September 24th
Hello everyone!
When you live in a place for a couple of years or more, you
might end up spending most of your time in similar places. The excitement of exploring
new locations, be they pubs, shops, restaurants or more, often gives way to the
comfort of familiarity. Everywhere I’ve lived, at home or abroad, has followed
this pattern at some point.
It often takes a new arrival, permanent or temporary, to
jolt people into visiting new places which they may not have previously been
aware of. We certainly experienced this feeling this week when Emily, a friend
of Hannah’s from New Zealand, came to stay with us for a few days.
Emily arrived during the week so was left to her own devices
whilst we were in school. After her second day gallivanting around Prague, we
returned to a beaming Kiwi insisting that we go and play mini-golf with her.
Not just any mini-golf, though: glow-in-the-dark mini-golf.
Hard to say no, really. The place itself was fascinating. A small
old building located a five-minute walk from Wenceslas Square remarkably
manages to host an eighteen-hole mini-golf course, a billiard table, jenga, an ‘escape’ room and an eating area.
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| Prague Golf and Games, located in Prague 1 |
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| I proved to be far better at golf than jenga |
Glow-in-the-dark mini-golf doesn’t really need an
explanation here. What can be explored in more detail is the artwork adorning
the walls. It features many of Prague’s famed landmarks…in graffiti form. The detail
is incredible and it clearly took a significant amount of time to create each
piece. We spoke to the owner, an American, throughout our round and he told us
that he wishes he had recorded a time-lapse of the Charles Bridge graffiti
being created. He said that he wanted people to know the painstaking effort that
went into giving his golf course a WOW factor.
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| A graffiti version of the Orloj, Prague's astronomical clock |
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| The lanterns were the final aspect added to the Charles Bridge artwork |
The course itself also lends itself to Czech culture and
history, with crazy holes including scoring through a hockey player’s legs and manoeuvring
your ball under a Soviet tank. The place is called Prague Golf and Games and can be found at Opatovická 18 in Prague 1.
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| An alternative way of nutmegging the hockey player to find the hole |
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| A mini Soviet tank for mini-golf |
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| Playing the Charles Bridge hole, which involves staying out of the 'water' on either side |
Glow-in-the-dark mini-golf was an excellent reminder, not just
to me but to everyone who has lived in the same location for a couple of years
or more, that you must keep exploring and searching for new things in your
neighbourhood. You might be pleasantly surprised!
Love you all
Matt
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