H of the house of L: New post - Christmas markets, part 3: Prague Wenceslas Square #christmas #market #vanocnitrh #praha #prague

In continuing my coverage of Christmas markets in Europe, today's entry is about a well-known and famous plaza in Prague.

Václavské náměstí (Wenceslas Square) is a place laced with history, especially in recent times as the square eventually held hundreds of thousands of people in peaceful protest, as the communist regime was brought to a relatively peaceful end in 1989 in what is known by some as the "Velvet Revolution" or by others as "The November Events". The speed at which events transpired was remarkable; Timothy Garton Ash said to Václav Havel:

In Poland it (revolution) took ten years, in Hungary ten months, in East Germany ten weeks: perhaps in Czechoslovakia it will take ten days!

("The Magic Lantern: The Revolution of `89 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin, and Prague")

Since the nineties, Wenceslas Square has been overrun by a mixture of department-stores, coffee shops, souvenir shops, currency exchanges, restaurant-traps, and tourist-hordes, though friends in the hospitality industry in Prague have observed fewer tourists in the last five years. Locals would rarely consider visiting the square. However, when the skies darken after 4pm and the lights are turned on, the locals might reconsider their reluctance to visit the square.

Wenceslas Square is one of the venues for Christmas markets in Prague, and the number of tourists are not diminished by the cold or snow. Prague Christmas Markets (Vánoční trhy v Praze) are described, for example, in English at the Prague Experience website and in an article from The Prague Post. Wandering from one stall to another with a cup of hot Svařák in hand, a sample of languages overheard include Czech (duh), German, Spanish, Italian, North American English, British English, and a sprinkling of Mandarin Chinese.

As I was taking the 4th and 5th shots shown (i.e., overhanging lights in the trees outside the Bat'a building), an older couple stopped to ask me a question.

A (gentleman): Entschuldigung, sprechen Sie Deutsch? // Excuse me, do you speak German?

B (me): Ja, ein bisschen. // Yes, a little.

A: Wie kommen wir zum Moldau? // How do we get to the Moldova (Vltava) river?

B: Gerade hier zum Ende Wenzelsplatz, dann links biegen und können Sie nur 20 bis 25 Minuten zu Fuss erreichen. // Walk straight to the end of the square here, turn left, and you'll reach the river in 20 to 25 minutes.

A: Vielen Dank! // Thank you!

B: Bitte sehr! // You're welcome!

This is only an example of the surreal zaniness that is my travelogue.

I really hope the couple got their wish to see the river.

I took the following shots all at Wenceslas Square on the evening of 2010 December 4 - you can also view the photos on Flickr. Finally, it's worth noting that Bat'a Shoes began in (the former) Czechoslovakia in 1894 when the siblings Tomás, Anna, and Antonín Bat'a first registered the company's name.

- HL, 1610h GMT - 15 Dec 2010