Lennon Wall/Kafka's 'hood

Hector and I took an afternoon to see the Kafka Museum. We also wandered by the Lennon Wall...

On the day John Lennon was murdered (in 1980) people began leaving messages of peace here. Secret police would white-wash it only to have the messages multiply within a few days. After the Velvet Revolution (I love that name), they stopped whitewashing, and you can see the results:

 

It's more colorful than a spring flower garden--and what a beautiful message.

The word "griso" is in 3-D lettering--looks official. Tried the dictionary and Google--still don't know what it means.

Finn's doing a project in graffiti in Prague, Budapest, Vienna, (Amsterdam, Paris)--good stuff here...Will add the project's message when it becomes apparent...

The wall is owned by The Order of the Maltese (in existence since the 1200s!) who repaired it in 1989 and now maintain it.

This says it al--maybe the theme of Finn's project?

Also near the French embassy, we saw this car. We really wanted a ride, but no luck!

The otherwise nondescript Kafka Museum--no photo allowed inside. This is another "whimsical" sculpture by Cerny--of baby fame. The Kafka Museum is a wild place. It attempts to create for the goer the forces in Kafka's sad, dark life and creativity. There's some bizarre imagery, music, distortion of space, time--but overall, Hector and I were both moved by much of the darkness in his life and the historical events of that time: we were stunned by how many of his family members, friends, and fellow writers (from the German-speaking Jews in his Arco-ist group) died in concentration camps and gas chambers.  Though Prague is a beautiful place (obviously), we see reminders every day of that dark time here.