Secret Songs of Silence

prague post 2

More comments/observations/thoughts on Prague...

I walked over to the Smíchov district yesterday.  I encountered a real shopping district (as opposed to the touristy Old City) though this did have it's share of visitors.  Still it was reassuring to walk along and see a real Prague St that was busy because the locals frequented the shops.

There seem to be a depressing number of KFC and McDonalds in the city. 

There are also a lot of Erotic City shops.  This may be due to the location of my hotel which causes me to walk through a red light district of sorts en route to Wenceslaus Square.  Two nights ago, I was sure I was propositioned by a pimp on Wenceslaus Square but I kept walking before I realised quite what he had asked me.

Tonight, as I turned off Wenceslaus Square, I noticed that there was a huddle of black guys at the intersection.  Nothing strange just an observation.  As I walked up the street, I saw why.  There were two strip clubs on that street right opposite one another.  I think the guys on the corner were supposed to direct traffic up to the clubs.  As it was, I was spotted by a (white) guy from the club on the other side of the street who tried to lure me in with the promise of women all night long.  I delcined his offer.

More amusing was the fact that two doors further up the street was a rather swanky hotel.  Prague is like that.  The seedy juxtaposed with the fancy.

I have vsited two cafe's mentioned in the online gayguide to Prague.  Neither was gay per se.  One, Twin Café, was ina mall in the Smíchov district.  It promised gay waitstaff.  The barista may have been but he stayed behind the counter and I was served by the female waiters.  Still, I discovered "Medovník", a truly delicious Czech honey cake.

Last night, I visited Sahara Cafe in the company of some colleagues.  The waitstaff were worth every cent.  Gorgeous. Eye. Candy.

On the walk back to my hotel, I was stopped at a crossing when my eye was drawn to an open window on the 5th floor of the building opposite.  Sitting in the window, which was fully lit, appeared to be a naked young man.  At least I think he was naked and I think he was 20-ish and I think he was buff-ish.  Alas my fifty year old eyes can't quite make out details at that distance at that time of twilight.  As Ilooked up a second time to try and ascertain more of these details, the student who was with us also looked up following my gaze.  Ooops.

I have been a miserable failure at taking surreptitious pictures in the way SilverRRCloud does.

Walking across the Legíí bridge yesterday, I saw two people coming towards me. The were wearing masks.  Silver masks.  I debated for a moment whether to try and take a picture but there was no time to do so.  As I approached them, I smiled at their derring-do.  Quick as a flash, one of them brought up his arm and snapped a picture of me.  I wondered if this was their modus operandi; capture the reactions of passers-by?  It has a certain artistic appeal.

This is my last night in Prague.  I suppose I should be out and about but I spent the afternoon exploring so I'm tired.  Tomorrow an adventure of a different sort starts - driving in the Czech Republic.  I'm not sure how much I'll be able to blog about that as it happens.  I guess we'll see!

 

prague post 1

Time to write something about my visit so far to Prague.  I've put off doing so because my hotenternet connection is slow and iffy at times.  I also have to use typepad directly rather than my offline software.

I've reached that point in my conference where I realise that if I don't get out and do some sightseeing, I run the risk of seeing little in Prague itself.  When I arrived, my taxi service from the airport included a "free" tour of the highlights of the old town and the castle.  I didn't really see anything new but it was worthwhile having a guide.  I should also mention that everyone and ther uncle seems to run either shuttles to the airport and/or various tours.  My hotel has their preferences for both but I had already booked with my alternative by thetime they told me.

Prague so far has been rather quiet.  This is due to July 06 being a National holiday.  Effectively, I arrived in Prague as all the natives left for a long holiday weekend.

I have not done much people watching.  I've seen the occasional Bel Ami lookalike but not in the numbers I might have fantasised about.  I did observe one guy talking on his cell phone at the same time as I heard another on a balcony 4 floors up doing the same.  Turned out they were talking to each other.  I know I've seen a Bel Ami video that started that way!

