i didn't write many journal entries in my little 'tagbuch' while there, because i was too busy walking, looking and making a gazillion fotos with about as many cameras. i normally try to write down events as they happen during the day/night when i'm somewhere interesting. but after walking around all day, you get too tired to scribble. i didn't take my laptop [to blog] because i didn't want to schlepp any extra stuff, due to weight limits, and the fact that i had 6 cameras with me, already. AND... because everyone warned me what a criminal city Prague was. it absolutely wasn't... plus we were staying at a 4 star hotel [beautiful] which was perfectly safe. later i wished i had taken the laptop and downloaded the 539 digital fotos off my little casio digital camera, because on the last night, when attempting to make a shot, the 1GB card froze, and gave up the ghost. it read "card error" which just about gave me "heart failure"! read the outcome of the saga at the end of this blog page!!!
i also made fotos with my 2 toy plastic vivitar 35mm cameras; my Agfa Isola [medium format film]- none of which use batteries; and 3 SLR 35mm cameras: Cosina, Kowa, and Zenit [bought it there] ... [i have a huge plastic bag full of film which will have to be processed when i get home]... and last but certainly not least i used my Polaroid Land 210 camera. I took about 6 packs of b&w pack film, and got maybe 60 Polaroids! people were amazed by it and gawked as i pulled the film out, waited, then peeled it apart. cant wait to scan them and see the BIG results. i usually shot the same scene with every camera, to have different perspectives/shots... but the Polaroids are very special.
it's hard to remember the sequence of events unless i look at the digital pic files on my laptop. they're mercifully in sequence... except for the last day... but on to the trip:
day 1: we got up very early and took the taxi to the train to the airport in zurich... then flew into prague w/ czech air.
upon entering the airport [after passport control] the first thing that hit me was a huge KFC sign in the terminal! i thought, "there goes the neighborhood"; bad enough that McDonald's is everywhere.we took a shuttle to the hotel U Krale Karla [click on the link to read about it] but were so tired that, after checking in, we napped a few hours. the hotel was beautiful, the walls and ceiling were painted with murals, and there was stained glass in every window. the above link shows some fotos of the interior.
after napping we walked down to and through the old gate, and across the famous charles bridge Karlův most [click and read more], which is amazingly beautiful. it was packed with people. most of the statues [saints] are black from centuries w/o cleaning; it was cloudy and the sky was really surreal, which just added to the overall magical and 'mystical' feel of the place; all the serious religious overtones everywhere.we ate at some touristy cafe on the water by the bridge. then wandered through streets until we wound up in the "old town square", where we had coffee outside at the grand cafe praha [which reminded me of Venice's San Marco, except smoking is still permitted in the Czech republic, thank god!]- i tried some "B setting" night shots with the Agfa, which i hope will come out. below is a small snapshot with the casio... the square is huge... [cant tell anything from this pic] but all around the square are umbrellas and tables from the various cafes... the square and all cafes were packed with people.
we wandered around a while and finally found a tram back to the big square by the hotel... but had to walk UP the very steep cobblestone street... something we didn't do again! from then on we took taxis up the street.like all tourist traps- and prague is no exception- there were tee shirt and souvenir shops everywhere. their big things to hawk are amber, old soviet memorabilia, tee shirts and caps, of course, and anything with "prague" on it- AND billions of little statues of the "Infant of Prague", whom i'd completely forgotten about until i saw the 1st one; then shop after shop filled with these little kitsch ceramic dolls.
day 2: we walked down the hill and took the tram... and walked to nemesti republiky [replublic square] to take a city tour. i shot a lot as we walked or rode -and later from the bus; we rode around [what seemed like] the whole city--- but, i later discovered that we were basically just going in circles, that the old part of prague really isn't that huge! we stopped and got out to see a panorama from prague castle [which i later discovered was just up the hill from our hotel] - walked down to the palace to see the changing of the guards, and a big church [also just by the hotel] got back on the bus and rode around some more.
we went inside nowhere; most tours at least take you into a museum or something; this one only told us anecdotes about landmarks as we passed them, let us out at 1 square, walked us down a hill to another, and told us more anecdotes, and that was that. using a map and tour book, going it alone, would have been better!... and more time efficient.instead of them [tour company] dropping us off where they picked us up- at nemesti republiky- they let us out at "old town square" - and having seen bits and pieces of the city already, from going by foot or tram, and riding around all day, i semi knew about where we were.
it was drizzling... but, i wanted to shoot the old jewish cemetery... i left Jackie at a cafe and walked to the cemetery, which was about to close. i told the guard i did not want to tour the jewish museum, that i only wanted to see the cemetery; i had to pay him 100 cz krone to enter the cemetery- which i thought rather weird!- i've never paid to visit one before. all the headstones are jammed up together, tilted, etc. i shot a whole role of b&w film there [maybe more, as i used 5 different cameras] and did a few digital shots...
i walked back and found jt at cafe franz kafka [she had moved from where i'd left her] and had a beer. it was interesting to watch people passing by, even though it was off the beaten path. 2 policemen were standing around over the street; i went and asked if could photograph them, and they refused; then they left. it reminded me of Russia [1991 and 1992] when i was told/warned not to photograph police or soldiers...we took the tram to our square, then ate at a restaurant [typical czech food] and met an American businessman who told us he comes to prague at least 1x a month. i asked, "if you only had one thing to see here, what would it be" and he said "the best is to just walk around and look"- so that was the next days plan.
