Like flies on a penis. Praha

mini golf at Praha TV Tower Park

 We made it to the Czech Republic, the 8th country in our 2014 anniversary adventure, and our 6th week of travel. As we had not seen a familiar face since Jeffrey left Munich over two weeks earlier, we felt very fortunate while in Prague to discover a few activities to remind us of the joys of home. 

One pleasant glimpse of home we experienced was a visit to the movies to see Zmizela, aka Gone Girl. The movie theatre felt familiar enough to allow us to relax, but quirky enough to make the visit quite memorable. Half the previews were in Czech without captions, which made our post trailer whispered discussions concerning whether we’d see the film or not quite elaborate. (“Wait, what did you think that was about?”). Chris purchased a Heineken at the concession stand, because, of course he did. My favorite part, however, was the ham and cheese flavored popcorn we purchased and then proceeded to eat approximately 1/16^th of our medium box. It tastes exactly as you may imagine ham and cheese popcorn would taste. But when ham and cheese popcorn is an option, it seems unlikely that we wouldn't give it a try. Sidebar: we very much enjoyed the movie, and I found the Czech captions only added to the experience.

TV Tower at night. Can you find the Babies?

Our Airbnb apartment was located in the Zizkov District of Prague, with a gorgeous view of the Zizkov Television Tower, lit up by night and strangely creepy by day. The TV Tower was decorated with ten large fiberglass babies, crawling up the exterior of the tower. As this image was our very first of the city of Prague, and one we saw daily thereafter, we became increasingly interested in this bizarre choice. After a bit of research, we learned that the sculptures were added by local artist David Cerny, famous for his controversial, provocative public pieces of art. Apparently he intended them to look like “flies on a penis.” Having taken 8 tours by this point in the journey, Chris and I were quite fond of walking great lengths to find seemingly insignificant objects with historical significance or legendary inspiration. So we decided to create our own walking tour around Prague, finding all of the David Cerny statues within and surrounding the city center! 

yes, that is chris hanging upside down from the Prego Lego womb

We visited In Utero, an enormous pregnant woman with a hollow interior, allowing visitors to climb inside and experience rebirth upon their exit. We saw Freud hanging by one arm from a fifth floor window, some claim representing the very loose grip we as a society hold on reality, and is most definitely missed by the average passerby who wouldn’t think to look up for it. We cringed at the sight of Embryo, a 3-foot gelatin looking blob built around an apartment building drain pipe, worried it would begin to pulsate at any moment. And we laughed with many other tourists in the front garden of the Kafka Museum at the installation Piss, two men urinating into a small pool shaped like the Czech Republic. Apparently their rotating hips will spell messages in urine if you text the number on the plaque, but unfortunately our American phones did not allow us to test this feature. There are other Cerny statues displayed all over the world, including an epic double-decker bus doing push-ups in London, placed there during the 2012 Olympics.

Piss

As the motto of the DOX Contemporary Art Museum in Prague tells us, “In an age when growing numbers of people tend to think dangerously alike, art’s capacity to suspend, even for a moment, our habitual ways of seeing may well prove to be of its greatest value.” Keep your eyes open for David Cerny’s work, it is enchanting and deeply thought provoking. And if you’re headed to Prague, I’ve saved our tour route if you’re up for an imaginative adventure!

Embryo.

We found ourselves wandering the beautiful streets of Prague extensively in our time there. The calf-burn inducing hills rival Parisian streets and the uneven cobbles are reminiscent of the ankle-twisting dangers of Bratislava, but walking around Prague is an absolute must. The streets are full of performers, animals (mostly unleashed dogs, with the occasional street pig) blacksmiths working over their fires and charming architecture that hints of life from another time. The Old Town is picturesque, despite boasting the second most disappointing tourist attraction in the world. The Astrological Clock in the town square is remarkable, with hands depicting the cycles of the moon, the signs of the Zodiac, the calendar date, the Name Day for all Czech children, and even the time. But on the hour, this impressive clock gives a “puppet show” that is not necessarily worth the inevitable neck cramp that ensues when all eyes are looking skyward, waiting for one unfortunately disappointing show. Pretty pimp clock, though. 

One site we discovered while exploring the city definitely lived up to its Trip Advisor reviews where the Astro clock did not. Just across the famous Charles Bridge stands what is now commonly known as the Lennon Wall. Since the 1980’s, this exterior concrete wall has been covered with John Lennon inspired and often politically motivated graffiti. We saw Beatles lyrics, notes from fellow visitors, messages of support for protestors in Hong Kong, and images of Lennon himself. A lone acoustic guitar player with a pleasantly soothing voice provided the perfect soundtrack for our visit.

the sign in his case reads "i need money to repair my time machine to go back to the 60's!"

We experienced a world of beauty in the walls, sounds and streets of Prague. There is a living history in the architecture that is missing in many other European cities. We learned on our walking tour that Adolf Hitler also saw the beauty of Prague. He loved the city, and gave orders for it not to be destroyed. Because of this, there is only one building in the city that sustained any damage during WWII. I am extremely glad we searched for uncommon art and activity in this city, and would love to come back again one day and find so much more!

view of the Charles Bridge. this didn't suck.

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