Czech Republic – Kubitz Family Photo Journal

Our travels to the Czech Republic took us to Prague, and we had a fantastic time while we were there! The vibrant city is rich with friendly people, a festive atmosphere, art in every nook and cranny that pushes norms and boundaries, music filling the streets, a culture that embraces the best of past histories and learns from the worst of it, most old churches now used as performance spaces (since the vast majority of people there are atheists), and a LOT of really good beer (that’s surprisingly inexpensive). In fact, they take pride in the fact that the country has topped the per capita beer drinking table for over 20 consecutive years! Prague is a city we could see ourselves easily living in.

Known as “The golden city of one hundred spires,” this spire was very close to our apartment window.

A bug crawling up a building near our apartment. One of many unexpected art installations throughout the city.

Another unexpected sculpture; this time of Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia, still riding on despite his dead horse.

David Cerny’s statue of Franz Kafka rotates around before coming into focus in honor of *Metamorphosis*.

About to walk up some endless stairs to get to the top of a large park that overlooks the city.

The metronome sculpture waited for us at the top of the stairs.

The metronome sculpture sits in the spot where a statue of Stalin’s head sat during the Soviet occupation.

The old soviet TV tower that’s been turned into a restaurant and one luxury hotel room.

The river cuts through the center of Prague.

While we were in the park, we discovered a circus conference was going on.

The indoor tennis building of the old royal palace.

The gate to the palace where the Czech President works.

St. Vitus Cathedral that took hundreds of years to finish.

The mosaic on the side of the cathedral.

The beautiful color of the stained glass can only be seen from the inside of the cathedral.

There are so many different older time periods represented in the castle buildings, our tour guide said it is often used as movie sets.

Starting to head down the hill from the palace.

The patterns in some of these old buildings were etched into the plaster and then painted for a beautiful effect.

Since some people couldn’t read street signs, they placed objects outside buildings to use as visual addresses. In this case, they live in the building with the white radish outside.

We read that Prague has hundreds of museums throughout the city. We didn’t go in this one, but it looked yummy.

St. Nicholas Church; once where Mozart loved to come and play the huge organ.

Prague’s John Lennon wall created shortly after he was killed in the 80s. The wall is owned by the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, which allowed the wall to be painted on despite Soviet objections. Per wikipedia, “Young Czechs wrote grievances on the wall and in a report of the time this led to a clash between hundreds of students and security police on the nearby Charles Bridge.” Our tour guide says the wall continues to be a symbol of freedom of expression.

The John Lennon restaurant right near the wall.

Part of the restaurant is decorated like the yellow submarine, which Paxton was thrilled about.

One of many delicious beers we enjoyed in Prague. As you can see, the wait staff leaves a beer card at your table in this particular restaurant to keep track of how many you have. Two down and many, many to go (apparently).

This was the second time we saw someone order beer that was like 80% foam.

As you can see on the menu, “beer foam” is a common thing in Prague. “Slice” means half beer half foam.

Look close and see the she devil in the restaurant sign.

The alley way to get down to this restaurant is so narrow, they have a pedestrian light to let you know when you can walk down and when to stop for people coming up.

Another statue by David Cerny, water flows out of these guys’ penises. Apparently you can program them to spell out text messages with their “pee”. We overheard a tour guide telling her tour that they are peeing on the European Union.

We saw this couple getting married at the statue.

Walking across the famous Charles Bridge.

One of a handful of people begging for money. They almost all did it in this position.

Paxton eating a Trdelník. Ice cream in a cone of dough.

The astronomical clock in Prague’s Old Town center. The clock was first installed in 1410, making it the third-oldest astronomical clock in the world and the oldest clock still operating.

The skeleton (2nd to right) pulls the bell at the top of every hour. Each of the figures move and there are figures moving in the windows that open above.

A statue of Jan Hus, a 15th century Czech theologian and philosopher who was burned alive for being a heretic. According to wikipedia: he became a church reformer and an inspirer of Hussitism, a key predecessor to Protestantism and a seminal figure in the Bohemian Reformation.

Some of the festivities in Prague’s Old Town Square.

We saw this guy with an awesome bubble making tool. You pay him money and he creates hundreds of bubbles to envelop you while someone with you takes pictures. We decided to give it a try.

The old synagogue in Prague’s Jewish quarter. The Jewish Ghetto was created by the pope in the 13th century. It stayed that way for centuries. They had to build tall buildings to house the growing population within the walls of the ghetto. In the late 1700s, Roman Emperor Josef II emancipated the Jewish people in the ghetto and gave them back their civil rights (so they could be taxed like everyone else). In the early 20th century the buildings in the Jewish quarter were built with such beauty and charm that Hitler himself ordered it to be untouched because he loved the look so much. His plan was to create a “museum of an extinct race” in their old synagogue after the war was over. This is why the old synagogue and cemetery and all these buildings remained untouched during WWII. Incredible.

The old Jewish cemetery. Over 12,000 headstones and tens of thousands more buried in the site over the centuries.

A restaurant in an old medieval basement. They served HUGE meals for a really low cost.

One of many absinthe bars throughout the area.

Prague is the original home of Budweiser. We didn’t get to taste it, but we’re told it tastes really good (and nothing like the American version).

We saw a marionette show of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. It was delightful and fun for all ages. (No pictures allowed.)

This sign made me laugh. In other words, stay the hell out!!

Just another interesting sight while out and about in Prague.

Museum of Alchemy

One of our favorite stops while in Prague. We visited the Speculum Alchemiae (Museum of Alchemy) in a building from 900 AD, which makes it the second oldest building in Prague. Inside, they discovered (only fairly recently) that it was used by alchemists in the 15th and 16th centuries. The building now offers a tour of the secret laboratories.