Wide Eyed Prague – First Time Living Abroad

Looking back to when I first got my taste of travel in 2008, I couldn’t have guessed the lifetime commitment I would make to cycling around the globe, seeing, smelling, tasting, spontaneously dancing in so many amazing, unique, exhilarating places. I thought I would share some of those first images, re-saturated and re-edited for your viewing pleasure. The first batch of photos come from that first trip. I had the lucky fortune of being invited to perform at play in Brno, Czech Republic, a place, that prior to being invited to this festival, I had no idea existed. After traveling around the Czech Republic, I landed a four month contract in Prague, teaching English.

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: Old Town Square, Prague.

: Church of St. Nicholas, Prague.

: Old Town Square, Prague

: One of the residence of Franz Kafka, near Old Town, Prague.

: Kebabs for the soccer game!

: Cloudy skies

: Church of Our Lady before Týn, Prague. The 15th Century Church dominates Prague’s centre square. During the Catholic Reformation, much of it’s interior was burnt, later to be restored in the 19th century. During the world cup for soccer, the Old Town becomes an area of convergence to drink beer, eat grilled meats and watch the game.

: Prague’s Astronomical Clock – Installed in 1410, makes it the oldest WORKING clock of it’s kind in the world. Formerly, it was believed that the Orloj was constructed in 1490 by clockmaster Jan Růže (also called Hanuš); this is now known to be a historical mistake. A legend, recounted by Alois Jirásek, has it that the clockmaker Hanuš was blinded on the order of the Prague Councillors so that he could not repeat his work; in turn, he broke down the clock, and no one was able to repair it for the next hundred years. The Clock suffered heavy damage on May 7 and especially May 8, 1945, during the Prague Uprising, when Germans set fire from several armoured vehicles and an anti-aircraft gun to the south-west side of the Old Town Square in an effort to silence the provocative broadcasting initiated by the National Committee on May 5. On the hour “shows” of the clocks moving components and figures are quite a let down, but still offer a little amusement when sitting at one of the outdoor cafes in the square.

: St. Nicholas Church in Old Town Square, Prague. Completed in 1755, built over a 13th century Gothic cathedral, during the communist era, the towers were used as observation decks for state security. Oh yah, and Mozart has composed on the organ here.