Prague Journal

Friday, November 12, 2004

Our first batch of out-of-town company flew into town today. Robert and Cynthia, who have been living in Abu Dabi for the last three years, took the Eid holiday to see us in Prague. We took them around town this afternoon, starting at Malostrana, walking across the Charles Bridge. The bridge seemed fairly crowded with tourists, even though it is the middle of November and the weather is dreary. But the street vendors and musicians are out, so it was easy to show them a good time. We walked around Staromĕstská to the Old Town Square and joined the crowd at the Orloj, Prague’s famous astronomical clock, which dates from 1490. Every hour on the hour, the twelve Apostles revolve through the open window, while the figures of Vanity and Greed (on the left) and Death and the Turk (on the right) move as well. The outer ring of Arabic numbers measures Old Bohemian time, in which the day was based on the sun. The Roman numerals depict our time. The blue represents the daylight hours of Babylonian time, and the circle with Astrological symbols records the movement of the sun and moon through the 12 signs of the Zodiac. We then walked to Můstek to have dinner at U Pinkasů. We got back to our flat before 9 p.m., but it felt late due to the 3-hour time difference combined with the weariness of travel (they had an overnight flight) and the early sunset this time of year here.

posted by JWinn @ 10:08 PM