And here comes the account of my second day (first full day) in Prague, for what will remain one of my best trips for years to come. First, the breakfast at Hotel Josef was a true feast. It was included in my room rate, although I don't know if it's included in all room rates at the hotel, but really, even if you have to pay an add-on, if you stay at Hotel Josef you have to eat the wonderful breakfast, which served as my lunch too.
The hotel has a bakery on the premises with the most delicious, perfect, fluffy, warm croissants and pains au chocolat (chocolate croissants) that I've ever eaten outside Paris - they were even better than most croissants in Paris, as a matter of fact - as well as excellent grilled veggies, scrambled eggs, fruit, muesli, granola, yogurt and everything else you might possibly want for breakfast. The coffee was served in French presses, and was just as great as the food. That breakfast just was the perfect way to start the day.
Once I made it out of the hotel, I picked up my tickets for that night's performance of Zauberflöte at the Estates Theatre and Saturday's performance of Madama Butterfly at the National Theatre, at one of the ticket offices of the National Theatre (Narodni divadlo), which handles both venues. I bought the tickets online but I couldn't print them at home before leaving since they are only valid when printed on A4 paper. I had printed my receipt but it didn't include my order number (the theater's fault, not mine) and the employee became a bit rude, as if she thought I was trying to steal tickets. I couldn't help but think of the employees in Paris, who bark at customers. Thankfully I found the order number on my phone - which stayed on airplane mode throughout the trip, except when I was at the hotel and used the free wi-fi, but I could still scroll through my emails on the street and follow Google Maps after I pre-loaded my itinerary from my hotel room - and the employee got much nicer once she realized my order was legit. She even smiled at me, in the end.
I pocketed my tickets and made my way to the other side of the river to visit Prague Castle on what was supposed to be one of the last nice days of my week in Prague. (In the end the weather was good all week, I never had to use my umbrella, it only rained twice and always during the night. Thank you, lucky star.) The picture at the top of this post shows the castle from the bridge by the Rudolfinum or Manesuv most. I reached the entrance to the castle around 11am, but the lines to go through security control were so long I changed my plans and walked around through Mala Strana instead and ended up at the other compound entrance - the one where guards in picturesque uniforms stand in front of the President's residence for hours on end - which had even longer lines. The reason for the security is that the compound houses the official residence of the President of the Czech Republic. So I walked around some more, admired the narrow, cobbled streets of Prague, and enjoyed discovering this part of town instead of visiting the castle today. Then I walked back across the river and tried to go to the Museum of Decorative Arts but it looked closed, perhaps permanently.
So I walked north across yet another bridge - most people would have taken the tram, but I am a walker, what can I say - to the Modern/Contemporary Art collection of the Narodni Gallery, which is housed in the Trade Fair building (Veletržní Palác). The building looks unassuming from outside, but the inside is much better, as you can judge from the picture on the side, and the collections were simply breathtaking.
It has many non-Czech artists, but I hadn't come for those, so below is a list of the 20th century Czech artists (mostly painters) I particularly loved. Given my interest both in the Czech Republic and modern art, it seems incredible that I'd never heard of those artists before, but I'm glad I'm aware of their work now. Such talent!
František Kupka (1871-1957): Vireni I (Whirling), Babylon, Round and straight
František Drtikol (photographer, 1883-1961): Melancholie (1925)
Otakar Nejedly (1883-1957): Hotel
Jindřich Prucha (1886-1914): Inside the beech forest
Alfons Mucha (1860-1939): Portrait of Josephine Crane-Bradley as Slavia
Emil Filla (1882-1953): Still Life 1913, Amorous Night
Otakar Kubin (1883-1969): Composition 1914, Abstract composition 1912
Jan Zrzavý (1890-1977): Biblical landscape, Cleopatra
Václav Špála (1885-1946): A path on Lopud, The Vltava River near Cervena, Bouquet with figures in the background 1930
I had a snack afterward at Cafe Jedna next to the museum: mezze (tabouleh, hummus, israeli salad, olives, sundried tomatoes and warm, soft pita) and a small bottle of sparkling water for 180 crowns or less than 9 dollars. It is easy to forget how expensive food can be in the U.S., and not necessarily with quality to match. Cafe Jedna had a wonderful artsy vibe. I loved that real Prague residents sat around me, rather than tourists. This is because the museum is not in the touristic part of town.
When I walked back to the hotel, I felt that I was back in Brussels, with the tram rumbling along the street, the small shop windows and plenty of normal-looking people in jeans and windbreakers, a refreshing sight after the extremes of life in the U.S. It felt more like my kind of crowd.
In the evening I went to the Estates Theatre - a 7-minute walk from my hotel - to see Die Zauberflöte. The Estates Theatre is known as the theater where Mozart premiered Don Giovanni in 1787, but I found the inside a bit rundown, and the production frankly mediocre. (For instance, the director created a character of Mozart who hovered on stage throughout the performance, mouthing words and looking at the protagonists - his creations. Sometimes the music stopped and the Mozart character spoke in Czech. I kid you not. We agree that Mozart did not write that... Directors really shouldn't add characters to an opera. It is just gimmicky. That's also the reason why the recent Rusalka at the Met, directed by Mary Zimmerman and composed, of course, by Antonin Dvořák, left me quite indifferent, although the voices were marvelous.)
The Estates orchestra was small, most voices were small, with the exception of the excellent Queen of the Night. But I was still glad to attend a performance in this famous theater, and impressed that I had no jet lag at all. The Nespresso coffee machine in my hotel room, in addition to the breakfast's French press, surely helped... What a joy to be in Prague at last, after years of hoping I'd some day make the trip.
Musical background: Czech Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek in Dvořák's Symphonies 6 & 7 of the Complete Symphonies set.