When visiting a city, it's the street shots that capture the flavor of the place, much more so than than the photographs of famous buildings and architectural masterpieces. I snapped this shot as my tram pulled away from the stop closest to Hotel Olga where we ended up staying. Originally we were scheduled to be at Hotel Denisa but when we arrived our reservation was mysteriously missing. Thankfully, the courteous desk clerk rebooked us at a neighboring hotel and paid our cabfare to it. This was our ONLY experience of proper customer care in the Czech Republic. Everywhere else we encountered rude waitresses and shop clerks who rolled their eyes at our touristy demands.
The Jewish Quarter in Prague was burned to the ground and rebuilt to mask this reality--every attempt was made to age the buildings and give them the look and feel of the structures that preceded them. This is particularly true of the synagogues. The oldest Jewish Cemetery in Europe is in this quarter, burials dating back to 1487 with graves 10 bodies deep. The Jews weren't allowed to expand past their quarter limits, so they had to build up and bury down to fit their expanding population.
The Little Quarter resembles the rest of the cityscape with the added dimension of mostly art nouveau buildings. Most of Prague is a veritable pu-pu platter of baroque neighbored by gothic bordered by communist architectural designs--the centuries bleeding into each other creating a visual feast for the Western traveller. These elements of diametrically different styles would not intuitively create a beautiful sight, but the reality is such. The city drips with romance in its diverse buildings standing shoulder to shoulder bearing the responsibility of patriotism across the ages.
The Russians built the metro system in Prague. In doing so, they remained true to their staunch efficiency and block structure. No frills, no fuss. Though the bobbled surface of protruding circles in multi-colored layered stripes serve no utilitarian purpose. There are no turnstiles at the metro stops or the tram or bus stops for that matter. It is entirely up to the rider to buy a pass. The consequence of not buying a 12Kc ticket is that if a plainclothes inspector catches you without one, you are required to pay a 500Kc fee (roughly $15.25). During our five day public transit riding, we neither were nor saw anyone check for tickets.
When visiting a city, it's the street shots that capture the flavor of the place, much more so than than the photographs of famous buildings and architectural masterpieces. I snapped this shot as my tram pulled away from the stop closest to Hotel Olga where we ended up staying. Originally we were scheduled to be at Hotel Denisa but when we arrived our reservation was mysteriously missing. Thankfully, the courteous desk clerk rebooked us at a neighboring hotel and paid our cabfare to it. This was our ONLY experience of proper customer care in the Czech Republic. Everywhere else we encountered rude waitresses and shop clerks who rolled their eyes at our touristy demands. 
The Jewish Quarter in Prague was burned to the ground and rebuilt to mask this reality--every attempt was made to age the buildings and give them the look and feel of the structures that preceded them. This is particularly true of the synagogues. The oldest Jewish Cemetery in Europe is in this quarter, burials dating back to 1487 with graves 10 bodies deep. The Jews weren't allowed to expand past their quarter limits, so they had to build up and bury down to fit their expanding population.
The Little Quarter resembles the rest of the cityscape with the added dimension of mostly art nouveau buildings. Most of Prague is a veritable pu-pu platter of baroque neighbored by gothic bordered by communist architectural designs--the centuries bleeding into each other creating a visual feast for the Western traveller. These elements of diametrically different styles would not intuitively create a beautiful sight, but the reality is such. The city drips with romance in its diverse buildings standing shoulder to shoulder bearing the responsibility of patriotism across the ages.
The Russians built the metro system in Prague. In doing so, they remained true to their staunch efficiency and block structure. No frills, no fuss. Though the bobbled surface of protruding circles in multi-colored layered stripes serve no utilitarian purpose. There are no turnstiles at the metro stops or the tram or bus stops for that matter. It is entirely up to the rider to buy a pass. The consequence of not buying a 12Kc ticket is that if a plainclothes inspector catches you without one, you are required to pay a 500Kc fee (roughly $15.25). During our five day public transit riding, we neither were nor saw anyone check for tickets.
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