Swan song from Praha

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Note: there are no actual swans in this story.

First, I had to get up early to pack and schlep luggage over to the hlavní nádraží (main train station), where I left my suitcase at the luggage desk. It's attended, cheap (15 Kč/day!), and Rick says it is said to be safer than the lockers. (My bag ended up just fine, so I'm satisfied with his advice.)

Next, I headed back into the Staré Město (Old Town) and attended Mše (Mass) at the Kostel paní Marie pred Týnem (Church of Our Lady of Týn). The most interesting thing about this church is that I had thought the little café buildings were built in front of the church... in fact, they are the front of the church! I discovered this on an earlier reconnaisance run, when I made a complete lap around the building trying to find the narrow street between them. There isn't one. You just walk into the entrance of one of the cafés, and through the archway is the front door of the church. Crazy.

Inside, they had a fascinating little setup in the center of the nave where one uses a special scoop to take a communion wafer out of a big bowl and drop it into a little bowl if one plans to take communion. I am assuming that this is so they only consecrate exactly as much of the Host as they intend to use. Efficient. There were no rogue photographers at this service (see prior post re: Berliner Dom). I prepared a summary of the Mass in Czech before I left, and remembered to bring it with me, and it served me extremely well! It was very nice to be able to follow along with the order of service. Not being Catholic, I declined to take communion... even though the sanctity of the transubstantiated Host isn't at all important to me, it is important to them and I decided to respect that.

After the service, I was able to wander around like a gawking tourist and take photos of the church. Gorgeous.

Afterwards, I still had plenty of time for an action-packed day. I walked over to Na Přikopě street and the famous Museum of Communism. The museum itself is simple, straightforward, extremely informative, and ends on an optimistic note with the Velvet Revolution and the presidency of Vaclav Havel. The signs, postcards, posters, souvenirs and website are delightfully irreverent. The place was surprisingly full of young backpacker types, which caused bottlenecks at some of the chronologically-arranged displays, but all in all this was well worth the visit.

I did some shopping, which the relevant parties will find out about when I get back. 😊

The Mucha Museum was small, but tantalizing, and I'm now officially a big fan. The best pleasant surprise: a photo of Mucha in his regalia as 33° Sovereign Grand Commander of Czechoslovakia (he was also a Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Czechoslovakia, which he helped found, after founding the first Czech-language Lodge, etc.). Mucha was proud to be a Mason, and contributed his design skills to creating special Masonic insignia and medals for his Lodges. I'm pretty sure I knew he was a Mason, but this was still a great treat.

I sat down in, but then bailed out of, a typically slow traditional café on Václavské Náměstí (the famous Wenceslas Square, site of both the ill-fated Prague Spring of 1968 and the successful Velvet Revolution of 1989), opting instead for a quick hot dog (big ol' tasty sausage in bun) and beer from a streetside kiosk. Yes, beer from streetside kiosks. Europe is an enlightened place. Strolled aimlessly around the square for a bit, then grabbed an ice cream cone from another kiosk and hopped the Metro toward the hlavní nádraží (train station).

Five-seater compartments on long trains are a good idea. Everybody gets a place to put their feet. I ended up with four German women who had apparently been on a shopping trip to Praha together. They were cheery and chatty with each other, but showed no interest in getting to know a stranger or practicing their English, so I plugged into the iPod instead and settled in for the long ride. No snacks or drinks anywhere on the train that I could find. Southern Czechia is very, very pretty and there were few industrial mega-complexes dirtying up the landscape as there had been up north.

Arrival in München (Munich) was uneventful. My hotel is two blocks from the Hauptbahnhof (main train station), in an area packed with hotels, as well as a few little casinos and sex shops. Rick refers to it as "seedy", but the streets are decently clean and the people all seem pretty normal. One would not notice that it is a "red-light district" (an overstatement, I think) without looking closely at the signs to see what the shops are.

In final news, I have a cold. I had a miserably sore throat the last two days in Praha (Drea, I hope you missed it!) and the sniffles on the train. It's a very good time to be solo, not infecting anybody, not having to talk to anybody (sore throat), and not having to worry about impacting anybody else's trip. So, upon arrival in München, my first order of business was some ibuprofen and a good night's sleep. Gute nacht (good night) all!

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Photos

Next at Týn, the secret handshake and password
This church dominates the skyline of the Staré Město, but finding its door is challenging!

Comments

[Mom]

Mucha Museum!
Oh My Goodness! That has the most outstanding art! I was able to log onto their website and viewed those intricated detailed art pictures! We want to see his Masonic art too. Way to go girl! Those church spires are beautiful against the skyline. Get well soon! Drink more liquids.

[Skoll]

Writting
You are the single one in this section, who writtes diacritic marks. It's wonderful to read something in original. Without that I can only guess, what is it (if I don't know about this).