Main Train station in Prague.


Anyone care for a Svarak. I'll pass.


Downtown.


this is just an average bridge entering the city. pretty nice.


I stayed in a city called Celakovice. A big "THANKS" goes out to my classmate Joe. He set up our arrangements through our school and actually got a very nice place for us to stay for free. It is a half hour train ride to/from Prague. This is the train that we had to take. it is very old. i can't belive they are still using it, but it is the normal mode of train transportation.


Another nice building downtown.



the Czech Republic is famous for its very fine Bohemian Crystal. This is an average gift shop in downtown Prague. There are many more just like this.


Jake on the old train.



Prague Castle by night.



I was taken in by the beauty and mystique as I was walking down the streets of the historical center of Prague. I thought to myself that these were the same streets that Franz Kafka walked, and these were the sights the Alfons Mucha saw as they grew up. The same things that I saw and felt were the very aspects of life that molded these men into individuals that would later on in life produce very influential masterpieces. I wondered exactly what affected these men so deeply. I thought about the many things that played a roll: society, environment, political climate, war. I wondered how these very things affect people in the USA. I wondered what new thoughts and ideas were people having today that would change our lives in the near future.


I also thought of the terror that impacted the residents of this city in World War II as it became occupied by Fascist Germany. I thought of the lives that were lost and the horrifying events that would impact this country for decades to come. I looked to see if I could find bullet holes in the sides of old buildings, but I figured they were probably patched and repaired long ago in an attempt to erase any evidence of what happened. The Czech Republic has still been unable to overcome the burdens placed upon it by post WWII Communist rule. On our train ride back to Celakovice, my friend, Joe, and I met a 21 year old local college student named Mikael. We asked him all about the country's economics and the impacts that the country has faced due to Communist rule in the past. They are still trying to emergence from the darkness of a time that saw little or no economic progression. And since that time it appears, just from what I saw, that there is progress now, but it is very slow. I think that Czechs are generally optimistic about their country's future. I asked our new Czech acquaintance why I had been treated with rudeness by Czechs that did not know how to speak english. He said that it was not rudeness, but more so embarrassment that they could not speak such a very important "world language". Another thing to add on the list of "things to be thankful for".

Tomorrow I am off to Geneva, Switzerland.