As I was in Prague for the first time, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Is that really Prague?
The place I was standing was an old street from the old town square to the famous Charles Bridge. The long ancient road went cranking into the distance, with all kinds of small stores, bars, tiny restaurants, hotels… I said they were “tiny”, ‘cause they were really small, maybe only 5 or 6 quarter meters. But despite they were very small; you can find a variety of specialties in Prague, like marionettes (I also bought one), characters made of grass, hand-made cloth, glass decorations… And don’t look down at it; here may be the most popular place in the whole city. Yes, Dvořák, Kafka went through the road before, Kundera and Goethe too. Goethe said once, “Prague is the most beautiful city in the world.” I wouldn’t judge whether he was right, but at least now I enjoyed the landscape here, just as he did before.
Prague looks somewhat like Rome, the whole city is distributed on 7 small hills. If you take a look from the palace on the hill or somewhere high enough, you’ll easily discover another specialty of Prague, namely most of the roofs have the same color — vermillion. This special kind of vermillion was made from garnets, looking placid, fresh and bright. And the walls often have a kind of yellow or white like ivory. In the period of Habsburg, well, maybe in the 17 century, vermillion was considered to be a gentle, honorable and noble color, so the royal family and the government encouraged the usage of the color among the masses. This made me think about the Chinese royal family. The emperors always liked the yellow color, so this color was not allowed to be used by any one else. Because of this reason, the yellow roofs and red walls become something special and can only be seen in the classical Chinese palaces. But Prague is different. The royal family and the ordinary people shared the same color. Now you can see houses in vermillion and yellow everywhere, with green trees and a conglomeration of churches of different sizes and styles among them. It’s unique here and may not be seen anywhere else in the world. It doesn’t only show a spirit of democracy, but also a magnificent form of opening up and modernization of the country. This kind of beauty of the city is different, not only because of its imposing, overwhelming architecture or painting-like landscape, but also because it came after the repeated deliberation by the history of thousands of years.
Walk along the ancient roads in Prague, you’ll feel at ease. Every our footprint lies on the footprints of people in the past hundreds of years. A famous Chinese writer wrote in one of his books: “There was no road in the world at the beginning. After many people went by, it becomes a road.” Since the middle age, you’ll also find architecture in nearly every period, Romantic, Gothic, Barock, etc. It is said that Franz Kafka knew the story of every unknown house here. Some of the houses are also quite small, but with a nice courtyard and corridors in Roman style. At noon, if the weather is good, the sunshine flows though the trees down in the courtyard, making several tiny soft spots. So these are the so-called “spittoon of the sunshine” by Kafka. (“The Metamorphosis”)
The people in Prague like drinking beer very much, just like the French love the wine. It is said that everyone in Prague would drink 150L beer a year in average. And the Prague citizens like music, just like the Vienna people do. I’ve heard that even in the period of the war, they used to go to the concerts. No wonder you’ll see flyers about classical concerts everywhere. And the black light theater there is also quite famous and is quite an entertainment if you just have a little spare time.
Besides there’re some special places of interest that I’d like to show you:
Prague castle
For a long time the Prague castle has always been the residence of the royal family, nowadays it’s an important place of the government and the president. The St. Vitus Cathedral is also there, containing the tombs of many Bohemian kings and holy Roman emperors. It’s the most important Gothic church in the whole country. There you’ll see many wonderful paintings of Mucha, a famous Czech artist. But because of lack of time and a long queue around the church, I haven’t got a chance to get inside and take a look.
Prague castle
The Golden Lane
The golden lane is NOT made of gold. 
It was only a street for the alchemists who worked for the royal family before. The houses there are tiny and lovely, just like in a cartoon film. Besides there was a house where Kafka used to live. But you can come by and take a look at the golden lane but you’re not allowed to enter any more.
The Golden Lane
The Charles Bridge
The bridge was built in 1357 and one of the bridges with the most artistic value in the 14 century. You can buy many hand-made artworks, paintings or even portraits. There’re some statues on the bridge. Of course they’re only copies here, for the original ones were taken into the museums. Many tourists go there and touch them. It is said that if you touch them by heart, they’ll bring you the happiness and good luck for a life. So some of them look totally shiny.
The Charles Bridge
The astronomical clock
The clock mechanism itself is composed of three main components: the astronomical dial, representing the position of the Sun and Moon in the sky and displaying various astronomical details; “The Walk of the Apostles”, a clockwork hourly show of figures of the Apostles and other moving sculptures—notably a figure of Death (represented by a skeleton) striking the time; and a calendar dial with medallions representing the months. The clock was burned in the second world war but reconstructed in 1948 and 1979. The Prague citizens believe, if they wouldn’t fix it, it would bring disaster to the city.
The Astronomical Clock
I went to Prague twice last year and added a little bit to my souvenir collections: a marionette and a hand-made clown made of colorful glass. Every time I see them, I’ll remember the wonderful time I spent in this golden city.
tax deduction this post is a keeper- bookmarked!