Afternoon Amble

Other than an ice cream cone, I resisted the lure of a nearby food court and put together a lunch at Albert's, a Czech grocery store chain.  I ate it below the mammoth Zizkov TV Tower, a relic of the Soviet era.

Up close, you can see the crawling Cerny babies.

The clock on the facade of a nearby church indicated I had more than enough time to hike to the top of the Vitkov hill.  I wanted to see the enormous equestrian statue, which we passed on our way to Kutna Hora, and take a look at a National Memorial in the latest phase of its identity crisis. 

Even Prague's residential neighborhoods boast interesting architectural details.  The spring sun bathed everything in Zizkov.

I hesitated to ask a young Czech woman where to find the path up to the memorial because of the language barrier but she spoke perfect English.

 

The path brought me to the rear of the memorial.  Originally built to honor the Czechoslovak Legionnaires who fought for the Allies during World War I with the goal of establishing an independent state, it became a mausoleum for Communist politicians under Soviet rule.  It was closed so I didn't get a chance to see what it commemorates now.

The guy on the horse is Jan Zizka.  Six hundred years ago, the Hussite leader defeated the army of the Holy Roman Empire and Hungary at the battle of Kutna Hora.   It's the third largest equestrian statue in the world but easily dwarfed by a selfie.

Jan and I had a good view of the television tower.  Nearly everyone in Prague does.  The Communists certainly weren't shy about the size of their phallic symbols here or in Berlin.

I took bus into the city center and wandered around looking for a tram to take me across the Vlata River.  More beauty.

 

These kids couldn't have cared less.  Bubbles are big now.

 More modern sculpture.  It moves, like a Rubik's cube that changes into a head when you get it right.