Posted by Kanga. Please do not reblog.
Prague is beautiful. There is art everywhere. There is a mixture of all the historical periods and art styles. Old buildings have been maintained and updated so that they can still be used without stripping away their history and beauty. Even the utilitarian Soviet era buildings have a place and add to the beauty.
Living in a country where representation of the human form in sculpture is not allowed makes the statues here even more impressive to me. I understand the prohibition against images, but I wonder at the loss of history by the exclusion of this form of communication. Public art depicting historical figures teaches us about those who went before us. We can look them in the eye and wonder about who they were, what they were like. They are all around us. We can stand on the bridge where John of Nepomuk was tossed over to drown by the order of the King for not divulging what the Queen had been confessing. We can marvel at the bravery and the villainy. Maybe when I take a picture of St. Anne, I’m thinking more about the pigeons than the history, but later I might wonder what she did to be remembered in this fashion.
DaddyBird did quite a bit of reading and research before we came. He read advice on a blog written by a couple who lived in Prague for a few years. They warned their readers away from the crass touristy area around Old Town. We walked through there on Friday and are still wondering where the crass part is. It was a bit crowded, as you will see in the pictures, but the shops were pleasant and the wares in the windows were good quality. The prices are high, but that’s normal for tourist areas. We only encountered one hawker who wanted us to eat at his restaurant, but he took “no” for an answer. It was clean and charming.
To see all the pictures from Day Three, click here.
Living the Travel Channel 