Prague

Prague's Castle at night

It’s midnight and it’s time for the main TV stations to re-broadcast the night news. I’ve just made myself a hot tea (the temperature is supposed to drop down to 1 degree Celcius tonight) and while my computer turns on so I can begin my writing activities I start zapping thru the channels and realize they are all talking about the same: the strike of the train drivers from the Deutsche Bahn (DB): the German national railway system. The DB trains connect cities within Germany and other big cities in neighboring countries. The DB drivers are also in charge of driving the suburban trains in the main cities that connect the city center with the outskirts. In Munich for example they drive the trains that take you to the airport and back from the airport to the city. Strikes like this one are very rare in a country like Germany; they may be the bread and butter in countries like Italy and France but in Germany like I said are very uncommon. The drivers have been in conversations with the government since I got here. Among other things, they are demanding a raise of about 30% (from what I understand) which would probably require raising the prices of the train tickets; as if they were not already pretty high. To travel by train within Germany is usually very expensive, especially if you compare it to traveling by train within other European countries. The drivers stroke a couple of days back in July when the frequency of some trains diminished and many of them were not driven at all. After those couple of days it was back to negotiations. Last week they stroke again on Friday. On Monday an offer was made to the train drivers: a 10% pay increase and a 2,000 euros bonus before the end of the year. They did not like the offer and therefore they stroke again today (Thursday, October 18th). People are starting to loose their patience and I can only be thankful they did not strike on Saturday when we needed to go to the airport so my family could take the flight back to Miami, and that they did not strike while they were here and we needed to take a DB train to follow our vacation itinerary. Now it is back to conversations and there is a new threat of striking on Monday which we will not find out until Sunday night.

We arrived in Prague (population 1.19 million) around 2:30PM on Thursday, took the tram to the hotel, left our suitcase in the room and walked straight to the pedestrian zone of the Nove Mesto area (New Town) to start enjoying the sights of this beautiful city. Prague is an amazingly beautiful and enchanting city. Every street we walked thru in the center of the city was full of buildings with gorgeous facades: the colors, the details, the painting and sculptures that adorn them. I have chosen a few pictures of the many we took so you can see what I’m talking about. We stopped for something to eat (a sandwich) at a local bakery and continued on our walking tour (remember that we had been on the train all day long and we still had not made our 10km quota). Unfortunately it started to rain early that night so we had to look for refuge in a store until it was safe to return to the hotel.

A building....anywhere in Prague

Our hotel included a really good breakfast which saved us a lot of time every morning since we did not have to waste any time trying to find a place to eat which was good and within our budget. On Friday morning we had then a nice breakfast and started our daily walk towards Prague’s castle. The castle is located on top of a hill in the center of the city and I would say it was about a 15 minute walk from our hotel. We made it there sometime around 10:30 AM which was perfect timing to position ourselves in front of the main gate and be able to witness the change of the guards. The castle was full of tourists all over. The castle is actually a complex of several buildings which include a chapel, a basilica, a cathedral, a convent, several towers and courtyards and a garden.

Change of Guards - Basilica of St. George

View of the city from the castle

Afterwards we walked down again to the city, had lunch and made our way to Charles Bridge: another one of Prague’s landmark. The bridge, which is only a pedestrian bridge, is lined up by different statues from the 18th century, street musician and street vendors who will sell to tourists anything from old coins to little paintings, bracelets, cd’s, you name it. It was then back to the hotel to recharge our batteries before going out for a night stroll in the lively Staré Mêsto (Old town) neighborhood.

View of Prague's castle from the Vtlava River

Our first stop on Saturday morning was the Church of our Lady Victorious: a must see for every Paisa (or every Colombian for that fact) who visits Prague. This is the church where the famous Baby Jesus of Prague is preserved and exposed for all of his followers. You need to understand that Colombians have a lot of faith in “El niño Jesús de Praga”; including me and my whole family. Everything that I have asked him for I have gotten, and even more. Therefore, this was a very special visit. The church has a small museum displaying dresses made in different countries to dress up the Baby Jesus. One of those dresses for example was a present given by the people of Colombia. The dress, which is white in color, has ribbons with the yellow, blue and red colors of the Colombian flag together with pre-Colombian symbols. As we were leaving the church wee met up with one of its fathers who blessed the stamps we collected inside the church and the small medals we purchased on its store. After having this dose of Catholicism we walked to Staré Mêsto: the neighborhood in Prague which contains what used to be once the Jewish Quarter with its Old-New Synagogues, the Old Jewish Cemetery and the Jewish Museum. However, there was a Jewish Holiday being observed so all of the above mentioned places where closed and we couldn’t go in. We visited then the Old Town Square where I finally got the very well deserved and long awaited applause by my group of tourists (my mom and brother) after I explained to them that this is the third largest town square in the world after the Tiananmen Square in Beijing and the Red Square in Moscow. We finished the day with a visit to Wenceslas Square and the stores along the pedestrian zone of Staré Mêsto for some last minute souvenir shopping.

Charle's Bridge---Wencesla's Square