Praha, the beautiful

This is such a difficult post to write. Purely because we ambled around most of the time taking in the gorgeous city and most buildings are of no significant tourist interest. I'm sure I'll miss something out, but here it is anyway.

National Museum: It has an extensive zoological collection as opposed to the other national museums around the world, which usually stock up on the historical heritage pieces of the country instead. However, this allowed me a glimpse of the remains of prehistoric creatures: predecessors of the emu and armadillo. With the huge pieced-up skeleton of a whale hanging over our heads. We're probably a small snack to this big fellow. To be fair, there are some interesting artifacts: jewelery, belts, money daily crockery recovered from tombs,etc. I was amazed though, but the artists' rendition of a Czech lady (probably known as some other nation at that time), she looked just like a modern-day hippie with her head scarf and beaded-hoop earrings...

Old town square: We together with the hoards of tourists craned our neck eagerly awaiting the full hour in front of the Astronomical clock, which I could make no sense of. We circled the Church of Tyn. There were so many beautiful buildings and courtyards at every corner we turn into, despite the barrage of tourists.

St Nicholas Cathedral: The ceiling fresco is gorgeous. It is a beautiful Hussite church with a helpful descriptions on its history in its small gallery. They hold concerts in the church in evenings, which I think is a win-win idea! They gets their church funds and concert-goers get to enjoy their music is such a gorgeous setting.

Old-new synagogue: Rick Steve in his guidebook advised on requesting for the free 10-minute guide. We followed dutifully and a little wizened lady with unruly hair was introduced to us. She gave us a quick history of the temple and told us that the ground level for Prague used to be much lower, but due to floods, buildings were raised; we had to go a few steps down to enter the synagogue. I was more intrigued by her. She revealed that she is eighty years old and was born in Prague. She lived in Israel and when she came back to Prague on a visit, they asked her to stay as she can speak English and can help out in the synagogue. She's stayed on ever since!

Meals: Hotel Europa - Roasted pork knee. We were scoffing at its puny size when it appeared. It soon became a meal of pure torture. The salty meat never seemed to end and there was an elderly couple who monitored our every move through their huge glasses. Poor Yin bore the brunt of it - she was facing them throughout the meal. How did we know they were watching us intently? I whipped out my camera and before I could even take a picture of our blasted pork knee, the husband came over and helped us take 2 shots. They are really friendly and probably hardly ever see Asians. But it was unsettling to eat under keen watchful eyes.

Beer house: It was still daylight when we went in for our "tea-dinner", but there were already loads of local men dousing beer, puffing on cigarettes and chatting away. It reminded me of the ah peks in our local coffeeshops. We ordered pheasant and wild boar, and of course their self-brewed beer. The pheasant was ... full of bones. It tasted a little gamey. Yin's wild boar tasted like beef to me, but was much better than my pheasant.

Petrin Hill: We grabbed strawberries from H market, a piping, yummy hotdog each and headed across the river and up the hill. I blame the cold weather and the long distance - the hotdog sure disappeared even before we got to Charles bridge. We plonked our butts where we're not disturbing any lovebirds and no remnants from pet dogs. I find it particularly memorable, I dunno why, eating strawberries, watching the sun set over Prague while trying to keep warm and just, talk. Simple pleasures.

Sky-diving: Getting to the dive site in itself was a laugh. From the first stop, started asking the driver if it's our stop. When EVERYONE had alighted, we asked him again. Then, the bus came to a stop. In the middle of a highway. (Deja vu - Chokchai farm) It was our stop. The dive site was pretty much like a family center with grandparents, mothers, kids in prams all watching their loved ones sky-dive. There were few tourists. There was a mother, who without any hesitation, plonked her baby girl into my arms. I was in shock for a moment. Terribly inexperienced, I carried the baby like I would a dog. Yin took over and cuddled the baby perfectly.

Mala Strana: I just have to mention the yummy biscuits we had in Mala Strana. I've never bought them by number of pieces before, but these (sesame and pumpkin) were light and crisp! Mala Strana (lesser town) is also where most of the embassies are located. We stumbled upon a celebration along the street leading to the US embassy, commemorating the "liberation" of Czechoslovakia. I was a little miffed by the remarks from a US soldier Yin spoke to. Imperialistic bugger. Otherwise the whole parade was a jolly affair with a guy in old war-time uniform who leaped onto a truck and started jigging to the music from the live band.

We had dinner one day in Mala Strana. I tried playing with the house pet, an afro-hair poodle, but that unfriendly beast barked at me. It was here we tried absinthe, the eerie green coloured drink favoured by ancient poets for its hallucinating effects. One of the yuckiest tasting thing I ever had - like medicine. The first gulp burned my throat. Strangely, I flushed red only on my cheekbones; not all over the face and on my neck which is the usual when I take alcohol. Though like for all alcohol, I was no longer shivering in the cold. I didn't recall getting 'high' or having any hallucinations. Perhaps that small glass was too little...

Prague castle: We were waylaid by this independent tour guide. Fine, so we paid him more than it should cost, but he provided loads of information about Czech history, the castle and St Vitus, and he spoke good English. Good enough for me. We doubled up in laughter when we realised that we've been mispronouncing their names all along: Mucha is "moo-ha" and not "moo-cha", Wenceslaus was "Va-claf". Oh man. The stained glass by Mucha are really pretty. The crest of the regions in Czech Republic are displayed in the church. He also told us the church took 300 years to complete! The old part of the church was made from limestone powder (recall powder tower) and the back was then later completed. If my bad memory does not fail me, it took so long because they couldn't decide on the colour!

National Library: My first sighting of the statue of Boleslas (Boleslav in Czech) killing his brother, Wenceslaus (Vaclav in Czech). There was a exhibition on the design competition for new library building, but we paid scant attention to that. We walked around a little idiotically, craning our necks to check out all the ceiling and wall frescos, lamenting that some of them are not preserved. Oh yes, the winning design looks just as controversial as our lovely twin esplanade durians. To me, it looks like a misshaped green toadstool without the stalk.

Charles Bridge: We crossed this many times. Evening, night, morning. Each time, it's still as pretty and still as crowded. The statues undergo restoration works every once a while. The gleaming white ones are new.

Petrin Tower: I would never had seen the castle wall if I hadn't climb this shaky structure resembling the Eiffel Tower. I could feel it swaying at times when the wind was strong. It was a good work out though climbing it and going down Petrin Hill and bumping into families enjoying the sun in the park.

Dobri Teahouse: This nondescript teahouse is located along the incredibly busy Wenceslaus Square is a cosy set up. It was a bit baffling to find all the waiters with long hair and decked out in full black outfits. Seemed to me like a grass smoking joint. I was so tempted to take a picture of our surroundings but was warned by Yin. There didn't seem to be other tourists around. The teahouse works by a curious system: you ring the waiters using a small bell they hand you. This quickly proved to be ineffective. Each time the table next to us rang the bell, the waiter would appear at our table and asked if we'd decided. "Have you decided?" "No, we haven't." He disappears. Then the ringing gets louder at the next table and by the time we actually wanted to order, he took a really long time to appear. The tea we got was good! Combination of tea and rose tea. Can't recall what it's called though.

Fred and Ginger "dancing house": This curiously-designed looking house was co-designed by Frank Gehry, famous for his "paper architecture". We had a lovely albeit cold stroll along the River Vlata to get to the dancing house. Along the way, we went photo-taking crazy again as usual. We stopped by a park in the islet along the Vlata. I enjoyed that - nothing to do but observe people and residents who had brought their dogs out for walks. I'd happily pass my time there idling if not for the dastard cold.