Praga mater urbium

Its not only the place where hopeless people find the ray of sunlight that they need, its not some filthy crowded city that mothers hate for their children to live in. Its Prague. And I fell in love with it the minute I saw its old stone-andmarble buildings scattered throughout the modern glass blocks of flats. If I had to name one single thing to pick as my favourite about Prague, I would surely be in massive trouble, because you cant love just the narrow paths that secretly hide behind the tiny houses or the tall bridges that maybe had been stepped on by kings and queens with gorgeous silk dresses. No. Its impossible. I spent only 8 days in Prague and it was the most pleasant stay of my entire life. Because my family and I didnt have a fixed schedule, we strolled all day long until we reached The Old Town or, as they call it, Stare Mesto, The New Town named Nove Mesto and of course, Mala Strana. During our long walks and between all the photo sessions that we had, my mother and I had to satisfy our need for shopping. Unfortunately, my father wasnt so delighted by this, even though he was in search for t-shirts and caps with the national flag of the Czech Republic and even backpacks. And so, we started looking for chic boutiques or impressive malls. As we made our way through the hustle and bustle of the Old Towns Plaza, we didnt realize that we were walking along the towns most important bazaar. I cant remember the name because I guess it didnt have one, but people called it simply Dum. And so the dream began. It was so real that I almost felt my heart skipping beats and my blood pumping. My fingers softly touched the yellow lemons and the red apples, while the jasmine perfume guided me to a hidden shop. Behind the heavy red velvet curtains there it was. What I had been looking for. Shelves with sparkly creams and colourful powders, jars of sour specialties and sweet gummy candies, purple water and bowls of cold fire rising to the wooden ceiling I pushed an almost invisible grey door and I saw all those strange hats with geometrical shapes and white shirts that looked almost like our Romanian traditional clothing. I touched them and I could feel a shiver running down my spine. My eyes rolled around the dark shop but every item seemed to have its own glow. I could have stayed lost in this shop if my mother wouldnt have yelled to come back to her. The spell broke and as if I had been hypnotized, I returned to my mother. Our walk continued and we saw enchanting clothes and accessories, we tasted pies and drank grape juice, which had almost become wine, we smiled at the old women who were kind enough to treat us the same and laughed at a butchers joke about meat, even though his English wasnt that fluent and we had trouble understanding him. I must say that I fell in love with the Dum. My memories come back every single time I look at the round wooden-carved mirror or I put my leather bracelets on my left hand. Even though I am not so sure that I will go to Prague soon, I recommend visiting the old fortress and taking a long walk and enjoy the scenery, the moving picture of children playing, the live painting of people selling yellow lemons and red apples.

Smaranda Popovici