We’re baaack in Mala Strana, more specifically; Kampa. I just can’t get enough. Andrew apparently can’t get enough of contemporary art either, because he insisted we go to another museum. Ok, so maybe insisted is the wrong word, but there was a Gerald Scarf exhibition at the Kampa Museum he was keen on seeing and I was not one to complain. We headed straight for the museum (I went a little crazy taking pictures of the pieces I liked most) and then strolled past the Lennon Wall before having dinner at another old haunt, The Hanging Coffee and making an appearance (and a rather weak performance) at a local English trivia night!
I don’t often photograph art – in museums – like I did today. For some reason, I just couldn’t help myself. I really liked some of the pieces and some I just thought were really fun to play with the juxtaposition and depth of field. Unfortunately, I didn’t jot down all of the artists’ names. I feel a bit bad about this. But I’m pretty sure everything I photographed is part of the permanent collection. Except the Gerald Scarf prints. I don’t know if I have a preference between Kampa Museum and the DOX Museum. They were a bit different, and I have a feeling that bigger traveling exhibitions circulate through the DOX. I wasn’t terribly impressed with the Judith on Kampa exhibition featuring works by Klimpt, Mucha, and Kupka- but that’s mostly because it wasn’t a very large collection, and I’m a bigger fan of Mucha (not so much Klimpt, Kupka is ok I guess, although I don’t know much about him) But bottom line is- if you want to see Mucha, then you should go to the Mucha Museum (in Prague) instead.
The personal collection was cool though, and perhaps had I known better, and if Andrew hadn’t wanted to see some Pink Floyd artwork, we would have only paid to see the permanent collection. I always tease Andrew (and maybe I’ve mentioned it on the blog before?) that I only want to be rich so I can be all ‘Pretty Woman’ (Big Mistake. HUGE.) to snooty sales clerks in high end stores. Now, I would also like to have a small fortune to my name so I can collect random modern art pieces and have a ‘collection.’ I think Andrew is down for both- watching me pretend I’m ‘Pretty Woman’ and buying lots and lots of art.
There were a few pieces of Gerald Scarf’s works that really spoke to me. Like, for instance, the one above: from Pink Floyd’s We Don’t Need No Education: the teacher is throwing up into the students’ mouths. Hey! Teacher! Leave those kids alone!
The Lennon Wall! Once upon a time, my name resided here. I’m sure it’s still there, buried under layers and layers of paint. Andrew usually surprises me with restaurants on this trip, or places he thinks I’ll like that I didn’t look up (and he did) so it was really fun for me to be able to surprise him all over Prague. Had I been really thinking, I would have made it a point to stop and get some spray paint on our way…
Another surprise was climbing up the hill towards the castle, but turning off and taking Andrew to The Hanging Coffee instead. I think Alex (my old roommate) introduced this restaurant to us back in the day, but I can’t be so sure. Either way, it has really great food. We usually went for dinner and drinks, but I hear the coffee is good (and unlimited)! My favorite part is that everyone else there spoke Czech. No pub crawl coming through here, yet… After dinner, we joined an English trivia night, and we made the most epically dismal display of knowledge ever. There was a bridges category- with pictures of bridges around the world and you had to name them.
“I’ve been there. Wherever that bridge is, I know I’ve seen it. But I can’t remember where…” I insisted to Andrew giving me a complete blank expression. We later found out it was in Bratislava. The city we were in RIGHT BEFORE PRAGUE! We didn’t win, but we didn’t come in last – and that’s almost as good as winning some nights, right?
On the way home we waited for the tram with a beautiful view of St. Nicholas lit up at night. I, of course, got super nostalgic. I used to walk home looking at the same view night after night during my year in Prague. I darted out in the middle of the street to take a picture. How lucky was (am) I?
