On Friday 20 May the theme for #FriFotos, the photo sharing day on Twitter was ‘Art’. A subject that is actually bigger than photography itself. I enjoy visiting museums and art galleries but thought I’d concentrate on my budget travel remit and cover art that is viewable without payment of admission fees.

Bonom's Elephant street art, Brussels

I am writing this post in Brussels, so who better to start with than Bonom, a street artist specialising in animals that are displayed in difficult to access places. The elephant careering from the roof of the National Library has now been removed.

Bonom and Little F*ckers street art, Brussels

Fishes are one on Bonom’s specialities. Here is a joint collaboration with Little F*ckers.

Bonom amd Muga, parachuting radios and fox without a parachute

I like street art with a bit of humour, sadly these will probably not be there for much longer. The fox is a Bonom while the parachuting radios are by Muga.

Street art, Prague

Some street art from Prague, I guess not everyone goes to the city to look at the ancient art pieces.

Banksy? Street Art, Namur

Close to the Ecolo Headquarters in Namur I came across this piece very much influenced by Banksy. Rats are one of Banksy’s favourite subjects.

Banksy? Street Art, Brussels

Another piece in Brussels, now cleaned off. To me this has Banksy’s style and humour.

Brussels pencil street art

Finally, pencils have been appearing all over Brussels, some are everyday pencils, but some are a little more advanced.

An HDR shot, taken while looking for the café Joelle used to frequent in 1996, when she was teaching French in Prague. Unfortunately this area of the city was devastated by the floods on 12 Aug 2002. She didn’t locate it, so I guess it never reopened.

Charles Bridge on the left, fills with souvenir stalls and visitors soon after 8 am. So I was lucky to find a view that wasn’t crowd filled. If visiting Prague, it is best to avoid the route between the old town square and the castle via Charles Bridge unless you enjoy tourist watching. Dawn and dusk are probably the best times to visit Charles Bridge.

From the  “Around Europe with ghosts” series.

While waiting to be served at a Cardiff Restaurant last week, I couldn’t help overhearing the large party on the adjacent table, discussing the merits of European cities they had visited. They were talking loudly, probably because they wanted the rest of the group to hear. One woman said “I did Prague”. The expression grated with me.
Prague is a wonderful city. It deserves more than to be “done”. Hearing this made me ponder why I travelled there in 2003.

It was a period of my life when everything seemed to be going wrong. I went because it had all but beckoned me through books, films and even pop videos. The experience was truly therapeutic.

I stayed in a cheap hostel with Soviet Era plumbing in the communal wash room. I walked, took the metro and trams all over the city. I ate with locals at cafés in the suburbs avoiding the tourist restaurants in the Old Town and city centre. I had many conversations with Czech locals and Russian Ex pats living in Prague. I even went to the Opera twice.

But did I do Prague?

My week in the city gave me a very small idea of what life was about in the city. The Museum of Communism gave another another insight. Inside in a display case were little lumps of lead and other heavy metals. The explanatory caption explained that the quantities shown were the average amounts breathed in over a year by a Czech inhabitant.

Shocking!

But is it any more shocking than flying out to Prague for a drunken Hen / Stag Party or flying there just to be able to say; “I did Prague”?