Neuschwanstein may have inspired Walt's logo, but Prague is more
of a fairytale place.
Herewith your humble narrator in the main square of Prague, lit as it
must be every night, with statues and a misty moon arranged just so.
My reason for being in the Czech Republic was the need to deliver a paper at the Carnahan Security conference. This conference, serving the security industry, turns out to be pretty much a junket. This---the security industry---is a place where money flows. Nothing like paranoia and fear to drive your customers. They choose a succession of interesting cities for their conferences, and plenty of the delegates are "regulars". The regulars are proud of their records... "haven't missed one since 1990" is a phrase you might easily hear, and the first plenary started with the chairman welcoming the core delegates (regulars). Prague was a fine place for such an event.
Neuschwanstein may have inspired Walt's logo, but Prague is more
of a fairytale place.
Herewith your humble narrator in the main square of Prague, lit as it
must be every night, with statues and a misty moon arranged just so.
The above said, Prague is a city suffering a plague of tourists.
This is a picture of Kay in the square in front of the astronomical
clock. It does its routine every hour as it has for centuries, and
the square fills with tourists, hundreds of them, and after the
clock has finished its little show they dissipate again.
The citizens all look weary, as if they are totally sick of the place
being overrun with people whose cash they need.
The Russian-implemented transport infrastructure is superb.
The trams and trains are frequent and fast... and full,
morning to evening, running every 3 minutes or less.
You can see the sights by horse-drawn open carriage or pseudo-vintage car...
And the sights are many and spectacular... from the Charles Bridge
overlooked by the castle...
to the spires, old and new...
and the city laid out below the castle:
Note the white balloon. This is a tourist ride that involves two people being slung in harnesses below the balloon, and then the tether being paid out until the game pair flutter nearly naked above the river.
Naturally the churches are over-the-top.
So is the balloon, most of the day.
Kay got to hold an owl in the castle gardens.
You can see from her face how much she enjoyed that.
It seemed like it was all in a day's work for the owl... ah, tourists.
We Skyped the kids almost nightly.
Merinda was the face of home though
it was Edwin who mostly wanted reassurance.