Two Step

I had clearly miscalculated! I had expected this trip to be a carefully orchestrated “Last Waltz” but it quickly turned into a manic two step. I don’t know why I thought I could explore, understand, and photograph 16 cities in 5 1/2 weeks. I planned to spend two days in each city I would visit except for Krakow, Lvov, Stockholm, and Oslo where I budgeted 3 days, and Pilsen where I budgeted only 1 afternoon and night. Eastern Europe looked small on every map I used while planning my trip, yet it turned out to be large enough to take me most of a day just to travel from one location to the next. Rather than arriving in the early morning in each new city, as I had for some reason planned, I would usually arrive late in the afternoon or early evening, which left me with no more than a single day, or at most 2 days to orient myself, navigate the city, figure out how I felt about what I saw, and then find suitable subjects to photograph that interpreted those feelings. I had little time to take notes, or edit photos, and had to accept whatever light that the day’s weather provided. (The weather was generally overcast, or raining, so don’t expect a lot of cheerful, sunny photos from this trip.) 🙂

Except for my plane flights to and from Europe, and the night boat from Helsinki to Stockholm I had to make all my transport connections on the fly while I was exploring each city. This usually led to a mad scramble to buy the tickets I needed. I never fully appreciated how many tickets I would have to buy or time tables I would have to decipher when I originally planned this trip. I ended up taking 6 air flights, 11 trains, 9 buses, and two steam ships before the trip was over. This mad dash between cities was very tiresome and not very helpful in my attempts to get “the feel” of the cities I visited. If some of the later chapters of this blog seem a little critical or dismissive of what I saw, please note that I may not have had enough time to know the cities very well, and my opinions might very well change if I ever visit them again. Also note, however, that first impressions are often valid and should also be takened seriously. I’m sure that some of you have visited Prague, Krakow, Pilsen, and Riga and were delighted by what you saw. I wasn’t.  You probably were not an old, cranky travel chronicler too worn out and distracted to see the more positive aspects of these locations like I was. Be aware though, that I had my reasons.

My Last Waltz started off on the wrong foot when my Norwegian Shuttle flight left Kennedy Airport two hours behind schedule. Though the pilot made up some of the lost time, I still arrived at the Copenhagen airport after my connecting flight to Prague had already departed. I sprinted around the airport looking for a counter where I could reschedule my connection. When I did find the people who could help me, I learned that the last connecting flight to Prague that day was the flight that I had missed. I was given a ticket to Oslo where I was told I would find a flight to Prague. The Oslo flight was about to leave, and I again had to run full out to catch it. It all eventually worked out, partly because I can still run fast and long, and partly because my decision to travel with a small backpack/roller bag allowed me to move quickly through the airport.

I arrived at the Prague airport at around one o’clock Friday morning. I had left home at nine o’clock Wednesday morning. Due to the difference in time zone, my trip wasn’t quite as long as it sounds, but it still felt like an eternity. I really appreciated the hot shower waiting for me at my Prague Courtyard Hotel! I predicted (correctly I might add) that there would be no public transport from the airport to the city at 1:00 a.m.. I booked an Uber to pick me up at the airport using my laptop while on the flight from Oslo to Prague. It wasn’t cheap, but my suspicions were correct. The only other transportation into the city were the even more expensive taxis.

The next morning I woke up to discover that my hotel was about 2 miles from the historic parts of the city. At first I was disappointed. I picked up a map from the registration desk and began walking. As the day progressed I began to like my hotel’s location more and more. It was about a block from a modern mall where I could eat tasty Asian food which was a lot cheaper than the overpriced and under curated food shoveled out to tourists near the top sights. There was also a farmer’s market a few blocks away from my hotel where I breakfasted on home made pastries and some sort of cultured cow’s milk.

I soon learned that the greatest advantage about my hotel’s location was that it harbored only a reasonable number of tourists. As my first day wore on and I moved into the center of Prague I soon found myself drowning in a sea of fellow sightseers. Small armies of tourists following their guides’ flags, umbrellas, funny hats, or beribboned placards flowed up and down the streets around “the sights”. If I moved with them, I sometimes found myself carried beyond the perspective I wanted to photograph or enjoy. If I moved against this tide I felt like a salmon swimming upstream toward exhaustion and eventual expiration.

I was able to photograph the two ends of the Charles Bridge where INXS filmed the opening scenes for its “Never Tear Us Apart” music video. Musicians still ply their trade there, though none seemed to improve on the INXS end product.

I didn’t enter the Prague Jewish museum due to the long wait to get in, but I did find a small opening at the rear of the museum where I was able to photograph the old Jewish cemetery there.

I avoided getting close and personal with the other Prague “must sees” as well. I photographed Prague Castle from the far side of the river.

My favorite picture of Prague did not include any trace of the madding crowds. It was of the Vltava river as it flowed serenely along, oblivious to the throngs pushing, buying, selling, and self-imaging on its banks and bridges. I returned to my hotel that night exhausted as much by what I saw as by my long walk. I then vowed never to never set foot in Prague again. Four days later I was riding Prague’s Metro on my way from Karlovy Vary to Cesky Krumlov. My attitude had improved.