Prague, Part 2

Like all stations on the Prague Metro, Zelivskeho is relatively new by the standards of railways. As you can see from this maker, it was openedon the 1st of December, 1980.

Alaverdi were another hardcore band that played at Cafe na pul cesty this year.

This was just a random shot that I took with my cameraphone while waiting for a train to work. I'm not at Uhrineves very often, so I figured I should take more pictures than I normally would nowadays. I've always been a bit of a fan of the Class 742 diesel, as it's one of the few American-style "hood units" that you can find in Europe, although it is purely Czech-made, being built exclusively by CKD.

This is the station at Uhrineves. It was recently cleaned up and updated during the corridor reconstruction of the mainline from Prague to Benesov, although it already has a minor grafitti problem. In general, though, it's better maintained than most on this line.

I had meant to visit the aviation museum at Kbely airport for many years, and in 2014 I finally got around to it. The photos I'm posting today barely scratch the surface of what I found there, as I took pictures of almost every public exhibit with my cameraphone. However, these are examples of what I took with my Zeiss-Ikon Contina LK, loaded with Kodak Tmax 400. These two fighters are the first in the series, being both Soviet-built MiG-17 jet fighters. They look different because the one on the right has radar, with the distinct bulge in the intake (a very imaginative design), and appears to be two-seat, hence the longer canopy. These were some of the earliest jet fighters used by the Czechslovak air force, other than some Messerschmidt Me-262's built at the end of World War II, some of them by Avia. The Czechoslovak air force also had MiG-15 fighters, but older pilots have told me they were only used as trainers. Of course, the Czechs also built the Aero Delphin, which as an entirely Czech design, and the museum has at least one. However, the Delphin was only a trainer.

This Ilyushin Il-14 airliner appears to be ex-air force, but Ceskoslovenske Aerolinie (Czech Airlines, or CSA), were the primary users in Czechoslovakia. The Il-14 was one of a series of improved DC-3 and DC-4 copies developed in Russia during the 1950's, and many survived into the 1980's. Today, while they no longer work for Aeroflot or CSA, they are used by smaller airlines and charter services, especially in Africa, as they can land safely on dirt runways. This applies mostly to 4-engine Il-18's, though, rather than 2-engine Il-14's (the Il-18 was more than simply a DC-4 copy, however, and was by far the most advanced of the series). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilyushin_Il-12 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilyushin_Il-14 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilyushin_Il-18 This is not unlike the fate of the surviving Douglas DC-3's. As historians will note, Ilyushin were not the first Soviet design bureau to copy the DC-3, as the Lisunov Li-2 was an even closer copy produced during World War II. The Kbely museum actually has one that they keep in one of their hangars with other World War II aircraft.

The textbook trivia answer as to the first jet airliner, is obviously the DeHavilland D.H. 106 Comet, introduced in 1952 after a 3-year testing period. However, it was initially a disaster, quite literally, as four crashed fatally in only the first two years of operation. Later variants fared better (after the initial losses were traced to a badly-designed fuselage that couldn't deal with both pressurization and high subsonic flight), although in total 26 of 114 Comets were lost, a rate of 22.8%. The second ever jet airliner to be introduced was the Tupolev Tu-104, seen here, and it fared far better. Introduced in 1956, 204 were built, and 32 lost to crashes (37 were lost in total, as 5 were destroyed by terrorists), a loss rate of 15%, if you exclude terrorist attacks. In addition, many Tu-104 crashes were non-fatal, to the point were over a third of passengers survived on average. A particularly notable incident was the first one, in 1958, where the pilot successfully landed with no engines (they had run out of fuel) albeit short of the runway. The reason this Tu-104 is displayed at Kbely, though, has nothing to do with any accident. Instead, it is significant to Czech aviation history because CSA were the only export customer for the Tu-104, thus making them only the third airline in the world (after BOAC and Aeroflot) to operate jet airliners. Another surviving CSA Tu-104 can be seen in a park in Olomouc, where it has been converted to "The Aeroplane Bar."

