Prague: Matka Mest (Mother of Cities)

So, I have been absent from the blog for the last month or so - I have been finishing a chapter of my dissertation, and it has occupied me for too long. Oddly enough, after spending the day updating footnotes or slogging through Bohemian chronicle entries for 1419, I haven't felt like a little casual writing. I was looking at the old posts, though, and figured that I should respond to Danielle's favorite things about Prague. While I share some, or even many, of those, I don't run, I don't eat sweets that often, and I am less keen on flowers than the resident gardener. Danielle also did leave some key things out (oh, I said it), and these need to be addressed...

So, without further adieu...

1) beer culture - it's not just about how good the beer is, or how cheap it is, but about how people drink in Prague. First, beer is a breakfast drink here. Seriously. I often see folks knocking back a cold one with their bread and butter around town. Indeed, beer is often referred to as "Czech bread." No complaints here! Everybody also has their favorite local pubs near their houses, and on Fridays and Saturdays they are full of folks - neighbors hanging out, kids running around, and burly men (or women) in aprons slinging half-litres of beer. Pubs also usually serve only one or two beers, and they are identified by the beer signs above their doors. So, you know what you're getting when you walk in, and that is incredibly comforting. By the by, the picture is from a little neighborhood hospoda (pub) by our friends' flat (Brooke and Dustin). The words in the picture translate to "against all," and can serve as a convenient drinking mantra.

2) public transportation - it's pretty spectacular here. It's cheap (we pay $1 a day for unlimited use), goes everywhere, and we have developed names for all of our favorite tram lines. The 23 is obviously the Jordan, the 9 is the Splinter (for Ted Williams), the 18 is the Feags (in honor of the immortal Giants punter), and the 22 is the Swayze (a nickel for anyone who can say why - click here for the answer). The trams and subways are also the sites of incredibly rude behavior, but really generous behavior as well. People pretty much always offer their seats to the elderly or handicapped people, and help folks with strollers on and off the trains. Of course, if you don't offer your seat, you might get yelled at/whacked by the aforementioned elderly people. The one major issue with public transportation is the apparent willingness of Prague teens to use it as a spot for make-out sessions. I haven't seen people suck face in a long time, but here it is a borderline weekly event.

3) my gym - I work out at the World Class Fitness Center in Wenceslas Square. It's a pretty classy joint, but I routinely see things there that boggle the mind. For instance, there are break dancers who practice in the yoga studio. Every day, several hours a day, there is a group of people doing head spins, the worm, and the robot. There is also a group practicing their MTV dance moves. I have no idea what they're practicing for, but it must be a big deal. They have had models doing catwalk moves while they danced, a string quartet backing a pop-singing duo, and a guy doing martial arts with swords. I hear he's pretty good with a bo staff, too. It's baffling, but always encourages me to get to the gym..."Who knows, maybe there will a lion tamer or clowns today - I better hit the treadmill so I don't miss any of the insanity." Beyond that, everyone wears spandex and short shorts, black socks with their sneakers, and the number of mullets is truly astounding. Much of my daily entertainment comes from World Class.

So, those are my contributions to the things that we love about Prague. Each of them is silly, and minor, but they also affect us every day, and get us fired up about our adopted home.