I felt excited and a little nervous to be heading back to Prague. Excited, because I loved it so much the first time and nervous because I feared it would be much changed now that Prague had been back open to the west for nearly 20 years.
It some ways, both of those things were true. Mark hadn't been to Prague before and we enjoyed our visit and he could see why I liked it so much. And yet, the throngs, and I mean comparable to Venice throngs of tourists could get a little old. For example the very cool old clock in the main old town square. Every hour, the bowels of the clock open up and the twelve apostles parade around to mark the passing of another hour. And, like clockwork, every hour there are about 200 people crowded around it looking up for the apostolic show.
But there is good reason that so many people want to visit Prague it is a beautiful city that charmed me as much this second time as the first. It is funny going back to a place you've been before. I was convinced I had the general layout and direction of the city in my head from my first visit and therefor could adequately navigate us from point to point. And I did well, generally, in a that general way. Specifically I kept getting us to dead ends. And every time I could look up or around and say, "you see there it is, right there, that way." Actually getting there was always more of a challenge. Despite our misguided wanderings we had a good time in Prague. A good first for Mark, and seconds for me.
It some ways, both of those things were true. Mark hadn't been to Prague before and we enjoyed our visit and he could see why I liked it so much. And yet, the throngs, and I mean comparable to Venice throngs of tourists could get a little old. For example the very cool old clock in the main old town square. Every hour, the bowels of the clock open up and the twelve apostles parade around to mark the passing of another hour. And, like clockwork, every hour there are about 200 people crowded around it looking up for the apostolic show.
But there is good reason that so many people want to visit Prague it is a beautiful city that charmed me as much this second time as the first. It is funny going back to a place you've been before. I was convinced I had the general layout and direction of the city in my head from my first visit and therefor could adequately navigate us from point to point. And I did well, generally, in a that general way. Specifically I kept getting us to dead ends. And every time I could look up or around and say, "you see there it is, right there, that way." Actually getting there was always more of a challenge. Despite our misguided wanderings we had a good time in Prague. A good first for Mark, and seconds for me.
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