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Tiger on Prague Metro
I am somehow reminded of beautiful Prague, even though it has been almost a couple of years since I was last there. But today, I am thinking not of the city beautiful, but of a tiger on its metro (or more appropriately, a tyger).
Prague metro was built in late 70s (1st line) and early 80s (2nd and 3rd lines). During that time, it was still a different world even if we limit ourselves to the economic structure. Today it is operated by Dopravní podnik hlavního města Prahy, which is a public company, and one can wonder how that affects its decision making.
The decision we are talking about is this: when you are running a metro, do you put a lucrative commercial on the most visible spot, or do you put William Blake, who refuses to pay you a single Czech Koruna (Kč) for highlighting his poem, but might give a moment of peace to the travelers?
I don’t know the answer, I can only comment upon what a beautiful moment I felt in Prague that blissful day.
Here is the poem again, since the picture did not capture it as well as it should have.
Tiger Tiger. burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye.
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?In what distant deeps or skies.
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat.
What dread hand? & what dread feet?What the hammer? what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp.
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?When the stars threw down their spears
And watered heaven with their tears:
Did he smile His work to see?
Did he who made the lamb make thee?Tiger Tiger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?The Tiger
William Blake
August 22nd, 2009
A day in Prague (cont.)
Travelogue, June 18th, 2009, Prague
I am hopelessly behind in my travelogues, so let me go back to A day in Prague. After I had a chance go to some of the suburbs and had found my way back, I ran into the Krishna devotees. Awesome, fun stuff, people dancing, singing and in general having fun. Entirely unexpected – and entirely awesome. I must have some secret admiration for people who can dance in public, how else can I explain that I followed this crowd for 3 blocks on Zitna from Stepanska to Krakovska.
Prague is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, and definitely Prague castle is one of the landmarks. In the downpour, people did not mind s
tanding with ponchos to get entry into the castle. Not to be missed in the castle is the change of the guard. You can see the prim soldiers in blue doing the change of guard, and the feeling of general joy is present through out the castle at the time. It may be argued that the change of guard is a meaningless exercise, but that is exactly the point. Joy cannot come from very meaningful and philosophical exercises.
And what beaut
iful way to have a wedding than having it in the castle? This lucky couple was surrounded by dozens of people, most of whom I suspect were not the guests, but simply visitors to the castle. The wedding songs were on, and the couple must have been or at least felt like a royal couple.
July 25th, 2009
A day in Prague
Travelogue, June 18th, 2009, Prague
On June 18th, I took the train to Prague from Dresden, so I will 
not tell anything about air travel, air ports etc. But, I must say
that the train journey from Dresden to Prague is awesome. Train meanders along the Elbe river, and gets from Dresden to Prague in about 2 hrs. I had an advanced reservation, and cost about 20 Euros. There are some stupendous bridges on the way.
Once in the city, there is a 100 Kc (about 6 $) 24 hr ticket available, that lets you travel on all metro, trams (there are a lot of trams in the city) and all metrobuses. These things are specially designed for travelers like me who would rather not sort out individual trips.
One of the first things that I try to do when I get to a city, any city, is to get away from all the touristy spots (we will come back to them, for sure). So, I took the Prague metro (Line B/Yellow) to Nové Butovice. It is a away from the center, and there are n
o tourist attractions that at least I am aware of in that area. I walked around the area, there are some apartment complexes, where regular people live, and go about their lives away from the tourist center. The fate always brings us to the people we really want to meet. When I met a boy and his grand father, little did I know I was going to learn so much about a person who had lived in a small city in Czechoslovakia, left it to go to Poland, then to the United States, and then gone back in recent years. His story is fascinating, like most true stories are. I do not know the person’s name, and isn’t it true that the camaraderie that one feels with a nameless stranger is often not matched by that with a named stranger? Perhaps it is a liberating thought that there are other 
people who find this interesting, and they could not have any material reason for doing so.
Back into the wild: The National Museum
National museum (Národní muzeum) (this awesome image on WikiTravel shows the beauty much better than anything I write) is located right in the heart of the city, in Nove Mesto (new town). New town, is incidentally called new town, because it was built as an extension to the old town in 14th century. I paid an extra Kc (cant remember how many) to be able to take pictures inside. One of the most fascinating things that I saw inside the museum was the map that Germany, France, and other nations agreed on in 1938, that allowed and explained how portions of Cze
choslovakia would be turned to German occupation. This map, may be the one of the most prized possessions of this museum. Here is the map, in its entirety.
So long, until I come back and tell a little more about Prague, including the awesome astronomical clock, and the awesome hostels.