July 8th - 9th Exploring Prague - Page 2 of 2

After completing the night photography about 1:30am I walked past a cheap snack bar crowded with locals. I ordered a vegetarian pizza for less than $1.50, and was amazed again to get a 14-inch pizza. There were dozens of young people hanging out at the closed subway entrance across the street, so I went over and sat on the curb -- with my camera and massive 35-200 zoom lens around my neck. After a few minutes a girl walked up saying, "Please my friends and I need to eat and we have no money." I tore off half the pizza, and she disappeared into the crowd.

On one hand the streets are packed with new luxury cars and cell phones. But beyond the glamour of the main tourist strip many of the people -- especially the young ones -- are poor. From news articles there is growing discontent with the failure of democracy since 1989 to provide a better life.

I had been warned of Gypsy criminals, but my only encounter with them was when two approached to sell heroin. They quickly disappeared when I said "No." I felt safer here than in U.S. cities. And the statistics support that.

Prague is an old city with most buildings about seven stories. (Either that is as high as they knew how to construct them, or that is as far as people were willing to walk without an elevator.) So a 600-foot structure called the "TV Tower Prague" on top of a hill stands out. It only cost 25 cents for the elevator ride to the 300-foot observation platform. There were only three other people in the platform, and a big souvenir counter that was closed. This was odd since, for example, the Toronto Tower typically requires a one hour wait to get on the elevator.

I also walked to a massive "Revolution Memorial" building on a hill near above war museum, but it was closed.