A New City

taking the shot

Prague is not the same.  If you had asked me a mere four, three, or even two weeks ago to describe Prague, most of what I would have said would no longer be true. The city, where it snowed the day I left for spring break, has seemingly evolved into something else in a matter of hours. 

The once cold and grey streets are now illuminated with golden spring light and warmth from a sun I wasn’t sure existed in Eastern Europe. Except for the occasional large Asian tour group, or young cluster of teenage tourists, Prague’s tourist, while definitely a part of the city, used to, mostly, blend in with the serene and quiet atmosphere of Prague.  Leaving most of Prague’s streets, alleys, and open squares, nearly empty and silent.

However, just as one my professor’s said when he opened the window and proclaimed “ah! The Italian teenagers are back, and they have brought us good weather”, Prague has become not only a much warmer and post-card pristine city, but also a tourist metropolis. Walking to the NYU center, always located just off the main “old town square”, is now a feat much like navigating through Rockefeller center during Christmas time. Literally, hoards of tourist and tour groups (identifiable from the flags their guides hold on a stick (a Swedish flags for the Swedish tourist, Italian for the Italians and so on) block all pedestrian traffic. Male namesti, the small square that NYU is located, is no longer a square but an open-air restaurant. The street’s cobblestones are now covered with long wooden planks and patio-esque furniture where tourists can dine and eat “traditional Czech food”. The formerly open Old town square looks like Union Square’s Christmas market- Czech style.  In all honesty, while I realize my lack of authority on the subject (after all I am still a tourist of Prague), this recent surge in tourists is ridiculous and Prague’s old town, has become a type of Disneyland. 

This new Prague is not the one I have learned to live and appreciate over these past three months. This Prague is not the one where I learned to slow-down my “New-York-style” fast pace self, and where I learned to understand the quiet hours and post-communist “hangover”. That Prague is no longer here. With the abrupt change of seasons, and influx in tourist it would appear that my next and final month here is going to mean adjusting, once again to a new city.