From Prague

We have been walking and walking around Prague these last three days and yesterday evening installed my quilts at ArteTextile Praha so that is where we will spend the next 3 days. The collaged photograph gives some idea of what we have been seeing. I must admit to being a little disappointed with local food- whilst I am not vegetarian I am also not a big meat eater and that seems to be a major part of the diet  and of course dumplings. There are many  little mini-markets which seem to sell a lot of cigarettes and alcohol but little real food and we have yet to find anything resembling a supermarket. Supermarket you might ask? But as I always travel on an extreme budget I  source most of the food i eat at a supermarket at the end of the day. The first day we did sample local fare at one of the Christmas markets in the many little squares around the city thinking it would be cheap, but not so- bratwurst/sausage and potato and cabbage and bacon- the potato tasted a little like rubber.

We have also searched for local artisans/artists but most of the tourist fare is the usual mass produced stuff that comes from China. We did find one artist (in the collage) doing inventive things with prints at Prague Castle ( many of the Prague scenery paintings are nothing more than  prints to a formula)- he took it a step further and added his own touch , and yesterday we found a little shop around the corner where a group of young people sold screen printed t-shirts, hand made brooches and baubles ( it is Christmas) and clothing and cards. I bought a booklet of cards by Lucie Capkova which had some quite captivating and quirky reproductions of her work. I hope I will see more work of artists at the Arte Textil.

All in all there are some wonderful buildings and the cobbled streets add to the atmosphere, and some interesting nooks and crannies- many of the buildings house inner courtyards- however everything has to be paid for including the bread with your lunch and apart from one or two exceptions people were not very friendly or helpful- yesterday was different and we met some lovely people keen to tell us about their city and things we should not miss.The Christmas decorations have been gorgeous with many very large live trees and yes Christmas does seem more Christmassy in a cold climate!