Prisoners Work the Construction Night Shift

June 27, 2019 – Nocturnalist

To add to the confusion of night trams that some people, me, experience there is construction that goes on on the specific rails. That means that every time a tram wants to come by the workers have to pick up all their tools and equipment and move out of the way and then repeat that process over and over in the night. The trams get delayed and delayed and their paths change as well, making it a maze to get anywhere at night.

Though, it is a good program to get prisoners out in the world and prove their good behavior by doing things that benefit the community as a whole. Even though it is slightly scary to walk by late at night by a bunch of strong, abled men with potential weapons, it is comforting to know that there are people watching over them. Right outside the framing of this photo is the police men watching over the whole area. There must have been over a dozen patrolling and watching to make sure no funny business happens.

Prague is a relatively clean city though, this is part of this same construction. There are nightly street cleaners and people walking around. Constantly I see people in overalls tending to flora and picking up trash. Prague’s people might be pretty grimy a lot, but their streets are pretty clear of substantial trash. Their public transit is also clean and besides when there is serious construction like this, they are on point and consistent.

Props to Prague, but bye.

They’re on a Midnight Tram Going Anywhere

June 26, 2019 – Nocturnalist

Now let’s talk about the elephant in the room, the amount of affection on public transit or just in public in general. Prague is a lot of things, modest is not one. Not only are there advertisements for dancers, clubs and lingerie everywhere but also there are couples constantly showing they got the hots for each other. Maybe this is just because this city and Europe is romantic, but it seems as though a trip to the metro or a ride on the tram goes from rom-com to rated R pretty quickly.

As the night goes on the amount of trams stop, thats common knowledge. There are always a few characters that are expected to be on these night trams. There is always the drunken, homeless or just an overall sketchy person that is feared and hearts hurt for them at the same time. There is the annoying group of kids, always. The guy that has his gym bag, always him. Then a mix of either the travelers and young adults. Lastly there will always be a couple. Maybe they aren’t on top of each other but it seems as though there is a magnetic pull making them gradually have to touch or be near each other.

The aren’t only out at night though, they are a 24 hour issue. Maybe issue is too harsh. They are a 24 conundrum, sight, occurrence… But seriously! They are at the mall and resteraunts, on the streets and in line to get gelato. There is truly no escape from their loving ways.

At the end of the day this photo shows a side of Czech culture that is not only a nocturnalist but at night is when the drunken couples run rampant and have absolutely no filter on when, where and how they show their affection.

Tourists Taking the Paths Most Traveled

June 25, 2019 – Not From These Parts

By now it might be noticeable that I am not the biggest fan of tourists, that being said, I am one. Though I like to think that I do tourism differently than others, that is not always the case since my travel destinations have recently been made based off of famous movies none other than the Cheetah Girls, Lizzie McGuire and the Sound of Music. Regardless of those choices I do like to think that when I am on vacation I like to get away from the crowd, go to the local places and I hang up and hang out, not just try and get pictures to post on social media.

The title double tap refers to liking a picture. That is because constantly I am seeing primarily girls, but sometimes guys too, go around and take copious amounts of pictures and hear them talk about the angles and what they are trying to look like for their instagram. I was on a river cruise one night and there was a man with crutches sitting in his seat, as we all should have been, but he could not see because flocks of tourists from other parts of the boat came in front of the boat to take pictures. There were literally lines of people in his view and the only people that could see the view were the followers. Not the people in the photos facing away, not the people taking the photos staring at the phone and most definelty not the man sitting trying to enjoy his vacation.

As for this photo it shows the people just walking in the background not even looking at the art and the person in the foreground taking a picture. This is no longer a rarity. I have even heard people say or comment that they are “living through you” meaning they see pics of someone in a different place and they feel like they are living that life too. Even I am guilty of feeling as though I am best friends with my favorite TV show character because I know them, their story and their personality so well from watching them for hours on end throughout the years.

My point is just that not all people choose to live the life they want to live. They choose what they think will be cool based off of what a social media platform has showed them or what the pop up ad suggests you look into. People are living through their phones and their platforms and it needs to end, people need to live their life and forget who will see it and want to double tap.

The Danger of Riding a Bike in Prague

June 24, 2019 – Morning Glories

The city of Prague has excellent public transportation, if you use it right and keep a functional ticket with you all the time.  Otherwise you are up to your own two feet or wheels to take you from point a to point b. Very little of the people in Prague actually use the cars they own and even if they did there is little parking. Thinking about it more, there are actually pretty much no parking lots in Prague central areas. Of course once you travel a while to suburbia there is room for the mini vans, but as for Prague itself there is hardly any use. To amplify how inefficient cars are, 9 times out of 10 if you plug in your destination it is fastest to walk than drive. 

