The last time I was in Prague was '91, the summer after grad school. I bribed my way in for $10 when my Eurail Pass wasn't accepted. I changed $20 US dollars on the way in and still had Czech currency four days later on my way out. There were no western corporations, there were no crowds of tourists. Just a beautiful city dating back to the middle ages and citizens who were as interested to talk to me as I was to talk to them. Now? There's a McDonalds every 100 feet. There are so many tourists it's hard to find a Czech. The Czechs that you do find are selling you something, anything - that's what they do now - work the tourist trade.
There are funky new buildings designed by world-reknown architects which don't mix in with the original architecture. It's as if, 20 years ago, the government decided the only way to make progress was to let all these corporations in. I know I'm being selfish - I would love to find one place that doesn't look like every other place. But the Czechs want their quarter-pounders, their whoppers, they want to be like everyone else in the world. This is not a particularly Czech thing, just a globalization thing.
4 comments:
curmudgeon
lots of good stuff. glad to see you on the road again
Do you think embracing capitalism inevitably means also sliding into mediocrity in art, architecture, city planning, etc.?? Depressing thought, especially if the downward slide affects education, too.
Pops, how can you take the other side of your own view? Doesn't that get confusing?
Sal, I don't know if it goes that deep, it's just annoying to see banners for Burger King hanging off of medieval buildings.
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