Here I am in Prague, Czech Republic, reminiscing about the
year gone by and the way things have transpired.
Life is a far cry (or joy) from the state of affairs a year
back.
Prague is my first foray into the former East Bloc of
Communism and its surprisingly a beacon of all things capitalistic and American
today.
Be it McDonald's , Starbucks, KFC, Subway, or any of the
Western superbrands like Gucci, Dior, Cartier, Marks n Spencer, Louis Vuitton,
etc etc etc.
Even before you start judging it as a commercial modern
city, you will be stunned into disbelief to see how medieval the city can
really feel.
Its a marvel to behold.
Prague is called the city of 1000 spires. Well that count is
not off the mark at all.
All you need to do is look skywards and there shall be a
tall spire looking down at you. The city has an endless list of monuments and
structures, each more inviting than the other.
Modest is not a word that would sit pretty on Prague; it is
a very proudly endowed architectural wonder.
There are structures dating back even a thousand years and
plenty more from each century thereafter.
There's so much that has already been built there in the
past that the present generations would do well just to preserve the bequeathed
wealth.
This would also ensure an unrelenting stream of tourists
with their fat purses.
I came to Prague expecting a quiet city with a few important
attractions which would make the long trip worthwhile, but what I came across
was total magnificence.
The city is abuzz with people and activities.
I probably encountered more English-speaking tourists here
than anywhere else in Europe. There are places in Prague where you can see
scores of cameras criss crossing each others' ranges in all possible angles in
order to capture the all round brilliance of the place.
The cobbled lanes and by-lanes of Prague transport you to an
era gone by.
You can just sit there and soak in a feel of the times when
we had horse-drawn carriages and royal families.
You would be bemused to see hundreds of people standing clustered
like a beehive and clicking passionately in front of an immensely popular
astronomical clock from half a century back.
Then you have the equally popular Charles Bridge where
people clamour for space to land their feet on in order to snap away to achieve
their preferred angle of the Prague Castle in the distance.
The city is untiring in its urge to satiate the
architectural thirst of even its most discerning visitor.
The city has something to offer to all kinds of clientele
and sensibilities, what with casinos and cabarets strewn all around.
The best thing about the city is that it almost effortlessly
and harmoniously blends in the majesty of the medieval ages with the glamour of
the modern age.
In the end, I cant help but realise that Prague is actually
a wondrous recap of a lot of the cities I ve visited in the aforementioned past
year. The city seems to be an uncanny confluence of Viennese art and Italian
architecture, with dollops of Barcelona's buzz and Amsterdam's flair added for
good measure.
Prague is surely a boundless beauty.
