Peculiar Prague

This post is dedicated to the cool, brilliant, wacky or just plain strange that can be seen in Prague.

One of the first things I noticed, was the sidewalks. Or rather, the patterns on the sidewalks. All over the old town, different patterns were marked on the cobblestones. These are just some of the ones I noticed.

Like any major European city, Prague is filled with all kinds of statues.
We'll begin with a seated guy. Unfortunately for him, he is facing away from Charles Bridge for some reason.

A statue of famous Czech composer Antonin Dvorak stands in front of the Prague Concert Hall. Not the building behind him. He, unlike the lazy seated guy, is actually facing the right way.

Keeping him company a block away, is a statue of Josef Manes, a Czech painter who was also the creator of the images of the months on the astronomical clock.

A very catty lady.

Two very "cool" figures near a metro entrance.

A girl close to the Palace Gardens.

Old Winston Churchill, close to the British Embassy.

Slaying a dragon in front of the Cathedral.

This guy, at the Strahov Monastery, possible has the best seat in the house on a warm day.

I don't know if it is just a coincidence, or whether he is a relative of the face on the wall. What do you think?

There are many statues all over that have deer with crosses between their horns. At the moment, I have no idea what it signifies, but could it have anything to do with Jägermeister?

He seems to feel a bit blue. Perhaps he should lie down like the guy in the back.

This interesting statue depicts novelist Franz Kafka, riding on the back of a headless man.

A very musical fountain

And in front of the National Museum, giving the modern square its name, stands the statue of the mounted St Wenceslas, Patron Saint of Bohemia. I really thought I had a close up photo somewhere, but I couldn't find it.

The more famous statues are of course, the ones lining the Charles Bridge. There are hordes of them. I thought it best not to upload them all.

As you can see, many believe rubbing some of those statues will bring good luck.

Nice and shiny from all the rubbing. Reminded me of St. Peter's foot in the Vatican.

Then there are the bizarre statues of controversial Czech sculptor David Cerny. Unfortunately, I only came across a couple of his statues and after researching them when I got home, I found a list of weird sculptures and statues he created. Fortunately, I found the "better" ones and not the "inappropriate" ones.

A man hanging by one hand. (Thank you captain obvious.)

Yes. I might have been too lazy to get closer to the tower if I had known before hand that there were babies crawling up and down the pillars. Look closer, you can see them: Those are not ants. As it was, I only took a random photo of the tower and, luckily, manage to capture a very far off peek at a weird concept.

In a tribute to Kafka, Cerny turned the Czech nation's most potent nationalist symbol on its head, literally. This is why I had hoped I had a closer/better photo of the statue in Wenceslas Square.

Of course, no post about statues in Prague will be complete, without the Golem itself.

Whoops! That's not the golem. This is.

I am a big fan of the Discworld novels. Big. I guess that Sir Pratchett's idea for his golems, beings made of clay with words of power/instructions (magic writing placed in their heads), stemmed from the Jewish folklore. So I just had to buy a golem figurine to join my swamp dragon...I mean Krakow Dragon...to be placed in front of my Discworld collection back home in S.A.
Did I mention that I was also reading a Discworld novel during this trip?

Last, but not least, I present to you the Dancing House. Originally it was called Fred and Ginger after Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, because it was designed to resemble a pair of dancers. Typically, some also call it the Drunken House.

And there you have it. A short...well...maybe medium...overview of my trip to Prague, but not the end of my Eastern Europe Phase 2. Yes, there is one more post left of this trip.

Till next time, Njoy.