September 2, Charles Bridge, Prague

 

We decide upon a fun excursion for the day: public transit. We walked to the light rail transit stop a few blocks from the hotel and with the guidance of the very efficent Viktoria at the hotel front desk, we boarded the #15 tram that took us across the Vltava River where we intersected with the #22 route and there switched trams. Viktorria had also said that there was another tram, #42 that would take us through some of the tourist areas but what we were really motivated to see was where the real Prague people lived, so we rode the #22 to the end of the line, taking us out to the north west part of the city, then rode it all the way back to the other end of the city. The tram was extremely busy in the downtown area but by the time we reached the end of the line and the announcement came in both Czech and English that we had to get off, there was nary a fellow passenger. Going to the west, we gazed in wonder as the ancient, historic buildings, many centuries old, gave way to cinder block Soviet styled apartment buildings, totally devoid of character, except for those with graffiti (or murals, occasionally). Going the other side of the downtown, buildings were more the ancient style but much smaller than those we had seen downtown. And probably not as old. For example, I had asked the front desk staff of our hotel what the building had been before it was a hotel and we were told, the building was not that old - only about 200 years so that hadn't bothered to maintain its history. 

We met a young American couple on the tram. I would say they were about 20 and they were over from LA going to university in Prague. I had overheard them speaking Czech then a few minutes later they were speaking English. I asked them if they were tourists and they explained to me that when they finished high school they had enrolled in a one year intensive learn to speak Czech program because university here is free for Czech speakers. The young man was taking I.T. courses and his girlfriend was studying physics. The both indicated that they would complete university debt free, their only expenses being living expenses, which would be far less than that in the U.S.

You can see on one of the tram trolleys the hashtag Stand With Ukraine. The communist history of the Czech Republic continues to weigh heavily on its past with it figuring prominently in statues and other public art in the city as well as museums with a discussion of the communist regime. Most hate the communist past: the country was surrounded by barbed wire and electrified fencing, people opposing the government were executed and people could not travel anywhere or did not have anything for themselves. On the other had, though poor, nobody had NOTHING, everybody had work, everybody had health care and there were no homeless. But the graffiti locally is all political in nature and for the most part, the communists were hated. As such, there is a great deal of empathy for the plight of Ukraine and Czech has accepted 500,000 from the war so far.

We spent a couple of hours riding the rails and got to see where real Czech people live. 

Some people have toys.

Prague is not so well known for this style of building even they were much more prevalent, particularly outside of the downtown core.

Though nothing like home for numbers of homeless, they did exist as we saw.

A blend of the old and the new. Most places, the light rail transit rails are embedded in the cobblestones. Here, grass. 

The Vienna of Prague. Canals used by transport boats, moving boxes and tourists. It looke hoakey, actually.

 The river is not particularly deep so a canal/channel passes by one low area where the channel is excavated from ud, allowing other boats to pass.

Crossing Charles Bridge.

Rubbing the dog was said to bring the person back to Prague. Rubbing the baby brought the person good luck.

We went to dinner to a restaurant called Lokal. A place not oriented to tourits, though there were a few there getting authentic Czech food and beer. We had chicken schnitzal and goulash with dumplings (gooey bread). 

Checked out this hole in the wall after and though we were tempted, too tired and besides, we have an early day tomorrow.