ben ben benko blog

Prague

I can't believe Prague was only one month ago. It already seems like ancient history. In the past month I've finished my Croatian course, started taking private Croatian lessons, started teaching a new student, finished teaching my teenage groups, traveled to the coast, had 4 family bar-b-ques, gotten obsessed with the World Cup, and started complaining about the heat on a daily basis. It's been a pretty good month. Pictures of most of that stuff are forthcoming, but now I'll finally get to the Prague stuff.

Prague was amazing. Around every corner was something more beautiful and unique than the last. The center of the city was packed with tourists from all over the world but it also was early enough in the season that it wasn't hard to get away from the crowd. The mix of distinctly gothic, baroque, and Art Nouveau architecture and design was something truly unique and beautiful. We sampled a lot of local food and of course beer. We walked and walked and walked but didn't miss an opportunity to sit and enjoy a coffee at some great cafes. It was really an ideal trip except of course for the hotel. I can't decide if it's a good or bad thing that I don't have photos of the hotel. Either way I must say it had to be one of the most depressing hotels I've ever seen. It was a good reminded that socialism, in the worst sense of the word, had a very strong grip on Eastern Europe in the very recent past. But let's get on with the good stuff...

On the way to Prague we stopped for a few hours in Vienna. I can't really remember what the building in the background was but it was pretty.


Here's Prague's world famous astrological clock.


And a few views from atop the clock tower.




A surprise around every corner.


Typical Prague street-scape (hardly typical if you ask me).


Sunset on the river.


Mmmm...Art Nouveau. We even got to go to the Mucha Museum. Mucha as some of you may know is one of my all time favorite designers.


This one looks just right for me. Maybe I'll stay.


On the way back we stopped in Telc which is a little bitty town that has UNESCO protection for the beautiful Baroque facades that surround its center square.




The view from the bus was filled with amazing yellow safflower fields. The Czech Republic is big into biodiesel. Two thumbs up for that.

posted by Liz @ 8:06 PM