Great. It looks like we are off on another Oldies Outing! I wonder where we are going this time…

I had a long snooze in the car and only woke up when we arrived in this city. I was a little disorientated and for a while thought we were back in Lisbon again. Well, you can’t blame me when you see the paving stones on the footpaths. They are just as uneven as the ones in Lisbon and His Lordship is tripping up constantly, as he did in Lisbon. But no, it appears that we are actually in Prague, and perhaps His Lordship’s unsteady gait might have something to do with the wonderful Czech beer…

So, here I am, even farther from the sea than ever but admittedly not unhappy to be back in the Czech Republic again. Or Czechia, as we are now supposed to call it. Prague, of course, is stunning. It most certainly lives up to its reputation of being one of the world’s most beautiful cities. It is  feast of Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassical and Art Nouveau architecture. So what does Her Ladyship drag us to see? All the Art Deco architecture she can find. She’s simply crazy about Art Deco and is also a fan of the earlier art movement, Cubism. It turns out that Bohemia, nowadays Czechia, was the only country in the world where Cubism was applied to architecture, so you can imagine her excitement when we visited the Museum of Czech Cubism in the House of the Black Madonna.

I think you humans sometimes take art far too seriously, but even I liked the Cubist furniture. It is so funky! I loved the building itself too, a superb example of Cubist architecture. I particularly liked the fact that every last detail, down to the ‘no bags’ and ‘no flash photography’ signs, is in Cubist style. 

This Cubist lamp post on Jungmannovo Square is also quite funky – and chunky. It’s no wonder it’s the only one of its kind in the world. With lamp posts this fat, there would be no room on footpaths for pedestrians!

Thankfully, we got a good helping of good old Art Nouveau back at the Municipal House (Obecní Dům) and an even bigger helping of good old Czech grub – and beer – in the tavern in the basement. After our trip to Portugal, I’d have said that the Portuguese win the prize for decorative ceramic tiles, but on this front the Czechs can give the Portuguese a run for their money any day!

         

Apart from that one museum visit, the Oldies have consciously spent the first couple of days just strolling around the city centre, soaking up the atmosphere and gaining an initial impression. I think they are impressed! And I have been enjoying myself thoroughly. There’s so much to see here.

Look at these wonderful pillars, for instance. Are they space ships? They certainly look like it, but no, this one’s a toilet! And this one’s a phone box. Now E.T. really can phone home!

I’ve been chatting with the locals too. What a friendly bunch! Such as Karel, this crow I met yesterday. His owner is a bit scary though. Even scarier than Her Ladyship. Believe me, that is scary!