I had breakfast in the restaurant in the hotel. Croissants, yoghurt and fruits were available. Croissants while not as good as those in France, were still pretty yummy. So then I was off for the conference and nothing but science happened. turns out there’s about 2 hours for lunch. And the metro Vysehrad is about 3-4 stops from Wenceslas Square, I thought I could pop into Wenceslas square, take a look and grab some lunch.
The Narodni Muzeum (National Museum) is just in front of Wencelas square. Well, since like there’s nothing to do in Wenceslas Square but to shop, I decided to head into the museum and try to see if its worth paying for. So upon entering, there’s a couple of statues at the lobby.
And when one looks beyond the statues, one could see the lovely ceilings and staircases.
Besides the normal entrance fee for the museum, there’s an additional fee for photo-taking in the museum! Which I thought was ridiculous! And there’s also a fee for the audio guide. So upon adding up the entrance fees, the fee for the audio guide and the the photo-taking fee, its all adds up to a LOT of money! It ain’t cheap! I couldn’t get over the fee for photo-taking! Such fee is unheard of!! It seems that upon paying the photo-taking fee, one would get a sticker to paste on one’s top and one wouldn’t be hindered from photo-taking. Well, I was determined not to be ripped off (world savvy travelller tip #2)! 😡
The cashier reminded me that since I’m not paying to take photos, I can’t use my camera. And I simply put my camera into my bag to show her ‘Fine’! 👿
So I went into the main hall and I was taken away by the ceilings and the frescoes. Its pretty, but didn’t take my breath away like those in the Louvre.
See, I managed to take photos without paying a darn fee! Just make sure no staff is in sight when snapping away. 👿
This museum is really quite boring. Nothing very interesting. Eventually I stopped listening to the audio guide simply because I wasn’t interested anymore.
There’s a section on minerals and stones and I was interested mainly on these:
There’s an upper level you can go to, more on natural history. Seriously, I have seen better exhibits. 🙄 So the upper level is more interesting in terms of its interior decor, and that’s just about it.
Afterwards I went back to the hotel to read up on Wenceslas square and then saw the section on Narodni Muzeum and I saw something along the lines of ‘rather dull with lovely ceilings’. 🙄
Enough is enough. Out into real world again. And then I realised I had gotten a ticket even for the new wing of Narodni Muzeum. I was a little apprehensive as I walked towards the new wing, which is a separate building.
Well, the new wing was slightly more interesting as its more about modern history. And I saw this and I realised Mendel was a Czech. And I thought the only Czech I know is Tomas Berdych. 😯 Great work by Mendel, and I could totall understand his work. My understanding of Mendelian inheritance is actually quite good. 😎
So then I grabbed a burger and went back to the ugly conference centre.
After the conference was done for the day, I returned to Wenceslas Square and decided to walk around to check out what they have in Prague. And then I saw H&M. At that point in time, we didn’t have H&M in Singapore and I like H&M for the plain tops they have which are good for work. So of course I went in. Was quite happy to take quite a few pieces of clothings 🙂 until I remembered my luggage woes. Had to put the clothes back onto the racks. 😳
Wencelas square wasn’t very crowded. Which was a bit surprising to me. And this further reinforced my opinion of Prague being a fairly quiet city.
Know what? I’m missing Paris already! I walked around the square and didn’t see anything really interesting. I was ready to get some food for dinner and head back to the hotel and just chill. But there seems to be nothing along the main streets except for McDonalds (which I had for lunch) and KFC. So dinner was KFC. Pathetic I know, halfway round the globe to have KFC in Prague. 😥 Yeah I’m suffering from Post Paris Depression, otherwise known as PPD.
Lunch break at Narodni Museum & a little bit of Wenceslas Square – 15th June 2011
30 Friday Mar 2012
Posted Prague
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