Art Is Everywhere In Prague

December 12 - 19, 2006

•December 12, 2006•

   The four a.m. music again and this time Paul knocked on the right door. Sure enough, when it opened a young man stood there looking as though he had just smoked a bong full of weed and the apartment reeked of it. The guy spoke English and Paul told him to turn it down. The guy apologized and Paul told him to get some earphones.

•December 16, 2006•

   I have neglected the journal lately. I've been sitting day after day at the kitchen table drawing, painting and constructing mobiles and paper dolls for Christmas presents. Our tree is decorated, there are festive decorations all over the apartment but it still doesn't feel like Christmas. I'm homesick.

   Our original plan was to move here in June and be back in the U.S.A. by Christmas but our house didn't sell until June and the debacle with our studio was unexpected so our plans were moved later into the year. Paul doesn't attach much importance to the season but I knew for myself that the holidays away from family back home would be lonely. I had anticipated having Christmas with the Czech family but for some reason that is not going to happen. Thanksgiving was weird. We had a bad Chinese dinner in a shopping mall and then went to see The Illusionist at the IMAX.

•December 19, 2006•

   Some personal observations about the Prague Czechs: They do everything in a rush,walk, eat, talk. The average Czech man is unusually tall and not terribly fashionable but the average Prague woman is beautiful and stylish. The current rage is the long, straight dyed black hair and tanning salon look. They wear fur lined jackets and very high heeled boots. It's amazing to watch these women navigate the treacherous cobblestone streets in these high heeled, pointed boots and shoes.

   The average Praguite has no sense of personal space. They could have an empty boulevard and yet they still manage to get as close to you as possible without physical contact. On the street they make these speedy advances toward you and you're sure that they will bump you or knock you down. Just before impact they artfully twist a shoulder or step sideways and move on. For a person like myself with limited mobility issues, getting on and off a tram and subway is a nerve wracking experience.

   Politically correct hasn't made it to the Czech Republic. That's a good thing or a bad thing depending on your weight, race or disability. There is no such thing as disabled access in many buildings and the cobblestone sidewalks and streets can be hazardous with the odd missing stones. You see very few people of color in Prague and fewer still in other cities with the exception of the Chinese and Vietnamese. I've heard that some Czech's have their prejudices against Asians living here because of the flood of cheap goods they sell in their shops. They feel this gives them an unfair advantage over the Czech shop owners. Just wait until Walmart opens here.

   Prague has a problem with the Romas. Some of them are thieves and criminals. They ride the trams in small groups pickpocketing and stealing purses and briefcases. Paul and I have both had to fight them off on the streetcars. Prostitution is legal here and there are brothels in the Wenceslas area. Like any big city there is crime and drug dealing here. We read on the English version of the Prague Post that one rapidly growing crime is elder shoplifting. As I wrote before, everything is getting more expensive here and some of the elderly on fixed incomes have taken to the old five finger discount. When they're caught the police make them return the goods and frequently let them go without charges.

   Paul had a funny experience along those lines. He was in a small market near the apartment and had put his gloves in the shopping cart. He was choosing produce and when he turned back to his cart some guy was trying on his gloves. Paul made him aware that they were his and the guy was appropriately apologetic but probably would have made off with them had he not been caught.

Photographs by Paul Wells

Winter In Prague

Prague Journal December 3 & 5th, 2006

•December 3, 2006•

The rains that have been pounding western Europe are now moving east so our drive through the countryside will have to wait for better weather. We have been spending a lot of time in the Stare Mesto these past few days. It's being turned into a replica of a medieval village in preparation for the holidays. There are food stalls selling sausages and mulled wine, shops selling traditional crafts and sweets, and a large stage in the middle of the square for musical performances. It's like the tower of Babel here. People come from everywhere to spend Christmas in Prague. Judging by the chill in the air we should have a white Christmas. My poor arthritic knees are feeling the wear and tear of walking everywhere and soon we will have to break out the thermal underwear.

Art is everywhere in Prague, right down to the iron gates and fences. The city is full of examples of Jugendstil, Cubist and Futurist architecture. Today we visited the Cubist Museum. Artists like Kubista, who changed his surname to reflect his art, Gocar and Gutfreund made a strong impression on me. The museum has a wonderful collection of furniture, paintings, sculpture, ceramics and graphics on three floors. Czech cubism is so dark and muscular, not fanciful like so much French cubism. We had lunch in the museum restaurant with its evocative black and white decor. Lousy food but great ambiance. 