day 3:
i woke early and went downstairs and had coffee and breakfast while Jackie slept. i waited for a 2nd hand shop across the street to open so i could buy the zenit camera i had see the day before. while J had her breakfast i went back and checked it out [and bought it] and looked at several other OLD cameras. there was an Exacta i wanted... but not for the asking price. the guy said he had some Leica cameras and would bring them the next day. i asked, "are they real Leica or Russian copies? he assured me they were real.
i absolutely wanted to see the real "Infant of Prague"- so we took the tram to the church. there were signs saying no cameras etc. but everyone was snapping like crazy, so i did likewise. unfortunately the digital doesn't do well in dark; i tried B setting on a few of the slrs, and hope i got something, but wont know until i have all the color film processed at wal-mart! i did get 3 shots w/the digital but the flash reflected off the glass casing covering the "Infant"
after seeing the infant, we decided to tram it to wenceslas square. i offered my seat to an elegant woman on the tram, who refused it. but then, after a while, came to me and said "because you were so nice to offer your seat, i want to help you... where do you want to go?" she said we were on the wrong tram... so we got off... just by a bakery and got some czech pastries, then caught another tram. this time a businessman who had friends from san francisco [and obviously from all over] told us where to get off, told us stories, and then walked with us a few blocks. but wenceslas square was/is just like an major shopping area in any major city... except that there are amazing facades on buildings here and there... after a while, and some coffees in old town square [again] we decided to walk back to the bridge so i could 'polaroid' it... which had been the main reason we went. i also wanted to get a lot of shots of 'billboard collages' in places i'd seen from the tram and tour bus... so again, jackie waited while i ran crazy, snapping every torn up sign i could find. i really should have used 100ASA slide film in an slr or rangefinder camera... but too late... the smaller digital shots will have to suffice. they're all i have. i find this billboard stuff to be abstract ART... especially when blown up poster size.
we walked across the bridge, and i shot almost every statue w/the polaroid Land 210, the toy cameras, and some with the slrs. it was quite an event, and a lot of work. as said earlier, people [i'd met a korean woman, and german guy, earlier] were amazed by the old Land 210 -the peel apart film- the whole trip. a japanese man, with his family, stopped me on the bridge and wanted to see the camera, the results, etc.; he even shot some fotos of me with the camera.as beautiful as the polaroids came out, i am hoping the ilford b&w film in the toy cameras [which usually do amazing things to clouds] came out equally as good, if not better. the clouds were again, amazing... even the 2MP digital captured a hint of them...
after the photo session on the bridge -which took all afternoon into evening- we were kaput. J had helped me by taking the polaroid backs and stuffing them in a plastic bag as i shot and we walked. it was a long process- and one i am sure she tired of, but didn't complain of.
we had drinks under/by the big gate, then had dinner at the same restaurant we'd gone to the night before. i was about to take a foto of an old foto in the restaurant, when my camera stopped working, and read "card error" -that was the end of the digital fotos. my elation from all the shots i'd done earlier was over... the thought of losing 530+ fotos was frustrating and depressing. i remembered that i had shots if the Infant of Prague on the memory card... so... "talked" to Him and asked him to "save my fotos!"day 4: we had breakfast and waited for the taxi to take us to the airport. while waiting, i decided to walk up the hill to check out the castle and the view. i shot fotos all the way up the VERY steep street [Nerudova] w/all the slrs and toy cams--- the castle turned out to be the one we'd gone to via the tour bus. i went around the little square, and shot as much as i could with the 3 slrs, and toy cams [as the digital was non functioning]. i walked back down, and j&i had coffee at a cafe just on the corner from the hotel; i went to see the Leica guy, but didn't buy anything; then i decided to go UP the hill on the corner and what was what. it was the palace we'd been to to see the changing of the guards etc.! i went back and shot the guards w/film, and some street scenes, went back and had another coffee w/J, and then the taxi came. so... almost everything we'd seen by 'tour' was already right under our noses! so... now i/we know...
we had lunch in the airport- which was maybe the best meal we had while there- although the restaurant we went to 2x was very good-i think i ate goulash 3x while in CZ- we flew to zurich, then took the train, then the taxi home.
my 1st thought was to try and get the fotos off the card, but my laptop didn't recognize the card-and the foto programs i normally use wouldn't recognize the card or the camera- so my petitioning to the Infant increased! i went online and found a program [which had to be bought by credit card] to "retrieve data from memory card" [the 'search' phrase i typed in]--- had to wait for a password to be sent to email address, then type in the very long code, etc. but eventually the code was cracked and miracle of miracles, the program sucked almost all of the images off the card. it was a miracle! ... and i chalk it up to the Infant of Prague... but then the Holy Trinity, st. Anthony, and st. Jude were also petitioned- [i asked for and got a lot of help] -
i bought a new 2GB memory card the very next day in switzerland... and also bought more ilford b&w film--- and while out, bought some more SLR film cameras & lenses at 2nd hand shops here [a praktica which uses NO batteries; a porst, and a konica, which do] so i can always have every version of film with me--- a roll of 100/400 b&w AND color AND slide film in each camera. digital sucks! the biggest problem i had [other than the digital nightmare] was that i didn't bring any zoom lenses w/me- and therefore couldn't get any close ups from distances [like facades and things high up on buildings]... and low light was sometimes a problem... 'B' [bulb] setting w/a cable release, using a tripod, could have fixed that... but did i really want to schlepp a tri-pod? no!
we didn't go in a single museum while in prague, but then, i've been to venice many times and never went in any there, either. the thing about prague is that it [like venice] is itself a work of art; a living museum. the architecture is amazing, and surprises- a mural, relief, statue, or mosaic on a building- are at every turn.
[c] 2007 doug duffey
