Day 20: Przewalski's Horse — Matt Goes Exploring

Today was a good day. Nothing particularly groundbreaking or exciting happened, but it was just a good day.

I'll explain.

I slept in a little bit this morning, which is always nice. I did have to finish yesterday's post this morning because I fell asleep before I could finish it. These are the kinds of problems you face when you bring your laptop into bed.

I left the apartment with plans to walk to what my host had told me was a great viewpoint. She was not kidding. I walked to a big park not far from the apartment that had a hill. At the top of this hill people had already gathered for the view. From the top of the hill you could look out over all of Prague. Or it seemed like all of Prague, I'm not really that familiar yet. I had to sit for some time and take it all in.

I did get scared away as a big dark cloud rolled in over the city, but it gave me the perfect idea for my next stop. I needed somewhere inside and out of the potential rain, so I walked to the Prague National Museum.

It was under construction and no one could get in.

But they had a second location across the street that was open during construction. Crazy that already I've had to run from rain and the museum was closed, but it was still a good day. I'll explain further.

The museum only had two exhibits open. One was called "Retro" and it was all about culture form the fifties and sixties making a come back in the modern day. This meant old dresses and outfits and other things of that nature. It wasn't very exciting, at least to me.

What was really exciting was the other exhibit. It was all about animals. For those who didn't know me as a kid, I used to love reading about animals. I don't mean I loved reading children's book with colorful talking animals, I would read non-fictional guide books thick with information about all kinds of animals. I also don't mean that I would leaf through them and look mainly at the pictures. I would read every word from cover to cover. That's how interested I am in animals. I think if I wasn't so passionate about writing, I would be a zoologist studying evolution. I really do get excited even sitting here writing about it.

The exhibit featured all kinds of taxidermied animals on display from all over the world, each with their own label of information. I read a whole wing about conservation. This covered what it meant to be an endangered species, how a species becomes endangered, and how a species is saved from going extinct. For example, the famous Przewalski's Horse, the last remaining wild horse species in the world, native to Mongolia. Not too long ago it was eliminated from the wild, for various reasons. But luckily a few remained in captivity. Very carefully, and over time, people working at the Prague Zoo with the horses were able to reintroduce them to the wild. Now the horse has begun to recover its original population.

I could have read every word in that exhibit, but I ran out of time. The museum closed at six. I wish I had known to just skip over the "Retro" exhibit entirely. A precious half hour I could have spent reading more. But I still read a lot, so that's why it's a good day.

When I left the museum it seemed as if it hadn't even rained. The cloud was gone, the ground was dry. So I continued my exploration of Prague. I found what seemed to be the main street based on how big it was and how many people were walking down it.

I came upon a strange sight, it looked like a bunch of bricks all stacked together with some painted. I didn't know what to make of it, so I walked up to read what it was all about. I found out it was for a charity to help build a school for disabled children in Prague. I thought it was a great cause to donate to, so I painted my own brick and added it to the wall.

I found a big square further into the city that had several beautiful churches surrounding it. I'll leave a few photos here for you to look at:

I must also commend Prague on it's architecture. Not just on its famous old buildings but also the regular ones. Each apartment complex has its own character, whether it's in intricate designs or in color. They all stand out somehow. One of the best pieces of advice my host gave me was "always look up in Prague." I definitely know what she means.

After wandering around the city for a few hours I had my fill of exploration for the day, and found something to eat. Prague is spectacularly cheap. Once you figure out the conversion from Czech koruna (is that right?) to dollars, spending 200 on a full meal is pretty great (it comes out to about eight dollars. I paid eight dollars for dinner in Prague).

I am excited to continue my journey tomorrow. I am going to try to see the famous Charles Bridge. I've been told it gets very busy, but I don't think I'm going to be able to avoid it. I'll see what the day brings.

So that's all for today. I hope you enjoyed reading this, but even if you didn't thanks for reading it anyway. Here's to tomorrow.