The Lennon wall has been a place of hope for many since the early 1980’s. The popular tourist attraction started out as a single painting of John Lennon on the wall after his assassination. What started out as a way to grieve over the premature death of the Beatles member has turned into a political landmark.

During the era of communist rule in the Czech Republic, public gatherings and voicing opinions against the regime were strictly prohibited. Citizens were constantly watched and normal activities such as participating in hockey were criminalized. Young Czech students began to gather at the Lennon wall to play music and write on the wall, actions which were termed “Lennonism” and were persecuted by the law enforcement. After the Velvet Revolution, the wall continued to exist even after numerous attempts to cover up the graffiti.

Even though the original painting is long gone, the ideas of love and peace supported by The Beatles remains timeless. Today, there was a man performing covers of “All you Need is Love” in front of the infamous wall and a street artist adding his own mosaic flair to the existing work. The wall lives and breathes as a coexisting space, and brings together those from all around the world.

Saturday June 15 was not just a typical Saturday, it was the 25^th birthday of the Regiobus, a Czech public transportation company. Employees, families, and friends all gathered near the Letna park to celebrate the momentous occasion with food, beer, and live performances. The performances ranged from covers of popular songs, to children singing and dancing together on the stage.

Halfway through the show, the singer invited couples out on the dance floor for a friendly competition. There was one participant who stood out in particular. While everyone seemed to be having a good time, this one older lady was having the time of her life. She ended up winning the competition, and afterwards stole the whole floor for herself. One by one, she picked out members of the audience to dance with her. Even though they seemed reluctant at first, she brought the party to everyone who was there with her energetic spirit. When she danced, she seemed like she didn’t have a care in the world and lifted everyone’s spirits. I have no idea what the competition was for or what prize she won, but it seemed like she was just there to celebrate and have fun. It was safe to say that she made my day, and probably a lot of other peoples too.

While at the Letna Beer Garden today, I heard some commotion from down the street. Naturally, I just had to figure out the source of the noise, so I wandered a few blocks away. As I was approaching, I saw a large number of vintage cars parked in a parking lot. One car had just stopped, and two men were talking and motioning towards the stationary vehicle. I could not understand anything that they were saying, but it seemed that they were part of a larger group. To my surprise, several other cars zoomed by and I realized that I was witnessing the 1000 mil československých, one of the “toughest races in the Czech Republic”.

This 1,000-mile race started in Opletalova Street with over 100 crews in attendance. Today, the race concluded in front of the National Technical Museum, where a small crowd had gathered to cheer on the racers. Unlike popular American races like NASCAR, all the cars in this race were vintage cars. Each car had it’s own unique character, and the drivers sometimes wore uniforms to match their cars. Other drivers kept it casual and arrived in normal street clothes. It was clear after each team crossed the finish line that they were relieved, as they immediately parked their cars to stretch their legs. Today, I’m grateful for my curiosity as I wouldn’t have discovered this event if I didn’t follow my instincts.

Cesky Krumlov has only 14,000 residents, yet over 800,000 tourists come to visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site each year. Not only does the town have wonderfully preserved medieval artifacts and stunning architecture, it also has several notable museums such as the Egon Shiele Art Centrum and a museum filled with medieval torture devices.

If you walk around the main part of town during the day, it’s hard to miss the hordes of tourists flooding the streets. Most of the tourists in the area are of Chinese descent, as Prague and its outlying regions in general are becoming a top tourist destination for visitors from mainland China due to the low airfare costs from Beijing as well as the beautiful scenery found throughout cities. While I was visiting the exhibits around town, it was almost hard to believe that I was walking through a real city and not a Disneyland Fairytale attraction. Every museum and restaurant had translations in multiple languages, and the whimsical wax and marionette museums seemed almost too enchanting to be real. You can definitely tell that tourism is a hot commodity as each street corner was lined with gimmicky store names and a plethora of souvenir shops. After getting accustomed to life in Prague, it was exciting to feel like a tourist once again.

Nearly two centuries ago, the Museum Fotoatelier Seidel housed Josef Seidel, one of the most prominent photographers of his time. Seidel and his son František were able to document everyday life in the Czech Republic and Germany and preserve the history of family lineages through their contributions. Today, the Museum serves one of the most popular tourist destinations in the small town of Cesky Krumlov. Visitors are able to look through old postcards designed by Seidel and even look up their family name to find photos of their ancestors in the archives.

