Boy, I had forgotten how much I loved Prague. Not forgotten, maybe, but the last time I was here was at the start of a river cruise through the Rhine river valley, and even though I had a wonderful time and stayed for four days¹ I guess I was just seeing so much and Prague was so early that it became one of those I really have to come back at some point places where you never quite remember why.

What’s been great about the experience is how different it’s been. The first time I was on full-on tourist mode, wandering around the Old Town and the New Town,² touring the Mucha Museum and the Museum of Communism³ and a Black Light Theater⁴ show. This time around I’m staying kind of removed from all that, a good 15 minute car ride from the tourist districts, so I’m getting a different view of the city. Still amazing.

I’m in town for Avalon, a larp which is happening in Poland. They’re running the buses out of here to Kopaniec. So it’s not like I’ve avoided the tourist areas in Prague completely; I’ve been meeting people for lunch and dinner, talking about the upcoming game or just hanging out. But I’ve also been preparing my costume, so there have been stops at Medieval shops and Army Surplus stores, and lots of just walking through the downtown areas past the architecture and statues.

It’s just such a comfortable city for me. There’s a kind of offbeat sensibility, a kind of fatalism mixed with a sense of humor about the weight of history, a sure-things-are-bad-but-just-give-it-a-little-time-and-see-how-bad-things-can-really-get attitude that’s coupled with the understanding that sometimes, occasionally, you can launch the revolution with rock and roll. I love it. I really do.

I’ll be back for a day after the game⁵ and then off to Croatia. And maybe that’s for the best. It feels like I could spend weeks or months here, happily, eating the fried cheese⁶ and stumbling over weird street art. And maybe I could. But maybe I’d be happier not spending enough time to lose that magic. It’s a wider world. Much as I love it, I don’t think Prague is where I’ll end up.

Next: Kopaniec to Prague
Prev: Vienna to Prague

Footnotes

¹ On the same trip I first went to Vienna, in fact. The cruise started in Prague and ended in Paris, with two days on either side. I found a cheap flight into Vienna from New York and spent two days there and an additional two days in Prague before the tour started.

² The New Town being “new” because it was founded in 1348 and independent until 1784. Things are, per usual, relative

³ Whose ad campaign features a great Matryoshka doll with fangs

⁴ They’ve seen better days

⁵ And probably pretty strung out, given how these things generally go

⁶ Czech food is pretty abysmal for vegetarians, all told.