Daniel was one of my house mates from Joint House in Ann Arbor. We had not really been in touch since I left Michigan but last week he contacted me through Facebook and said that he would come to Prague.

Its been a while since friends has stopped by Prague *hint*hint* so it was a great surprise to hear Daniel was coming. I had a great time hanging out with him for a couple of days talking about old days of Joint House and the cool parties we had as well as what we had been up to the last couple of years. I realized that Daniel and another house mate of ours live in Berlin now, so I should try and see if I can make a proper trip up there.

Daniel did 4 days of Prague right after my head, plenty of culture and plenty of beer. We started out Sunday night at Akropolis with reggae. Monday he did the the city center with Old Town Square and Charles Bridge etc. At night he went with another friend to see some underground stuff at the skate ramp on one of the islands and ended up clubbing at Roxy. Tuesday he did the Museum of Modern Art and the Prague Castle. In the evening I went with him to Laterna Magika (Magic Latern) to see a play and later on we continued to a basement bar with dressed up people in Malostranska for the rest of the night. Wednesday he saw Museum of Communism and the beautiful cubist museum. At night he rocked to two live bands at the very unique and wicked Cross Club with another friend. Thursday we went for breakfast together before he headed back home.

If I were here for a few days Id do something like that

One thing I hadnt done before and hadnt thought of before Daniel mentioned it was to check out some Black Light Theatre. Czech Republic and Prague became famous for their pantomimes using mixed media in the sixties. They even built a special stage for these plays at the national theatre in this building called Laterna Magika that looks like its wrapped in bubble-wrap.

The show we went to see was Wonderful Circus which turned out to be hilarious, partly intentional, partly because the show is some 30 years old. I cant really explain it but this is the start of the show;

Two clowns are hatched out of two eggs washed ashore by the waves. Before they know where they are, they are confronted by the Tempter, the symbol of the snares and deceptions of life, and by Venus, the vision of mysterious beauty, which leads them to set out on a pilgrimage.

The show uses pantomime and black light theater on a background of three projection screens. Parts of the storyline is going on in the film clips projected and parts on the stage. The characters would jump from one media to another in a quite imaginary manner.
I think the price is a bit steep at 730czk for regular tickets but I must say it was good entertainment. Here are the two clowns trying to catch the fleeing Venus:

Two weeks ago I was also in the theatre to see an English play. I didnt get around to blog about it but Karen did.

To hint some more at those people that could be tempted by a trip to Prague I might add that Daniel found a hotel room for 15eur(!) per night on HRS.de. It was quite basic but it was 5 min from my place, clean and included breakfast. For a better alternative try and get in touch with Laus for some Prague Apartments.