Prague [05-06-08]

I spent the morning at the Old Town absorbing the atmosphere around me. I was deciding to go for one of the guided walking tours of the castle at 1100. The compound in front of the Town Hall was crowded with people and i really loved the atmosphere. In fact, i loved the whole city of Prague for its just so full of beauty and charm. The whole place oozes with culture: the Renaissance architecture, cobbledstone pavement, jazz and classical musicians etc. It's really funny how it's normal to see posters advertising for some dance party or pop concerts in london. However in Prague, all the posters you see pasted around the town are concerts of Vivaldi or Mozart or Bach. It's pretty amazing actually.

The Town Hall with the astronomical clock.

Passing a garden with some hawks on the way to the castle

the interior of an old cathedral in the castle compound

After the castle tour, i went for a shopping spree downtown. Bought 2 bottoms and 1 T-shirt. Then it's off to explore the old town again. It's a normal sight to see people painting by the river, in fact, i see people painting everywhere in the town. Charles Bridge was pretty crowded when i was crossing it. I couldn't help but stop track to listen to this jazz band playing on the bridge. Music, art, culture - they're everywhere in Prague. It's pure impossibility to shun from them. One more thing which i've observed was that the city is very clean... almost to the point of spotless.

A view of Prague city from the hill of the castle

Some museum
This is the philharmonic orchestra concert hall
And of cos the ever so crowded Charles Bridge
However, from the local guide, 75% of the population in Czech Republic are atheists. This is partly due to the Communist regime as well as the disillusionment of religion due to 300 plus years of conflict between the Roman Catholics and the Protestants. I felt a sense of sadness seeing most if not all of the cathedrals being turned into music halls and museums. I wonder if there's any evangelistic outreach in this country at all.

Went back to my hostel for dinner. I totally forgot that risotto is rice and in the end i ordered something which was like seafood mui fun. It's not that bad considering i needed to digest the food fast for a night swim.

In the middle of the night, this bunch of NZlanders came in making lots of noise. I couldn't sleep the whole night because of the din - all because of this stupid party that was going on the whole night at the club. Apparently the room consisted of some guys and girls and this guy came in in the middle of the night without his underwear and walked around half-naked... with girls in the room. And from another bed came this guy challenging this girl for a quickie with lots of dirty talk and at that time i was just frozen stiff in my bed cos the atmosphere outside the room was no better. The whole atmosphere became so intense that it almost turned out to be a massive orgy. But thank God He answered my prayers that it did not happen. Gosh...i better get myself a ear plug soon.