This museum is particularly special because not only do they display photographs, they also provide a window into what family homes were like. Since František and his family moved in to the house shortly after the death of his father, the museum features original furniture and makes you feel like you were there with him. Our tour guide explained what all the different rooms were for, even showing us the children’s toys and ski gear that was still preserved in mint condition in the attic. Perhaps one of the most exciting parts of today’s tour was being able to photograph with the large format camera and develop our own photos in a dark room. Getting to experience film photography for the first time at the house of a legend was surely an unforgettable experience.  

Cesky Krumlov is found about a three-hour drive away from Prague in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic that draws in hundreds of tourists for its well-preserved medieval charm. It is coined by some to be a smaller version of Prague, and in some ways they are right. Even though you can walk from one side of the town to another in about ten minutes, the towns center is still alive with tourists and locals alike.

While we were waiting for our tour of the city to begin, a local street performer named Petr started to set up shop. At first, I was unsure about what his performance would be since all he had brought out were two long wooden instruments. When he started beatboxing into the unknown instrument, the crowd was shocked for a minute but soon began to get into it. After his first song was over, everyone cheered and the audience grew bigger, although unfortunately our tour had begun to depart so we were not able to hear the rest of his performance.  

Even in the late hours of the night, Riegrovy Sady park is always alive with locals and their pets. The relatively large park features a beer garden, a playground, and a stunning view of the city. Due to the close proximity to our living quarters, I have experienced this particular park at all hours of the day. During the day, people are usually found picnicking and playing sports, and at night groups of teenagers gather around in the dark playing instruments and drinking with their friends. Hands down the most beautiful time to go is around 8 PM when the sun is just starting to set and the sky turns to hues of pink and orange. It seems like the locals seem to agree too, as this is one of the busiest times.

I was walking around near the beer garden at sunset when I saw this little patch of grass surrounded by park benches. It was a lively scene, with lots of dogs playing together and musicians playing the accordion. Even so, the visitors to the park seemed very calm and relaxed, making conversation with each other and playing fetch with the dogs. One of the things that I’ll miss the most when I go back home is being able to walk five minutes to this little haven.

The metro stations spread around Prague are some of the busiest parts of the city, servicing almost 600 million passengers each year. It is not uncommon to see hordes of people going to work, running to catch the tram and sprinting up and down the escalators, only to be packed like sardines in the metro. Things are a little bit different at around 6:00 AM. The once lively metro turns almost eerie, as the few early risers make their commute down.

I happened to catch an early morning ride to Old Town a few mornings ago, and for once the pace of the city had slowed down. I went down the escalator to the platform unaccompanied for the first time and waited silently for the metro to come. While I was waiting, I noticed a lady carrying shopping bags making her way down the escalator and snapped a quick photo. I wondered if this was her daily routine, or if she was just trying to beat the morning rush. I noticed that I don’t usually pay attention to the people and scenery around me at the metro, but when it was empty everything seemed to be under a magnifying glass. Maybe quiet mornings like these will finally turn me into an early riser.

The Prague zoo is recognized as being one of the best zoos in the world, boasting over 650 species ranging from Lowland Gorillas to salamanders. Not only has the zoo gained popularity among tourists, it has also achieved success in artificially breeding polar bears and an endangered species known as Przewalski’s hose. They are also known for being one of the only zoos in the world that have breeding Lesser Antillean Iguanas. This weekend attraction definitely lived up to its reputation, as hundreds of families swarmed the grounds this Sunday afternoon. 

After exploring everything from the African Savannah to the Indonesian Jungle and a “Twilight Zone” cave with free flying fruit bats, my group and I were upset to find that all the big cats were sleeping since most of them are nocturnal, so we didn’t get to see any of them in action. Nonetheless, many of the younger visitors to the park still had their faces painted as lions and tigers to get in the spirit. Overall, this day trip to the zoo offered a nice getaway from the usual hustle and bustle of Central Prague. Even though we never left the Czech Republic, it felt like we had gone around the whole world in a matter of hours. 

As a night owl, I’ve always envied those who have the willpower to be productive in the early hours. After staying up for a consecutive 24 hours, I decided today that I might as well become one of those people and beat the tourists to Old Town Square. The time was 6:00 AM, and the once crowded streets of the Square was a ghost town save for a few tourists wheeling their luggage out of their hotels and some lone wanderers asking me for help finding their wallets from a drunken night out.

Amongst the quiet landscape, I noticed a lone runner making laps around the square. He suddenly stopped in front of the Astronomical Clock and began running in place. I thought it was part of his workout routine, but I quickly realized that he had gotten someone to take his picture when he began posing for the camera. I chuckled to myself thinking that the photo would probably end up on an Instagram feed somewhere, and I admired his dedication for waking up so early to get the perfect photo. It seemed like everyone who was out at that hour either having photos taken of themselves or holding a camera, and I just happened to be part of the latter today.