(read the other Prague post first)
Our conference accommodation was a dormitory at the university where the meeting was being held. Actually, several dorms. Which was a bit odd, because none of them seemed remotely full... Well, after we had all separated to unpack (there were four of us in three rooms in two dorms, *unnamed female coworker* and I shared a room), we reconvened later at the first conference session and a conversation like this ensued:
Our conference accommodation was a dormitory at the university where the meeting was being held. Actually, several dorms. Which was a bit odd, because none of them seemed remotely full... Well, after we had all separated to unpack (there were four of us in three rooms in two dorms, *unnamed female coworker* and I shared a room), we reconvened later at the first conference session and a conversation like this ensued:
Friend 1: Oh, man, my room is so awful, I can't believe they'd put us in something so bad.
Friend 2: (who is in same dorm as friend 1, but different room) Mine is not so great either.
Me: wow, that's too bad, our room is awesome. (I am soooo tactful)
Friend 3: (sharing room with me) Is it really so bad? what is so bad about it?
Friend 1: I have to share a disgusting bathroom with someone, and the whole place looks like a prison, and its generally icky.
Friend 2: Yes sharing the bathroom with a stranger is questionable for people such as conference attendees, particularly as the doors between don't lock.
Me: Its a dorm, of course it looks like a prison. That's not good, though, about the doors not locking - horrid.
Friend 3: We'll have to come over and see yours to compare.
Well, later we went and saw Friend 1's room, which we gathered to be the worst. It is hard to know, since Friend 2 lived in a tent in Africa for two years, her standards are very flexible. Anyway, Friend 1's room was virtually identical to the one I shared with Friend 3, except for the creepily shared bathroom, which was, I concede, somewhat gross, but not terrible. Anyway, this just goes to show how one man's trash is another man's food. I mean treasure. Or perhaps, one man's cardboard box is another man's 4 bedroom fully serviced condo. WELL. Czech out this massive and terrifying fern that had taken over an entire floor of the dorm building:
The camera angle is not the best, but the tallest frond there is over my head. In fact, it appears to be reaching for my head. It was most frightening at night, as there were NO HALL LIGHTS WHATSOEVER. Heh heh, we actually used my cell phone as a flashlight.
Friend 2: (who is in same dorm as friend 1, but different room) Mine is not so great either.
Me: wow, that's too bad, our room is awesome. (I am soooo tactful)
Friend 3: (sharing room with me) Is it really so bad? what is so bad about it?
Friend 1: I have to share a disgusting bathroom with someone, and the whole place looks like a prison, and its generally icky.
Friend 2: Yes sharing the bathroom with a stranger is questionable for people such as conference attendees, particularly as the doors between don't lock.
Me: Its a dorm, of course it looks like a prison. That's not good, though, about the doors not locking - horrid.
Friend 3: We'll have to come over and see yours to compare.
Well, later we went and saw Friend 1's room, which we gathered to be the worst. It is hard to know, since Friend 2 lived in a tent in Africa for two years, her standards are very flexible. Anyway, Friend 1's room was virtually identical to the one I shared with Friend 3, except for the creepily shared bathroom, which was, I concede, somewhat gross, but not terrible. Anyway, this just goes to show how one man's trash is another man's food. I mean treasure. Or perhaps, one man's cardboard box is another man's 4 bedroom fully serviced condo. WELL. Czech out this massive and terrifying fern that had taken over an entire floor of the dorm building:
The camera angle is not the best, but the tallest frond there is over my head. In fact, it appears to be reaching for my head. It was most frightening at night, as there were NO HALL LIGHTS WHATSOEVER. Heh heh, we actually used my cell phone as a flashlight. Okay that's it with the university photos, back to Prague itself. Here we have an incredibly long and thin glass window. It looks like I'm just doing a trick with the camera angle and making it long and skinny, but really, it is crazy:
Walking along the riverside south of the Charles Bridge and castle, we saw some unusual 'houses.' This one is not a log cabin but a plank cabin, with a plexiglass roof and a decrepit old chair inside:
And this one was a strange eye- or egg-shaped wooden structure, covered with canvas:
I am the apple of Prague's eye, ha ha ha! Or perhaps the irritating speck of dust stuck in there...Next up we have some cute graffiti, these guys are from the movie "Princess Mononoke" which came out in 2001 I believe. Well, the little fellers are alive and well on the back roads of the not-so-touristy area near the children's hospital:
We spent a lot of time walking along the river, here's a funky structure that was on an island. We never found out what it was for - its not a touristy area, so there was no sign or anything, and it appeared to be bricked up, at least the door on the ground floor did. Note guy fishing.
Maybe he was getting ready for the Fish Festival:
Maybe he has a cute van like this at home (its a Subaru):
Perhaps he is even an off-duty policeman. I would not be surprised, given how many cops I saw, and the excellent police recruitment posters which resemble movie posters and are complete with cops looking serious, brandishing handguns, and doing wheelies on motorcycles:
Who can look at that and NOT want to join the police?Finally, this is a common notice that is posted at bus stops. The pink one is particularly funny. Apparently, one should not mash others' breasts with one's backpack, nor ream navels with one's walking stick. (if the photo is not hi-res enough let me know and I'll put up the full size one for download).
Fun fact: the word 'robot' derives from the Czech word 'robota' which means 'labour.' It was first used in a Czech play (Rossum's Universal Robots) by Karel Capek just after WW2. His robots were basically humans, but were constructed on an assembly line like any mechanical robot. Its kinda like the golems of Jewish folklore (wiki 'golem' - its really interesting and particularly relevant to Prague) Anyway, if you are interested you can read the play translated into English here: http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/c/capek/karel/rur/
2 comments:
Wow, I think I wanna join the Czech police now! Or are they politzei?
That fern is hardcore: it could easily star in a horror movie.
Cheers for the cool little riverside hut pics. Totally hip architecture.
I think the building on the island might be one of those creepy old "pump stations" that nobody knows what they do, but they're in cities everywhere. It's probably a connection to the secret underground tunnel network where the golems are.
Man, who WOULDN'T want to enforce the law with ads like those?
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