So if being on two feet is faster than driving in a car a way to even more increase productivity would be to make those two feet into two wheels and fly through the city. Now I am not gonna lie, being a bicyclist is not the safest in a big city usually, but the Czech Republic is making leaps and bounds to fix it. In 2000 there were approximately 127 deaths by bicyclists and last year that number dropped drastically to only 50. 

While 50 is still a lot of deaths to have for a small country like Czechia, it is astonishing. It means that in all three regions there were approximately less than 17 deaths which is averaging in less than 2 deaths in an entire region of a country per month. To have that high of traffic, curvy of lanes and condition of roads is a miracle fthat the number is less than 2. 

This photo shows a biker taking advantage of the clear early mornings in peak of tourist season. It shows that there is not always swamps of people. Since this was so late in June, the only way to even see Old Town’s pavement is to go like this and appreciate its morning glory.

This part of this post is to be disregarded, it was written at 3am after being awake for 24 hours, but parting with these raw thoughts was too hard so I will keep it here as a little souvenir: If you have ever been to Europe you understand that each taxi ride, or anything equivelnat, is not only a near death experience for you but also for the baby strollers crossing the street, the cars parked on the side parks and all the other people that are driving so crazy on the road. To try and fix this solution they made the metro and tram but before that people started using bikes as a good and healthy alternative. The food here, as some would say it, is a little bit like dirt. The biking phase that is so popular has made the people at the top have made a comfortable life off the buying and having insurance yet I get benefits. Since it is more popular to bike or go biking it has become more safe. Now there are lanes for you, there are apps and even Prague has a definition Prague Beer Garten.

Growing Up Paying for Water

June 22, 2019 – Weekend Miser

Previously there were many praises on Prague for how amazing their guac was but now there is a turn for the worse. Paying for water is a doozy! After some digging there is a semi understandable explanation.

Basically the cost and normality of buying food in bulk in the United States make it so affordable to charge $3.00 for sides and zero for water. The sides you expect to pay for because it is an extra and Americans are used to paying for extra things, but water is a right.

Another difference between the United States and Europe is the amount of time that people spend in the restaurants. If it is an American place the waiter will practice efficiency and want to get you in, fed and out as fast as possible. After the customary 50 minute mark there is an exchange of looks between your host, waiter and the alpha of your party. Side note, if you don’t know who the alpha is, its you. Regardless, it doesn’t cost American restaurants much to give 2 glasses of water which is average. In Europe if you are there for the rest of the night then that is completely normal. That being the case they can’t just give you free drinks for 3 hours so they charge.

So in order to combat this issue, there is no ice and if you want cheaper water you can get tap water but for the most part you pay for water. Another things is they like sparkling water, which definetly is not free and comes in glass bottles.

Since water is a public good though, they have fountains like in this photo that are free for anyone to drink from, or play in. This shows a baby getting a little rinse after playing in the park with moms all laughing around her.

The Country of Atheists Capitalizes on Tourism of Churches for Survival

June 22, 2019 – A Thousand Words

Another record that Prague so proudly holds besides unhealthy living, great metros, lots of drinking and tourists is the being on the tops of “most atheists” lists for Europe. Their churches are quite literally gaining cobwebs until they realized that you might as well give into capitalism and let it keep the churches beautiful. There is a cover charge to go inside the church, sometimes another charge to take pictures, definitely a price for tours and in this church, up until recently, there was even another charge that prevented people from going up the stairs to the patio and balcony without a charge.

This photo is so interesting to me because it is a seemingly Czech woman in the blonde hair to the right giving a tour in an Asian language, I am not sure which one, to these people. Which makes sense because there are always tour guides for us that speak English, it is just something to get used to since there are so many varieties of tourists in Prague.

Another thing about this photo that is of interest to me is the greenery in the church. Personally I feel as though that represents the life giving and fulfillment that a church can give you, but I am not sure what its true purpose is.

The last thing that is of interest to me is the fact that there are so many people, the town we went to is understandably a very nice place, but before now I had never heard of it and it is just surprising to see people from all over here, especially the people with Texas school shirts! Regardless this photo just speaks to how there is no longer the people of Czech going to pay service, it is just more people curious and interested more in the instagram post than living in the moment.

Selfie Sticks Take Over the Bone Church

June 21, 2019- Architecturally Speaking

At this point it is a little overkill that there are SO many selfie sticks in places that attract tourists. They take over the streets with beautiful views. They take pictures before every meal solidifying the “phone eats first” motto. They choose their vacation based off of whats popular and trending. It has come to a point where people look at the world through their phones more than their eyes.

Being on this trip it is my job to document and take photos and as much genuine fun I have taking them, it feels like I look back at moments more than live in moments. These people are not only in the Bone Church they are everywhere even if it isn’t as dramatic as this. This post isn’t about tourism though, it is just the main focus of this particular photo.

