. Lots of artefacts and that kind of thing. Most things were written in English as well as Czech so I could understand. The mineralogy section once again reminded me how little of my first year geology I retained, but even worse than when I was at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum because at least there I got to see the Hope Diamond. Here it was just random rocks and minerals whose names were mostly written in Czech so unless they looked like the English version I had no idea. I am so glad I chose nursing.
I'm not sure who this is or where they were found but this is how they were found, including the few personal items they were buried with.
This is a small ceramic oven. I don't think it is big enough to cook pizza in.
One section that was also not written in English that I wish was, was the anthropological section. From what I did understand (and what little English there was) this section gave information on how they determine sex, age, time periods and all that when they find human remains. I have always found that interesting and would have liked a reminder as to how all that stuff works but I guess I will just have to read up on it on my own.
Not sure if this guy's head was big or small.
There was also a large exhibition called Republika (Republic) about the importance of the first Czechoslovak Republic to the history of the country. It included time periods including both World Wars, showed all kinds of traditions and ways of life and important people and all that stuff. I could not linger too long here I am afraid as there were several groups of teenagers travelling through the room. Apparently every school group that was visiting decided to be there at the same time. I think they were suppose to be gaining some information but it seemed to me they were more interested in taking pictures.
Heading into the Republika exhibit.
I did eventually find the second level of the exhibit that had all kinds of information on movies, sports and other entertainment at this time. I sat and watched a couple Czech movies. Some were silent, others were just in Czech but all were black and white. Funny because it didn’t matter what the language it was, I could understand what was happening. In any language and even without sound, a love story is still a love story.
I am so glad I wasn't born during a time when girls were required to wear dresses while playing sports.
After a couple hours in the museum it was back out into the Prague cold to find the train station. I was pretty sure that this was not the station I needed to catch a train to Austria from but figured I would double check. I was correct. I had to go to the other train station but I was able to get a schedule for Saturday so I was able to at least plan my departure.
From there I headed to…..well I headed to Starbucks. I wanted to get some stuff done and they have free internet (not that Brent doesn’t) and I wanted to do some Prazak watching. A lot of students in the place for a while. I guess the draw of free internet is huge as those same Canadian med students I saw the other day were back. Not sure what time they got there but I know it was long before I did and when I left 3 hours later they just seemed to be settling in for a long study session.
While I was surfing the free Wi-Fi, I discovered the Prime Minister’s meeting with the Governor General was over and that she had agreed to prorogued Parliament until January. Of course we have confirmed I am a political junkie so I had actually been watching for the decision most of the afternoon. I am a little disappointed. I really did what to see the non-confidence vote happen. This is what Stephen Harper has been asking for since the Conservatives took power. He wanted to see if the opposition would force an election…..when nobody wanted one. I guess he got a little scared when they called his bluff and were simply going to take power another way. It would have been interesting but I guess now we will have to wait and see. I think the Facebook debate will die down a bit…...but hopefully people don’t forget how involved they were when we do go to the polls next.
Anyway, from there it was off to dinner. I picked a pretty expensive spot down in Old Town Square but it was decent so whatever and then it was back to the same place I was at last night for another beer and some potato pancakes….mmmmm potato pancakes. They remembered me and I hardly had to order my beer and it was on the table. Such a great place. I have been told that people in Prague are so rude but I must say I have found them quite nice. They remind me a lot of New Yorkers (nobody hit me)….. if you don’t ask they don’t care but if you do…they are more than happy to help you out.
So I have found that while in Prague I have done very little of what you could call constructive activity….and I have liked it. I like the wandering and the Prazak watching and the relaxed days. I wish I had more time so that I could hit up a few more things but I have more places to see so will still be on my way come Saturday.
Tomorrow, well I am planning to meet up with Heather’s cousin Graeme who has been living in the Czech Republic since July. I have never met him and know him only from his Facebook profile….so it should be a good time.
Julie
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