Today was a down day. We thought, maybe a little shopping and after that perhaps take in one of these blacklight plays that they advertise all over town. The shopping in Prague is a bit overwhelming though. It is very touristy. In the Old Town, which was the area of town we were staying in, there are people everywhere and if you are looking for cheap, well, then Prague ain’t it. There seems to be a big theme as far as types of shops though.

There are the Marionette shops where you can buy any type of marionette wearing any type of costume you can imagine. There are even marionettes that are dragons and animals, etc. (The marionette plays are also big here). Some of these marionettes can cost hundreds of dollars and are to me are very artistic.

There are the Russian Nesting Doll (Matryoshka) shops. You know, those wooden things where they are all brightly decorated and they all come apart and one fits into the inside of another all nice and neat in decreasing/increasing sizes. They are all in a huge array of sizes, colors, and even designs. They also have themes, like Disney or the Simpson’s, etc. and then if there is a theme, every one is decorated with a different character. It is all a bit much to try to pick just one as some of the artwork on each piece is oh so delicate, but the flashes of color when you enter the store is fantastic.

The other stores that are big here are Crystal/Glass Stores (with lots of sparkley stuff to attract Becky’s attention) and Amber Jewelry Stores and LOTS of stores selling cheap Pashminas (clothing wraps for all the men that have no idea what I am talking about). But, you have to wander around to try to find the best deals and it can be very overwhelming indeed. It is also a bit annoying for me to try to haggle with a vendor while also trying to remember in my head what the correct conversion rate is for the Czech Crown (about 22 Crowns to 1 U.S. Dollar).

After blowing some money shopping we decided to blow some more and went out to find a play to go to. We had wanted to go to this one that was apparently more like Cirque Du Soleil, but they were all sold out, so we settled for Te Fantastika - Aspects of Alice. It is a blacklight theater that has no words, just acting and music, with some stage tricks thanks to blacklight and stagehands dressed all in black. At 48 Euro for two people though, I would have to say that it was the worst thing that I have ever sat though that was in that cost range. It is even hard for me to describe. Apparently the plot of the play takes place after Alice returns from the looking glass. In the 1st act of the play she flies (literally because she is lifted on harnesses) all over Prague (the stage), dances with huge puppets along with lit candles that “dance” across the stage, and is surrounded by “glowing” hands. Ok Ok, neat tricks, but still due to the freaky accordion/harpsichord music it was a bit weird. But, then came the 2nd act, OMG was it worse. It started with Alice realizing that she is old enough to stop wearing tights and start shaving her legs and then in the next scene she is topless touching another woman’s breasts (yes, Chris liked that scene) and then in seconds she was still topless and getting married and then topless again and pregnant and then topless once more and carrying a child. After that the curtain closed and the play was over. Good Lord. We were speechless as we left. What was that? I was numb. During the play, the whole time I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. It was just so horrible. It was like slowing down to watch an accident on the highway. You just can’t leave or turn away. You have to stay till the end just to see if something more horrible happens. Just trust me though, don’t go to this play, do something else instead.

Tags: amber jewelry,aspects of alice,blacklight plays,cyrstal stores,marionettes,matryoshka,pashminas,russian nesting dolls,shopping,te fantastika
Categories: Becky Blogs, Prague
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