Claire as a Tourist: Take One

Today I intended to go to the opening of David Cerny’s new gallery/exhibit (he’s a Modern sculptor who I’ll talk more about if/when I actually go to said exhibit- hopefully later this week), and in doing so catch a Plastic People of the Universe Concert (If you don’t know the story behind the Plastic People or their connection with Czech history, you should really look it up, it’s quite fascinating). I didn’t end up doing either of those things, and I’m a bit nervous that I’ll regret not seeing the PPU, but I had a really great day anyway.

I started out at Vysehrad and the surrounding park. Vysehrad was the site of the first castle in Prague, but all that remains are some pretty impressive walls that make you wonder what force could have possibly destroyed them. Now the inside of the walls is mostly a large park. It was a gorgeous autumn day, and I was really enjoying just walking around, but sure enough there was some Medieval festival going on so I was also treated to seeing people dressed as knights in full armour walking down the path next to me. Vysehrad is also the site of a pretty significant-sized and beautifully-painted church, which I peeked into (I was too cheap to pay the ten-koruna fee for students, which would be about 50 cents. I got the jist of it anyway, and maybe when my family comes I can make them pay for me J ), and bordering the church, this phenomenal graveyard. It’s so hard to describe the graveyards around here; they cram in graves so close to one another that you worry a bit about whether there’s actually room for the bodies in such narrow sections. Furthermore, the headstones aren’t like ours, they’re all HUGE monolithic masterpieces. Each headstone is for an entire family, so I guess it makes sense, but it’s still unbelievable. I’m assuming that family members are buried on top of one another, and maybe when you know that you feel so guilty about squashing great-grandpa for eternity that you spring for the expensive stone. I took some pictures, which might give you a better idea. Though there were a lot of people there, I was the only one taking pictures, so I’m not sure that it’s actually legal for me to have them, and I’ll admit I felt a little disrespectful, but nobody told me to stop and you have to see this. Anyway, this graveyard housed some pretty impressive figures, like Dvorak and Jan Neruda, so that was neat to see. I tried to look for a family name I recognized, but there were too many to see all of them (and many were hidden behind rows of others), and anyway I don’t think flashy is our family’s style, anyway. I did, however, find a Vesely, for those of you from SP.

The rest of the day maybe isn’t as exciting for you to hear about. I’m finally getting oriented and realizing how easy it is to walk everywhere (sorry Tim, but get ready to move on your vacation). I bought a new hair dryer, since after about 6 years my trusty old one decided that four weeks of working with a voltage converter was enough and officially retired. I also bought a voice recorder (I need one for interviewing for my final project) and the guy promised me that it would work, so now you’re all witnesses to that. I found a new café, and finally read in a park, which I’ve been meaning to do this whole time. I also walked by the river and saw Charles Bridge at night for the first time.

Sorry, this entry’s more for me so that I can remember what I did. I’ve been a little spacey all day because of this cold, as well. I know I keep promising this, but expect better updates soon.