Prague is an amazing town, there’s always something going on, and today was Flying Day, a fun thing sponsored by Red Bull (actually, I’ve never even tried Red Bull. It’s a hefty price for that tiny little can, and philosophically I am a bit threatened by the concept. Energy drink? What’s wrong with coffee? But, they sponsor some cool stuff) where people build flying machines, most of them nothing more than a joke, nothing that ever gets airborne for more than a second or two before plummeting into the Vltava River and collapsing hysterically.
Sam was mad because I wanted to wait for after lunch so we would miss the start and Isabel didn’t want to go at all so it was Sam and I, after lunch. As soon as we got to the river we could see some of the crowd, lining all the paths that go up the hillside into Letná Park.
As we got close we could see the crowds hanging over the rails all along the bank of the river, the crowds several deep at the rail on Čechuv Most, people sitting on top of the port-a-potties, focused on the events on the river and oblivious to the comings and goings below them, people sitting in the windows of the Law Faculty Building, even the next bridge down was packed despite the fact that you couldn’t see doodly squat from there, just the back of the launch ramp.
Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines…
I would like to point out at this juncture a certain law of crowds: any adequately large aggregation of people will contain a significant number of outrageously hot women. Regardless of percentage, the numbers will be high enough to guarantee a pleasant autumn afternoon, for those more interested in the human parade than in the flying machines.
We eventually found a place on the far side of the river where, if Sam sat on my shoulders, we could both more or less see what was happening, although I was standing behind several tall people who insisted on moving, a quarter inch at a time, every 15 seconds or so.
Now, here’s the thing. I haven’t carried Sam on my shoulders for 2 years, and there are a couple of very good reasons for that. He’s 10 years old and he’s too damned big. I am certain that I am now at least an inch shorter than I was this morning.
Anyway, we saw a couple of attempts and we were satisfied. We headed for home, walked back to Dlouhá Třída, and caught the number 8 tram, which had a crash with a guy in a newish looking black Lexus, so we had to get out and walk the rest of the way.
It was a pretty cool day.
www.gurukalehuru.com 