This photo is about the bones of this church and I don’t mean the foundation. The church had thousands and thousands of people wanting to come and be buried there after it was deemed holy since Jesus’ grave’s dirt was at the church. The church was eventually over run and they took all the bones out to create the art that is all over the church.

The most dazzling piece of bone sculpture is the giant chandelier hanging over the center. It is said to have a bone from every part of the body! Overall this church definitely attracts all kinds of tourists and their selfie sticks because the architecture literally speaks. Since all the bones are made of real people the walls have quite a story to tell.

Czechs Deamed Most Unhealthy Country in the World

June 20, 2019- Morning Glories

One of the best memories of childhood are the early mornings with my parents taking me to the donut shop. Especially if that included taking my friends to the shop with us and we got to stay in our pj’s from the night before. This photo takes me back to those years that seem to be so far in the rear view mirror yet at the same time they feel like they are still happening. Although this little girl chose against the kolache, most likely because they had fruit not meat, she is still accompanied by her father and a close friend that giggled until there were startled by an American with a camera, spoiler: that was me.

What is personally astonishing is how not all Czechs are extremely overweight. They eat copious amounts of red meat, they down Pilsners like lemonade and chain smoke, not to mention the absinth. The only way to combat that makes since is the amount of walking, but even then the most walking some of them do is pub crawls. That was kind of a joke, but seriously they walk to the subway, sit, walk to work, sit, walk to the store and back home and sleep.

Regardless of the outside appearance, these people truly are unhealthy. They may look thin in the city or as if they just lack a few push ups, but internally they are kind of wrecked. If you travel outside of Prague, where people do walk often, you will find the obesity. The amount of obesity in the Czech Republic is absurd. It is strange that in Prague it is so skewed, but the people here are making food culture and they can eat and live the way they do because of the walking, yet outside of major walking cities it is a disadvantage to have a culture surrounded by drugs, alcohol and red meat.

This photo might not exemplify the horrors of the unhealthy culture but it does show a young person in the morning eating a bag of chips for breakfast, starting the terrible habits that will lead to making her country more solidly on top of the world’s most unhealthy list.

A Nazi Camp That Turned Into a Home for Some

June 19, 2019 – Weekend Miser

Nazis suck. Big time. In America they teach children K-12 about the horrors of slavery, the revolutions and mention the 2 World Wars, but not in any sort of depth as an afternoon at the camps can teach someone in just a single afternoon. As a tour, CET brought us to see all aspects of the Terezin including the places that they were organized, cleaned, lived and eventually all the way to where there were mass graves.

Terezin is not as well known as camps like Auschwitz because there were no gas chambers and people did not come here with the purpose of death necessarily. By no means did they come on vacation or for anything pleasant but there were tough survivors, like Dorris who the program introduced the class to, and people were primarily sent to other places if they misbehaved or where deemed ready to go.

The camp was in a beautiful part of the Czech countryside that was made for such better purposes and its heartbreaking to learn about the terrible conditions that these innocent people were held under. The people had to sleep standing up shoulder to shoulder with flees and lice in a dark whole with a bucket as a toilet and people literally dying as the night went on after a hard day’s labor in the sun trying to go as fast as possible to avoid punishment or isolation.

To hear the stories was moving and especially the part in the museum that talked about the people that sacrificed their time and sometimes food to try and protect the kids and worry about teaching them. In this photo the background is a collection of art done by the kids at the school and in the foreground is a presumably mother pulling her child along. I saw this and thought of the mothers trying to hold onto their children carrying only what fits on their back, as they did at the camp, in their coats and their children just following behind not understanding the gravity of how their childhood was about to be changed forever.

John Lennon Wall Bringing People Together for Years

June 18, 2019 – Location Notation

On a field trip and tour through Prague everything led up to the Lennon Wall. This wall has stood in Prague since the 80′ when someone did a tribute to the late John Lennon. Since there was no gathering due to the communist control of the Czech Republic the wall served as a place that people could express themselves.

Nearby were the gates to a safe place in Prague, the embassy, where it was meant to be a place for a few dozen people but hundreds of people fled to seek protection. The whole area of Prague with the Lennon wall has rich history. The tour guide, Teresa, emphasized multiple times how important it is for people to learn about all the history and what happened here in order for the history of the Czech Republic to not repeat itself.

The wall has become a place that is a memoir to a time when there was no real freedom, no true knowledge of what was going on and just an overall period of turmoil. The wall is still used by the dreamers to express themselves. It is also home to people like this man that are musicians or performers. This is symbolic since there were no gatherings before and no freedom of speech, now people can gather under the tall beautiful trees and listen to any music (the beatles were banned in the Czech Republic back then) and paint anything, reasonably anything, on the walls from political statements to art.