Esoteric Prague - Prague (April 2004)
Millions of people visit this city each year. Most of them probably enjoy the experience. I'm sure many don't. I'd say very few truly understand it. Prague is not a city that can be understood unless you've lived there. So much of the feeling of the city is garnered from the experience one has when interacting with its citizens. If a tourist rolls into the city one morning by train and tromps around for 3 or 4 days, it simply isn't enough to do the place justice. I don't even know if a lifetime would be enough to do the place justice.
Concocted By An Enlightened Fellow on Friday, December 16, 2005
8 Comments:
How long did you live in Prague?
I lived there for 2 years. So, the question is, do I understand it or not?
I dont think anyone can understand any place at all. You've travelled extensively whereas my exposure is rather limited but i believe one place can be percieved and understood differently by every person. For instance, you posted a photograph of a beggar some days back. He probably has a different view of the same place as a tourist,or a citizen. and besides, we dont to understand a place to like it...no?
the word need is obviously missing from the last sentence:)
was it really just 2004?
again.. the visual images, the linguistic images
it settles
I'd have to agree. After one year I just felt like I was getting to know the place (this was even with knowing some of the bums! -except I never knew the name of the one in Hlavni Nadrazi with the pistol). Maybe this trip can be another chance to get to know the place better.
Places, for me, are connected to the people I've known there. I've never reached the bottom of a person, so I guess I might not expect to reach the bottom of a place either.
People are awfully difficult to get to the bottom of. I think the main factor that makes it so difficult is that any given person continues to get deeper as their life continues. New experiences, new thoughts, etc. Still, it's good to try to get to the bottom (bottoms?) of people, so long as we don't have any arrival date set.
And it's true Danishmand that everybody understands a place differently. The kind of understanding I'm talking about though encompasses all of the understandings of the individuals who frequent a place. That's why I've said that I don't know if a lifetime would be enough to reach that level of understanding. It comes down to an ability to see a place from the viewpoint of a beggar, and of a citizen (tramdriver, doctor, lawyer, businessman), and of a tourist, etc. I was able to see Prague from many of those points of view, but of course, not all. My lifetime won't be enough for that.
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