Prague Blog (Prog?)

So a couple of weekends ago, we went to Prague. It was the biggest group of us yet -- all six of us Fizzers, Heather and her friend Adam. A couple of us didn't have reservations for the hostel (it was really quite the last-minute thing), but luckily they managed to provide accomodation. Sidebar: The Boathouse hostel is really good -- really nice operators, clean rooms, etc...highly recommended! So anyway I'll post a few pictures out of the small pile that I took, that are generally representative of what we ended up doing:

Of course, of all Bohemian composers, a couple stand out among the rest -- I simply had to have a picture with Antonin over there. I originally wanted to go to a concert too, featuring some works by Dvorak and also Bedrich Smetana (they were playing Die Moldau from Ma Vlast, one of my favorites) but alas, I wasn't able to make it.

Much of the time was spent puttering around town, just generally taking in the sights and everything. Here's a shot of the famous Charles Bridge -- initially it struck me as a giant version of the Alte Mainbruecke that is here in town in Wuerzburg.

Later on Matt and I ended up breaking off of the main group and went out and about the town -- this is the gate to the big castle that overlooks the city. Back in Munich the chuches had tonnes of statues of angels smiting demons and such...apparently the Czechs are a little more down to earth, what with the statues of people smiting other people with various weaponry.

We went out to a sketchier part of town near this TV tower, and it was interesting -- a world of difference from the kitschy tourist setup that seemed to pervade the core of the town. We go from the clean streets and tonnes of people, warm and inviting, to...well, it kind of felt like Whalley. Except with more graffiti. On people's front doors. But that wasn't the point of the expedition I guess, it was just to check out this TV tower. ...Who puts sculptures of babies, climbing up and down and around the tower? Creeeepy.

The cast of this expedition -- minus Heather (who was in bed at the hostel, rough train ride apparently), and Adam (who was taking the picture). From left to right: Mark, Adam, Phil, Greg, yours truly, and Matt.