prague pictures
prague is a confused world --
classicism and communism in the same eyeful
beauty and bleakness in the same breath.
the city is a metaphor, a study in irony. marionettes and craft workshops are everywhere; silent, lugubrious puppets proliferate as though to remind that czechs, too, were once puppets of both russian and german puppeteers.
garish mcdonalds umbrellas block out half of the national museum on wencelas square -- an ominous, encroaching eclipse
and outside the city, I found, perhaps inevitably, symbols of farce: buildings with immaculately groomed facades, and the untouched decay behind.
through it all the czechs remain stubbornly devout
and retain their peculiar brand of humour.
they're proud of their literary legacies
but other things dominate their history too: holocaust trauma and the jewish presence
and the shadow of communism
which even today has its residues :P
but not everything is doom and gloom. their children are as carefree as any other children
their autumn is as beautiful as autumn anywhere else
and there will still always be beer. everything else might be transitory, confused, fraught with irony -- but, by god, there will be beer.
in half-liters. for 50p.