This morning at my conference, I was sat two rows behind Jan who spent much of the talk with his nose (or was it his tongue?) in his girlfriend's ear.  I exaggerate, of course, but at 10:15 am you'd think they'd have their canoodloing out of their systems for a bit.

You know you've tipped too much when the waitress rather too enthusiastically says "dekuji moc".  They don't use the Euro here (officially) and all the prices are in Czech crowns which makesit tempting and all too easy to round up to the nearest 100.  That's what I did this evening paying for a very nice meal.  For my effort, though, the waitress complimented me on my Czech a certain exaggeration as I can manage just a couple of phrases.

There is definitely more English spoken here than there was 4 years ago.  We'll what things are like when I start touring the country next week, though.

Dinner was also spent watching the Michael Jackson service - dubbed into Czech - which made it the Michaela Jacksona service.  The word on the screen was "Odchod" which google tells me means "exit" or "withdrawal".  Not to be confused with "Obchod" which means "shops"!

That's all for now!

touring: european airports and prague

I arrived in Prague late last night.  I was supposed to arrive considerably earlier but I was burned by a succession of late, missed and near missed connections.  The last was only achieved by a sprint from one gate at the Frankfurt airport to another and onto a plane whose door was already half closed.  Needless to say I had to wait fort my checked bag to catch up with me.  Frankfurt did not figure in my original plans.  And, three times I watched a direct flight to Prague leave, one that I could not take because I was not booked on the appropriate partner airline.

At least my hotel in Prague has free internet.  So when I opened the New York Times website this morning, lo and behold, I was greeted with the three naked torsos above.  Thank you NYT.

The picture was part of a story about the emerging gay scene in Shanghai.  As I looked at the picture, I was quite taken by the guy on the left.  Then I read the article.  Unless I'm very much mistaken, he's the "strapping, six-foot-tall Shanghainese" by the name of Grant who "was wearing a pink 'Beware Pickpockets and Loose Women' T-shirt" who won "the hottest body title" at Cotton’s, a gay (?) bar in Shanghai.

* * *

Finally, walking round Prague today on a guided tour, we passed the Hard Rock Cafe.  Located in a gorgeous old 18th century building (or earlier), I was reminded that today is the 4th of July by the tasteful display of red, white, and blue balloons that framed the entire Romanesque entrance archway.

So, Happy 4th of July to my American readers!

prague

The third phase of my trip is Prague. I was here 4 years ago. I promised myself then that I would return someday to tour Bohemia. So that's what I will do.

As I write this, I expect that I'll be able to do some blogging from Prague so this will serve as a placeholder in anticipation...

Fred & Ginger, the wonderful dancing building designed by Frank Gehry

The famous clock

Vyšehrad, one of the original fortresses of the Prague settlement

Namesti Miru, near where I'll be staying

hot stuff

Rodrigo Calazans (via Made in Brazil) sizzles:

iCandy

from Living in the Shadow of My Life :

ireland

Most of this week will be spent in Ireland.

Surprisingly, there are only two UNESCO heritage sites in Ireland: the Archaeological Ensemble of the Bend of the Boyne (i.e Newgrange) and Skellig Michael. I visited the former a number of years ago. (I can't help but comment on linking back to a post from my earliest months of blogging! Has this really lasted that long!?)

I'm not sure quite what I will do or see so there are no pre-planned pictures of Ireland.

Instead, some eye candy in the next day or two!

scotland

If all has gone according to plan, I should now be in Scotland and enjoying the Lanarkshire countryside. One place I plan to visit is Robert Owen's restored Mills at the Falls of Clyde in New Lanark, a UNESCO Heritage site)

contemporary cartoons

from What the Duck:

and

via Geek and Poke

fashion file

There have been several posts recently on the A-list blogs about next spring/summer fashion shows.

Here are some pics/guys that caught my eye:

From Oh La La Mag, two pics from the Dirk Bikkembergs collection

(more of the Bikkembergs collection here)

and from Project Rungay, some of the Versace collection:

From Beauty and the Bum, some D&G goodness:

But, also from Beauty and the Bum, I don't understand these pants from Roberto Cavalli at all: