Prague, my adopted home, the city of Charles IV and Rudolph II, the city of a thousand spires, the city of Franz Kafka and the brothers Capek, birthplace of robots, the city that Mozart loved, generally does a pretty good job of preserving it’s heritage.
It’s got castles and cathedrals and old , cobbled streets and walled gardens with peacocks and all sorts of cool stuff. It’s a fantastic place for tourists to visit, and a pleasant place to live.
They Will be Missed
So, I was shocked to hear that one Prague institution has come to an end. All the klobasa stands along Wenceslas Square are closed. Admittedly, a klobasa stand is not exactly Charles Bridge, but they’ve been an integral part of the Prague experience for me. The first year I was here, I drank a lot. I remember, somewhat hazily, several mornings at 3 a.m. or so, coming out of the pub, that was an automatic stop. They were delicious.
Then, I stopped drinking. Gave it up. Cold turkey. One instantly noticeable side effect was that they didn’t look so delicious any more, and I felt the grossness the first time I took a bite.
Of course, the workers were usually surly, and they would cheat you if they could, but that’s Prague. It’s still wrong that they’re being shut down. The rationale, apparently, is to ” increase tree cover, reduce traffic and allow more space for pedestrians,” but that is such blatant, in your face, horseshit that darker motives must be presumed.
If they wanted to reduce traffic and allow more space for pedestrians, they should just block the square off to traffic, and not just the piddling little bag-end of it below Jindřiška. That would create a huge amount of new space for pedestrians, a wide swath. Tree cover? Plant a few more trees. The klobasa stands wouldn’t interfere with any of that.
No, they just want to force the cheap vendors out and make the whole thing a bit more upscale. They’re tired of hippie backpacking tourists and they want the tourists who will sit down and spend some real money.
I suppose it’s inevitable. Progress and all that. Damned shame, though.
www.gurukalehuru.com 