In the week we spent in Prague, we have had a great experience learning about its people, arts, food and culture. I'll write more about each later in this blog. But first and foremost are Prague's cows which seem to proliferate just about everywhere! 
Just like those of you in SF have seen the differently decorated hearts around the Embarcadero and the Financial District, from June through September, Prague is being covered in cows. We have seen all sorts of decorated cows and bulls, and have included some of the coolest. All of the cows are created and decorated by Czech artists, so on some you can find political slogans, some look suspiciously like the store they are in front of=think of a cow covered in the Louis Vuitton logo...and then there is the Swarovski Cow and the Mango Cow and the Diesel Cow. Might I suggest this exact solution for the cow problem in Delhi...:-) Turn the cows into a tourist attraction as opposed to an eye-sore and traffic hazard.
One of our favorites....the Disco-Cow (or Discow) as you see to the left!
People
Our sense of the people here was that they are very pleased to be out from behind the Iron Curtain although they are somewhat peeved that the USSR held back Czech economic progress compared to Western Europe. The people are very Western European, as opposed to Slavic. They seem to be very arts-oriented given the multitude of symphonies and plays and musicals going on around Prague in every church and hall and alley. On the negative side, we got a sense that the people here are distinctly less cosmopolitan than London or New York or Paris - they are (understandably) leery of the hordes of Brits, Germans and Italians that have descended on the town for cheap weekend junkets and are (not so understandably) somewhat leery of darker-skinned people. In fact, we were treated quite rudely at times by various people in shops, while trying to buy bus tickets, and other times. Hm, maybe if we spoke the language it might be better? In terms of the tourists, we saw large groups of British men walking around town every night, quite drunk and singing at the top of their voices. Given the history of the Sudetenland, I would not have guessed that the Germans would be here in large numbers but they are - after all, this is the home of the Pilsner and the highest per-capital beer drinking nation in the world. In fact, a number of the people here speak German and restaurant menus are in Czech, German and English. As opposed to Moscow, the menus here do not have cigarettes on them!
Arts
Two of the biggest draws here are black light theatre and classical music concerts. The Black Light shows are big crowd pullers here in Prague. The stage is lit only by blacklight - as a result, the only things that the audience can see are objects or people clad in white or other color costumes..all of which have funky designs and colors attached. They engage in a combination of mimery, modern dance, and ique Du Soliel type dancing. Actors covered in black cannot be seen at all and usually throw things out to the dancer in front or assist in lifting dancers so it looks like they are flying. This makes for some very interesting visual effects.
Classical music concerts are also huge. On every other streeet corner in the Old Town Square or Wenceslas Square, people are handing out leaflets for concerts. We saw the Prague Symphony which was performing works from Dvorak who was from Prague.
And then there is the Art Nouveau Decorations and the Bohemian Crystal of Prague. Some of the streets here are completely Art Nouveau (such as Prinzska, off of Starometska or Old Town Square) and the local A.N. artist - Muchas - is marketed all over the place. To the left is an apartment entrance that is Art Nouveau style.
History and Architecture
We walked and metro'd around Prague a lot to see the historic parts of Prague - Old Town Square (or Starometska), MalaStrana (near the river of the side of Prague Castle), Prague Castle, Josefov (Jewish quarter) etc. Prague is very easy to walk around although tourists have to be very careful of pickpockets which roam the streets in gangs! This is the clock tower that famously has a number of animated figurines.
Below is a photo of a building on the side of Old Town Square.
Here's a photo of Smruti in a park in Malastrana:
And here are the flying buttresses of Prague Castle cathedral along with fantastic stained-glass windows of the Cathedral.
Food
Three words.
Beer, goulash, and dumplings.
Again, for the resident veggie, Smruti ate a lot of pizza and salads. Most of the soups had meat bases. We even went to a Indian restaurant once--but unfortunately, no theplas were to be had. The bakeries were amazing-delicious chocolate cakes and tarts. Yum, but even Smruti could not live on whipped cream and chocolate alone *yeah right*.
All-in-all, a very nice experience in Prague - we would highly recommend it to you if you are considering visiting this part of the world!
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