Wandergliding: The Story of Prague

February 8^th, 2024

I awoke to a winter wonderland in Frydlant nad Ostravici. It hadn’t snowed much, but the place sure looked magical. Luckily the train station was a short walk from the guesthouse and it wasn’t that cold out.

The four-hour train ride back to Prague was pleasant as I once again travelled by business class. Arriving at the Prague train station, I contacted Naomi, who had landed a few hours earlier on a plane from Tel Aviv. I walked about 15 minutes to arrive at the hotel that she had booked, the Buddha Bar Hotel. It was fancy schmancy. It was great to see Naomi again as it had been a long time...since PC times (pre-Covid), about five years.

Our room:

Fancy tub...which I tried using one night but it was going to take at least an hour to fill!

In the afternoon, we wandered to the Old Town Square called Staroměstské Náměstí, where there is the Prague Astronomical Clock which is over 600 years old. It was slightly raining out and we hadn’t had lunch, so we grabbed a table under a covered patio at one of the handful of restaurants lining the square. We had a drink and a snack and then continued to our main destination of the day, The Story of Prague museum.

The Old Town Square:

The 600 year old astronomical clock:

Naomi warming up to Prague, she's been there before for work and wasn't crazy about the city...but thing's are changing.

Enjoying an Aperol!

Walking to the museum:

The lovely streets of Prague:

The story was in chronological order, starting with medieval times. There was an explanation of the astronomical clock, which we had just seen in the square. There were stories of famous kings and knights of Prague along with a small torture chamber room with a rack and some other terrible devices.

A jousting knight...

...about to take me out!

Listening to an audio tour:

What did you do Naomi?!?

On the rack...

The next section covered how World War II affected Prague followed by the rise of Communism which stuck around until the Velvet Revolution in 1989. It detailed some of the spying and interrogation practices during Czechoslovakia’s time behind the Iron Curtain.

Bombs Away!

Looking out to the street below, from a "bombed building".

Not sure of the significance...but worth a photo.

Communism times. Many drab, similar looking, concrete apartment blocks were built in Prague.

Investigator Naomi typing up her report on spies.

This was followed by the fluorescent and tacky times of the 80s and 90s. It was funny to see and recognize a lot of the memorabilia.

Awesome outfits.

It says Vaclav Havel on the picture behind us. He was the first president of the Czech Republic after the fall of Communism.

Overall, the museum wasn’t bad, and it felt like a good way to get to know the history of Prague. It was raining and dark as we left the building, which was right by the famous pedestrian bridge called “Charles Bridge”, so we had to go for a walk across and back again.

Before we had entered the museum, Naomi was talking about a previous trip she had had to Prague where she went to a classical music concert in a church and said it was magical. Well within a couple of minutes, we passed by a church that was advertising just such a concert that evening. We bought some tickets and had a bit of time to kill before it started so we ducked into an Irish pub for a drink.

The St. Salvator Church, a Roman Catholic church, was built in 1581 and had some very ornate sculptures and detailed paintings on the walls, however, I couldn’t help but remark to Naomi that the decore seemed a bit dark and depressing.

The small orchestra was comprised of three violinists, a cellist, and an opera singer joining in on a few of the songs. The music ranged from Bach to Mozart to Vivaldi, with a few others thrown in. The acoustics were fantastic in the old church and the woman’s voice sent chills down our backs at times. The concert lasted an hour and I’m glad that Naomi had suggested it.

Eine Kleine Nachtmusik by Mozart:

Ave Maria:

Vivaldi's Spring:

We walked back to the hotel and decided to go for dinner in the fancy Buddha Bar restaurant in the basement of the building. There were two levels, and we were seated on the top on with a view down to the massive Buddha statue and other diners sitting at their tables. Since we had eaten a late snack in the afternoon, neither of us were terribly hungry but we had a bit of sushi and vegetable rolls. It was yummy stuff, but not surprisingly an expensive meal.

On our walk back, we passed by the clock again. Look at the figure on the bottom left by the clock...