I get this eerie and inexplicable Kafkaesque
feeling in the city, inherent in his books. The
Castle, which I read years ago in undergrad is about the mysterious
character K., who tries to gain entry into the castle but is faced with
numerous hurdles. So what better place to start than the Prague Castle itself,
the subject of Kafka’s book. Walking through the various buildings of the castle,
we find the Golden Lane. It is a cobblestone street with little houses filled
with what they used to look like, shops, and a medieval wing. The entire wing
has medieval weapons and knight armor. I am fascinated by how heavy the metal
suits look, I can’t imagine standing inside one of those, let alone trying to
walk or hold a weapon. There is a nice
little puppet shop with many pinnochio like dolls as well, it wasn’t so easy to
control one.
That night, we
go to the Opera to watch La Traviata,
I am very excited at the prospects of my very first opera experience. Lucky for
us, there were subtitles translating the content into English, however you can
a general idea of the plot by just watching. The opera house itself is very
beautifully colored in gold and red. We sit a balcony box on little red chairs.
The old town is great too, especially the views from the astronomical clock
tower – beautiful orange rooftops of the city.
Walking through the city is rather
interesting as every time I look at the
map, I can’t pronounce the name of the street I’m looking for, or let alone
remember it. This is quite a dilemma when trying to navigate around. With names
like – Bartolomejska and Melantrichova, what’s the point. We just walk in and
out of squares with 6 streets that jut out, wondering which one to pick. So I
do what else..but give in and get myself lost on the cobblestone streets of
Prague.
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