Still discovering Prague

It’s been awhile!

If you actually read this blog, apologies for the radio silence. It’s been a trying couple of months; we have some loved ones back home in difficult circumstances and have been focusing on them. Your prayers are beyond appreciated – as is your positive energy if you’re not a practitioner of a faith!

I’m currently flying home to Minnesota through Holland at the moment to be with said loved ones; BW is staying put in Prague with the pup for now. Inclement weather has my plane circling 15km outside of Amsterdam and therefor my stomach acid is rotating, too. Writing a blog post seems less upchuck-inducing than correcting the stack of 220 pieces of IB English coursework in my bag. So here it goes...

While I’m quite aware that we’re now three months deep into the New Year, I’d still like to present a few of the “new” things we’ve got wind of in our Czech home in 2015. Our expat environs continually cause our hearts to hum like infants who've just realized they have fingers. The amazement! The ingenuity! Here are a few bits we’ve enjoyed finding out about…

POP-UPS in PRAGUE

We've been enthusiasts of the pop-up Dyzajn Market at Narodni Divadlo and the Fashion Market at Holešovice. And lately, we've stumbled upon other pop-up places, like this one in an empty chateau near the Kafka Museum. I like this flash-retailing trend and it's supplied me with gems such as a locally designed brooch that looks like little black balloons.

DAVID ČERNY'S new MIRRORED SCULPTURES

David Černy, a controversial Czech sculptor, has avant-garde art all over Prague. However, you can literally see yourself in two of his newest stainless steel installations - and in a literal, not existential manner. The rotating head, "K.", is 10 meters high and 45 tons. Further below, "In Utero" is about 6 meters high and has a lighting contraption in its - er, nether-region, though I've never seen it lit up.

STOP at ŠLECHTOVKA

There's a pleasant little cafe setup near the old Šlechtovka summer palace in Stromovka Park that provides a welcome cup of ginger tea on a chilly Saturday morning walk. According to its website, it also rents out sporting equipment like petanque and scooters, and it frequently has events like concerts and fun runs. 

From slechtovka.com

ST. CHURCH of the VIRGIN MARY and ST. CHARLES THE GREAT

This octagonal church on the edge of New Town is a neat spot to visit. Not only was it consecrated in 1377, but also it boasts an oddity - cannonballs from the Prussian siege of Prague in 1757 (during the Seven Years' War). See the black dots in the bottom-most photo? Today part of the complex houses a Czech Police Museum, which we didn't go into. Another day...