{"id":1765,"date":"2013-11-21T10:18:03","date_gmt":"2013-11-21T09:18:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/?p=1765"},"modified":"2015-11-01T12:18:55","modified_gmt":"2015-11-01T11:18:55","slug":"heard-in-prague","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/?p=1765","title":{"rendered":"Sounds of a City"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Warning,<\/a><\/b>When you live in a city for a long time you become used to the sounds of it. These sounds could be unique to the city or an everyday sound that resonates with you for some reason. In Pittsburgh it could be fireworks, as they are set off to celebrate everything: a Pirates\u2019 win, a Tuesday without rain. In Jerusalem it could be the muezzin calling Muslims to prayer. And in Dallas, the people walking around saying, \u201cHoly fuck. I live in Dallas.\u201d<\/p>\n

In any case, you\u2019ll probably continue to identify some sounds to your city until you get really old and start pooping on your stove. Then you\u2019ll live in a place where the only sounds are Matlock<\/i> on the television and your 16:45 dinner bell.<\/p>\n

Here are some sounds that make Prague\u2026well, Prague.<\/p>\n

Wednesday Air Raid Siren<\/b><\/p>\n

I arrived in Prague ten years ago on a Tuesday morning. On late Wednesday morning, as I walked through And\u011bl trying to find my new school, a siren pierced the air for exactly one minute. I figured it was all over. The Russians were fucking coming. Again.<\/p>\n

Little did I know that on the first Wednesday of every month at exactly 12 noon, there is a one-minute air-raid siren that shrieks through the city. Of course there hasn\u2019t been a true air-raid in Prague since, oh, 1968ish, but it\u2019s still a tradition. That means it is largely ignored by the populace and is usually just something you have to sit through.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re lucky enough to be in the vicinity of some tourists, it is damn good fun to watch them squirm and call their mommies.<\/p>\n

B\u016f! \u010cerstv\u00e9 ml\u00e9ko! (Moo! Fresh Milk!)<\/b><\/p>\n

Ah yes, the\u00a0B\u016f! \u010cerstv\u00e9 ml\u00e9ko! guy. This is a man who drives around Prague in a truck selling fresh dairy products. His ice-cream man call is a recorded voice that says \u201cB\u016f! \u010cerstv\u00e9 ml\u00e9ko!\u201d over and over again.<\/p>\n

Depending on where you live in Prague you hear this call for fresh dairy products at different times of the day and on different days of the week. I hear it in Podol\u00ed every Monday at 17:30.<\/p>\n

I have met the B\u016f! \u010cerstv\u00e9 ml\u00e9ko! guy once, when buying ice cream and yogurt. It was not unlike meeting the Mr. Rogers of dairy. Sidenote: Czech cows say B\u016f, Czech frogs say Kvak, and Czech cats say mnau. This language is tough.<\/p>\n

Bells<\/b><\/p>\n

And not nice ones either. These aren\u2019t Red Cross Santa ding-a-ling bells on a sidewalk outside of Macy\u2019s at Christmas. These bells are attached to the hundreds of trams that run around Prague on a daily basis at all times. These bells essentially tell people, \u201cStay the hell out of my way!\u201d And as trams are essentially propelled metal monsters, these bells are a good idea. To be in Prague is to hear a cacophony of these bells.<\/p>\n

These bells are also attached to the mood or the mental state of the tram driver. A two tap notification ring can represent a driver who is in a good mood. A steadier, more thronging blast suggests a driver who\u2019s nearing the end of his tether. And a violent, obnoxious full-press ringing is indicative of a driver who hasn\u2019t gotten laid since the late 1970s and is just sobering up for the day.<\/p>\n

In any event, these bells are synonymous with Prague.<\/p>\n

The Rock Boats<\/b><\/p>\n

This is nowhere near as cool as it sounds. I live near the Vltava River and every summer there are three or four \u2018rock\u2019 boats running up and down the river carrying tourists. They allow tourists to see the city from the water \u2013 admittedly, a wonderful view \u2013 they charge 90K\u010d for a Gambrinus, serve duck, and blast American rock from the late 80s and that timeless Ukrainian club music.<\/p>\n

This, at first, was beyond annoying. However, I am now so used to the rock boats that I can\u2019t sleep in the summer without my Bon Jovi lullaby.<\/p>\n

What sounds will forever remind you of your city?\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you live in a city for a long time you become used to the sounds of it. These sounds could be unique to the city or an everyday sound that resonates with you for some reason. In Pittsburgh it could be fireworks, as they are set off to celebrate everything: a Pirates\u2019 win, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EvEu-st","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1765"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2932,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1765\/revisions\/2932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damiengaleone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}