Letenske Sady, also sometimes generally referred to as "Letna," which is only part true, spans a 1.5 kilometre stretch of parkland between the corner of Skalecka and Frantizka Krizka streets roughly seen here facing the other direction (west), and Chokovy Sady, another portion of parkland to the west. It is thus a constituent part of a larger stretch of parkland that reaches as far west as Kajetanka, 4.3 kilometres away.

I took this photo from the east bank of the River Vltava, at Manesuv Most. Here you can see St. Vitus Cathedral at the top of the castle mound of Prazky Hrad, with the Mala Strana below.

I don't normally put the month in the titles of my photos, but in this case it's significant, as this was less than two weeks after the death of Nicholas Winton at 106 years old (he died on July 1st, 2015). Wikipedia describes him as a "humanitarian," which doesn't do him full justice, as he became best known for having rescued 669 children from the Nazis, arranging for their transport to London (by rail, sea, and air, but primarily by rail) on what became known as the Kindertransport. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kindertransport en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Winton The bronze statue behind the candles was actually added within his lifetime, as was another memorial in the passenger tunnel from the platforms, portraying a train door. The candles were added to both memorials to commemorate him after his death.

One of my friends made me aware of the Rabies Babies back when I was still on Facebook, so when I saw a show advertised, I was sure to go. My friend never showed up, I called her, and she didn't even know the show was happening. Any case, they were one of the best punk rock bands I've seen live, albeit more traditional than most of what I had been seeing in 2015. They still occassionally play out, but my understanding (from their Facebook page) is that family pressures have forced them into semi-retirement, however non-punk rock that may sound. I would certainly go to another show, if they're playing nearby and if I know about it.

I took a number of cameraphone photos at the Rabie Babies show, but only two of them were any good. This was because my Nokia 301 phone didn't have such a great camera, although to be fair in 2015 hardly anything did. Basically, this is the other photo.

This is maybe the dish most associated with the Czech Republic, "Smazeny syr," or fried cheese, with tartar sauce and one or another potato side, in this case baked potatoes. Usually it's served with beer, but it was a work day when I was having lunch at Havelska Koruna, so I ordered some kind of cola. In this case, I think the cola was Kofola, which is another traditional Czech product. Havelska Koruna, incidentally, is a traditional Czech "jidelna" or fast-food restaurant, serving traditional Czech pub food. Havelska Koruna is and was unusual in that it's located close to Mustek in the tourist area of Prague, and not in a working-class neighborhood where these types of restaurants would normally be located. More impressively, it's survived for the long-haul, as it is still in business today: www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g274707-d2018223-Reviews-Havelska_Koruna-Prague_Bohemia.html

Although I attended the After Fluff show at Cafe na pul cesty, this was actually over a week later, when Shut Up Twist Again performed a regular gig. The Cafe has been renovated twice since this cameraphone shot was taken, once during Covid, and again immediately after. The current renovation is actually closer to the 2015 look, but still different. Most of my concert photos taken at the Cafe don't show much of the venue itself.

Cafe Platyz, while it inhabits on older building (you can tell from the ceiling), dates to the 1930's, and has old photos on the walls showing that it hasn't changed radically since. I took a number of cameraphone shots on this particular day, but this was the one I settled on for iPernity. Anything I was going to post would be a crop, and even this one took some effort to crop attractively. I haven't been able to determine 100% why Platyz is hard to photograph. It may have been that I was using a cameraphone.

Cafe na pul cesty often hosts outdoor concerts during the summertime, with some of these being in Centralni Park Pankrac, and others on a stage attached to the venue. In this case, Taras Bullba were performing on the outdoor stage.

About two months after Fluff Fest, I got to see Gattaca again at Klub 007 in Strahov. This was only the setup and soundcheck, which enabled me to get a better look at some of the gear.

About two months after Fluff Fest, I got to see Gattaca again at Klub 007 in Strahov. As this was only my cameraphone, it was hard to get anything that wasn't blurry, but I tried anyway.