This is Route 66, Czech Style. In fact the road trip is as popular here as at home but comes in many different forms. Almost everyone has a little cabin in the country that they head to on the weekends and of course there are the train excursions into the forested areas. You hike around for most of the day in the bush and then set up camp somewhere which is always miraculously less than 200 meters from a pub! Imagine!
Once a punk, always a punk! I took this pic the other night but it is the same photo I would've taken about 20 years ago somewhere in Hull Quebec
In between the panelaks the locals call them "mouse holes"!
That's the way between the concrete jungle. On way to the local pub.
Me and Rory (that's him in the photo) walked from Andel in Smichov up to the bottom of Plzenska street which is a bit of a rough gypsy hood. There was not much going on that afternoon so we got on the tram and headed down to a pub for a pint
This photo shows the brewery which straddles both sides of this main artery out of Prague. This street starts as Zborovska in Ujezd and at this point I think is already called Strakonicka because it is the old original road to Strakonice. This bridge in between is a conveyor belt for bottles going from the left side which is mostly warehouses to the right which is the actual Brewery. Once a year all of this area is shut down and the Brewery puts on a huge music festival. That's a must see!
Due to the popularity and success of the river side beach across the river from here in Podoli called Zluty Lazne, someone copied it and opened one on this side in Smichov. In the distance you can see Vysehrad castle on the hill. And closer in the foreground is the steel train bridge which was by the way a first of its kind in Europe that it was prefabricated off site and then erected in one day. I will find out the date.
I was down on the river in Smichov having a look around and saw this swan in front of the big beer sign. I took a ton of photos but none of them really came out very well for some reason. He wasn't cooperating with me. He had some sort of different agenda.
This beautiful Synagogue has been lovingly restored over the last 20 years and other than the really touristy ones in Josefov, this one seems to have a lot of religious activity. A few times I have walked by and seen some serious looking Mossad types standing out front with wires in their ears.
This chevy van is parked on Jindrisska street all the time as some sort of an advertisement for something. I think they are DJs or some other sort of bottom feeder. They think they are cool but instead are just horribly deluded. It's symptomatic of most DJs I reckon.
This functionalist building is on the corner of Narodni and Perlovka streets just by Jungmann square. Narodni is full of shoppers, Jungmann full of homeless and junkies and Perlovka is full of skanky hookers. Great place at night. Kafka used to drink down Perlovka on the Coal-market square. The original pub closed a few years ago unfortunately but maybe was for the better because it was way rough. I got into a fight with a junkie pimp one night in there because he was beating on his woman. It turned into a huge brawl but nobody really got hurt and then we just continued to drink in peace.
I'm riding the tram home at night and shooting towards the window at about 1/10 of a second. The interior of the tram is seen in reflection whereas the lights of the shops and restaurants on Ujezd outside in a blur.
The train coming into the station at Jiriho z Podebrad metro stop. This is where I get off the train to get to the bar. Its in the middle of the Vinohrady residential district and dangerously close to the Rieger park beer gardens
I'm not sure of the name of this coutyard but it has recently been completely opened to the public including a beautiful garden going up the hill which connects to the castle stairs. Its entrance is right next to Palffy Palace.
Tim and his son in Prokovsky Udoli at the pub.
OK it may look very elementary but it's my first attempt at adding text in Photoshop.
Manhole covers around the world are quite beautiful. Google up Japanese manhole covers. Those ones are way cool!
A few shots of the bridge looking towards the right bank of the Berounka near Vsenory where I used to live in the top of a villa with Georgia Schaller back in the mid 90s
English Street on the left bank of the Berounka in Dobrichovice just across the foot-bridge from the train station.
This is Andel metro station in Smichov, Prague. I had just come down the escalator from the Novy Smichov shopping mall and had noticed a greater than usual amount of bums and other desperados hangin about. Then I saw the sign and it all became clear!
Tom Waits stenciled on a wall in Budapest; is it a concert?
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