Prague

Posts about our trip will be coming by city, as writing is going slowly. Here is Prague.

So.

Jack and I stumbled back into our apartment near midnight last night after an amazing week of travel and exploration in the Czech Republic, Germany and Austria. Now I'm left with the challenge of writing about it, and I've been trying all day to figure out how. I did a million things, but what do I write about? I know it would bore me to go through every thing we did, and it would bore you all to read such an account, so I guess I've got to boil it down and just talk about the stuff I learned. We'll start with Prague, I guess.

On the bus to Prague, I learned how beautiful Moravia is. The landscape to the south of Prague has gently sloping hills and fields, many small villages, and sudden valleys with rivers and arching pines stretching overhead. I took few pictures, because I knew that they could do no justice to what I saw. Some parts reminded me of stretches of forest in Maine and Canada.

I didn't come to Prague with a plan. For some reason I wasn't inspired to read up on it before I left Budapest. So when we arrived and began our wanderings, it wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be. Seeing the amazing buildings and river views was simply surface pleasure, and the pack of other tourists stirred the scenery so much I couldn't sink deeper. I saw everything with mild interest, and I couldn't take more because I knew nothing about anything there. I realized that, when in cities at least, goals give my travel meaning. This proved very true over the week.

I took a nap during the concert we went to our first night. I love sleeping during concerts. I still hear the music, and I have incredible dreams. Dvořák's Requiem gave me this one, which I can only describe as synesthetic. As my eyes closed, elements of the stage drifted apart to reveal a bright sunset over a rippling ocean. Then, the buildings I saw in Prague came over the water and I was walking in the city. The music was coming from the buildings, and with every sudden fore, there was a flash of golden light, like the sun coming through an opening between buildings. I heard everything. No drugs, I promise.