Kafka in Prague
As I grow older, I find myself becoming increasingly aware of the infinity of being but paradoxically the finite nature of time, mine that is. Years come and pass and we record their passing as a celebration or a commemoration of yet another anniversary. Some bring joy, others sadness. As the last week of autumn sheds its leaves to greet the bare branches of winter, I find myself marking a number of truly memorable anniversaries and the greatest of them all to me has merited a trip together with the woman who shares that anniversary with me to the city of music, Prague. Come, dally with us a little…
The capital of the Czech Republic is one of the more fortunate cities of Europe. The old city with its gloriously ornate buildings has largely survived the destruction and horror of two world wars and the brutal repression of its people by Stalinist thugs. Vicki and I found Prague celebrating life through art, nature, literature, architecture and above all music. If it is the duty of humans to find joy in their lives, then we had come to the right place to celebrate the 30th anniversary of our commitment to one another.
Here I would like to share with you a little of the beauty that we encountered in this city of music. Enjoy!
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- Prague Castle seen from the Old Town side of Charles Bridge
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- Prague Castle and St Vitus Cathedral with the Little Quarter below
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- Looking for Kafka. Kilroy not to be found (Thank God!).
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- Bringing style to Prague. Can even read the guide book upside down!
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- The Little Quarter and the river as the big light fades and the little ones emerge
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- The gateway to the Little Quarter at one end of Charles Bridge
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- Charles Bridge: Prague’s answer to Florence’s Ponte Vecchio
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- The Vltava River: Smetana’s muse
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- Oh lordie, have I spawned this?
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- Estates Theatre, where Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni’ premiered and ‘Amadeus’ was filmed
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- A portrayal of Prague’s literary giant in the Jewish Quarter
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- The astronomical clock to the left and Kafka’s one time residence 3rd back on the right
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- To the right the Golz-Kinsky palace where Kafka once studied
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- The church of St Nicholas, now a popular concert venue
The all-pervasive presence of music in Prague impresses itself readily on the senses. Wherever you walk in the centre, you are likely to have a leaflet thrust into your hands advertising one of the numerous classical music concerts that are held in various venues in the city every single day. Music – classical and very frequently jazz – is to be heard all over, inside and outside, paid and free, recorded and live. One of our highlights was a delightful street concert given by a wine glass orchestra busker just around the corner from our hotel. I managed to record a snippet on my mobile phone. Enjoy!
At times such as this I marvel at the ‘lightness of being’, to use a term coined by the Czech-born writer, Milan Kundera. Our lives and those of our horses and other animals often overwhelm us with the immediacy of their joys and challenges. Yet, if you stop for a moment and put them into perspective, they seem so short and finite, a nanosecond on the universe’s scale of things.
Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the earth, is 4.24 light years away from us. When we view it, we see the past. Conversely, if we were to stand on that star, we would see the earth, not as it is, but as it was 4.24 years ago: the past (not the future) becomes the present. In theory, if we were then able to head back to earth from that star at a speed faster than that of light, we would arrive before the events had occurred that had occasioned the light which we had just seen. Put another way, the future (our planned return to earth) would have become the present (our arrival back on earth), which would actually be the past in relation to what we had just seen before we left the star, and the earth’s past that we had seen from the star would have become our future back on earth. And so we have Einstein’s theory of relativity, and time and being become nothing and everything.
I was recently involved in a discussion with good friends visiting from New Zealand as to whether we are and can only be the product of our past. They insisted that we are. I argued that we need not be. If I have learned anything from the horses, it is that it is possible to drop everything and just be. The moment that is always now is then the only truth that exists. The past is dead, the future does not exist, and it is then impossible to feel anything but alive. It is precisely this which allows the horse – a fellow sentient being – to come to us without fear. What I have learned from Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling, is that it is possible to learn to go into the moment at will. How to do that is a lesson I have drawn from Eckhart Tolle. Am I successful in doing this? Ask my horse!
Back in Holland we witnessed the last golden gleams of autumn in the gardens surrounding our home and I captured time in the moment…
Dear Andrew:
Thank you for the wonderful pictures of Prague. I have never been there , but I love arm-chair traveling, which is what I can afford right now(feeding 6 horses).
The picture of your place in Holland looks like paradise.
I also loved your discussion about being in the moment. I have found that I have to be that way with my horses. I am a fan of Eckhart Tolle.I cannot believe how I used to relate to horses! So sad, but I guess they put up with me. Big thanks to Stormy May, Michael Bevilacka ,Carolyn Resnick Etc….
Speaking of being a product of the past, I have just started looking into Bryan Hubbards’ Time-Light theory. He talks about having 3 centres:past, present and future. And we can get over the past, and then be in the present. For anyone interested: http://www.time-light.com
Please keep up the blog,
Anne-Marie
Dear Anne-Marie
Yes, I can imagine that having to feed six horses will keep your travelling confined to an armchair, if nothing else.
And yes too, there are plenty of people whom we can thank for helping us find a new way of sharing time and space with our equine friends. Ultimately though, it is the horse we need to thank for helping us find ourselves.
Be well!
Andrew
Hi Andrew.
I do not think I said that we are ONLY the product of our past: “In the present we harvest the past while at the same time we sow the future”
Love from New Zealand
Marga
Dear Marga
You are right: you did not say that we are only the product of our past.
The point that I am trying to make though is that, if we are too busy harvesting the past and sowing the future, we are unlikely to be living in the present.
Take care!
Andrew
Dear Andrew, thank you for sharing your and Vicky’s Prague adventure – I like Anne-Marie’s expression of ‘armchair travel’ – have added that one to my vocabulary. Anne-Marie 🙂
I loooooooove your garden picture – it is as magical as the previous one you posted some time ago only slightly different – the reflection of nature in this kind of crystal clear still water surface with the bridge not only enabling us to get from one side to the other in our worldy life and sometimes returning/going back to a previous experience to perhaps look at it again – which is okay – the same bridge in the reflection also enabling and perhaps more so inviting us to get from the subconscious mind to the conscious mind and also there sometimes returning/going back as the subconscious will for ever be a part of us and will be a reason for us to become as much aware as we choose to
Warmly, Geerteke
And of course many more joyful, nurturing, loving, reasonably stressless, rewarding, aware, sparring years wished to you both…………..
Dear Geerteke
Thank you. I especially appreciate the reference to ‘sparring’. It sprinkles stardust on the niggly stuff.
Be well!
Andrew
Dear Geerteke
Trust you to help us see more in a picture than meets the eye. Thank you!
Be well!
Andrew
Happy anniversary, Andrew and Vicki!
Dear Ian
Thank you. I sincerely hope you will still be around to wish us well when we celebrate the next one.
Be well!
Andrew
Prague looks amazing I have never been there, wondering if we are going to be anywhere near there on our river adventure from Budapest to Amsterdam in April, so looking forward to that trip and hopefully catching up with you guys when we are in Amsterdam even if ever so fleetingly… Your Garden is amazing love the colours of Autumn, last time we were in Europe back in 1990 we trained it via the Med to Barcelona and the hills were alive in autumn colour, I took so many pictures much to Colin’s disgust, I just told him they were my memories and I would paint them one day, that has never happened paint them I am referring to. I wish you both a long and happy life together and Happy 30th anniversary from us here in Oz.
Dear Laraine
If your river trip does not take you to Prague, it will probably pilot you through other ports of beauty. It would be great to catch up with you in Holland next year.
Be well!
Andrew