Around the corner from the museum is the Dorotheum auction house annex. We bought some etchings by Czech artist Emil Orlik and a lovely drawing by T. Frantisek Simon of a Dutch woman by the sea. There is so much affordable, beautiful art to buy here. I feel like a kid in a candy shop. Soon I will venture out and do some drawing of my own around town.

Down a side street we came upon the Estates Theater where Mozart conducted Don Giovanni. There is a fabulous sculpture in front, a cloaked figure with no body inside. We watched an ice skating rink being erected across the way. The juxtaposition of the old and new looks so strange.

•December 5, 2006•

All over town tonight you see groups of three dressed up like bearded St. Nicholas in a long white robe, an angel and a devil parading the streets. Parents are out with their little children and when one of these trios approaches they ask if the child has been good or bad all year. If the child has been good the angel gives him/her a treat if the child has been bad the devil will take them. Of course no child will admit to being bad. Seems a little like Halloween with treats and frights.

Last night we attended a vocal concert given by the students of Charles University where Eva teaches. The students ranged in age from 15 to 18 and were quite good. The concert took place at the top of a 17th century tower which used to be the entrance to old Prague. We climbed the creaky wooden stairway and sat with about thirty parents and teachers. It was strange to imagine that hundreds of years ago guards stood watch in the very room where we sat. I think more than anything I will miss the ever present reminders of Prague's rich history.

I'm getting wanderlust and want to be out in the fresh air of the countryside. The air in Prague is pretty bad because of all the diesel fuel. Eva says there is something called the Prague cough. You don't see smog like you do in L.A. Here it's low lying  bad air. You see black grime on the first floor of buildings and dust accumulates in the apartment. I'm not sure one is related to the other but everyday I sweep piles of dust. It must come in on our clothes and shoes because it's too chilly to open the windows. Mystery dust.

People of Prague by Paul Wells

•November 22 - December 1, 2006•

•November 22, 2006•

   We were woken up last night around four a.m. by loud hip hop music in the building somewhere. It went on for a while and finally we went into the hallway to locate the offending neighbor. We went upstairs and knocked on what we thought was the right door. Behind it, a fragile, frightened woman's voice said, "Ano?" or yes  and we realized we had made a mistake. This morning we complained to the building manager on the top floor and she said she hadn't heard a thing but suspected it came from an apartment rented by two young Slovakian men who came and went a lot. It turned out that the disembodied voice we had heard behind the door was that of an older woman who had lost her husband to cancer two weeks before. We felt horrible.

   What I can't understand is why no one else in the building was complaining. No one even peeked out into the hallway. Some Czechs who lived under the repressive Communist regime are very non confrontational. They learned to make themselves invisible to avoid scrutiny and to this day are obsequious to authorities. Others have reacted completely the opposite and rebel against even the slightest imposition of authority. Paul's cousin, Klara, told us that when she complained to a neighbor who had parked in front of her driveway, he wouldn't move the car claiming that the streets belonged to everyone. An obvious case of democracy run amok. The Czechs have been oppressed and dominated for decades, centuries actually, by one nation and another and psychologically those traumas are still being played out even in the new generation. Maybe that's one explanation for the other occupants being able to tolerate the intolerable.

   We bought flowers and put them in front of the old lady's door with a note of apology.

•November 26, 2006•

   After one month we have stopped worrying. We are taking a more what will be, will be attitude. Not very mature or pro active, but it feels more like life. One of the best things about the location of our apartment is that it's two blocks from an IMAX theater showing all the newest releases. We went to see Borat the other day with Czech subtitles. Paul and I were in hysterics but the young Czechs didn't seem to find it very funny. Lost in translation maybe.

•December 1, 2006•

   I'm not someone who starts conversations with strangers in foreign places. I know people who are. My Aunt Eve, for instance, can make acquaintances anywhere in the world as long as they speak English and will spend an hour talking to strangers in a cafe. I guess I'm a little shy when meeting people and consequently I haven't made any friends here yet which was one of the things I looked forward to. Many Czechs especially in Prague speak English so the language barrier isn't the problem. It's not just my shyness either. As previously stated, the Czechs are reserved.

   Interestingly enough, the older Czechs are often the friendliest. Paul and I were at a bus stop and , in my pathetic Czech, I asked an older woman what buses to take to get to a certain location. She began speaking Czech to me and seeing that I didn't understand, guided us on to a bus and got on with us. We had to change buses mid way and when we'd arrived at our destination she got off, walked us to the address we were seeking, waved goodbye, crossed the street and caught a bus going in the opposite direction. She had gone clear across town just to make sure we got where we were going. I was very moved. Things like that give me renewed faith in humanity.

Photographs of Prague by Paul Wells

Prague is one of the most unchanged capitol cities in Europe.