Dogs are our link to paradise. They don’t know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring -- it was peace.
Milan Kundera
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YESTERDAY, I had the pleasure of being guided through Prague in the Czech Republic by Petr, a friend of a mutual friend who will now hopefully consider me his friend. Petr is a fit, lanky man in his 70s with short, cropped white hair, inquisitive eyes and an infectious smile. Prague, Petr said, has four sights which cannot be missed: the Prague Castle, the Charles Bridge, the Old Town and the Astronomical Clock. We saw them all, and all were marvelous.
It was my first time in Prague. Richard Wagner said, “The ancient splendor and beauty of Prague, a city beyond compare, left an impression on my imagination that will never fade.”
According to Franz Kafka, “Prague won’t let go. Not you, not me. This little mother has claws.”
My preconception of Prague was that it was a dirty city -- a crumbling vestige of ugly and shoddy Soviet architecture, a stodgy and backward Second World remnant. Prague today is nothing like that. It is a gem. The medieval buildings have been restored and preserved, the streets are clean, the people are cheerful. Money has been spent to beautify the classic, stately buildings. Public spaces, churches and castles alike have been reborn. The charming, narrow roads curve and join together delightfully, and the cobblestone walkways are meticulously maintained.
Petr could not have been more proud of his heritage or more enthusiastic about his hometown. And he was not alone. We uniformly found the people kind, obliging and eager to share their city with outsiders. The restaurants, shops and public squares team with curious tourists from around the world who are warmly welcomed by the locals.
I’m not 'sure why I thought of the quote about dogs from the Czech writer Milan Kundera. Perhaps I was missing my own dog Teddy, traveling in Europe without him. I also remembered the Will Rogers remark that “If there are no dogs in heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” In any case, the dogs we saw in Prague seemed as joyful as the people. The city just has that effect.
