Dateline, July 14th, 2022

Somewhere floating out there in cyberspace is a photo of inside New York City’s Museum of Modern Art, standing beside Salvador Dalií’s most famed piece, The Persistence of Memory. Oh, wait, here it is!

Memory. It distorts. It decays. Sometimes, it destroys. I wanted to displays all of these feelings as I posed next to this timeless masterpiece at the MoMa on that sunny day back in the summer of 2006. But that moment, even though it was memorialized with a mediocre camera, is indeed, like memory itself, fleeting.

Memory is a tricky thing: It can weigh you down, but it can also lift you up. The word “nostalgia” is the same in nearly every single indo-European language, and literally means “return to pain.” To remember something, even fondly, can be a very, very painful experience.

If only someone had the fortitude and foresight to construct giant bronze sculptures. Some way to express the permanence of this fond sadness in a three-dimensional format.

To the fans of the world’s most famous surrealist, someone already has: Salvador Dalí. Yes, the artist was also a sculptor. And the largest private collection in the world of his sculptures is right in the center of Prauge, located less than 100 meters from Wenceslas Square.

A perfect choice, I thought, to imbibe in my daily dose of culture.

Some of these sculptures are small and petite, others are quite massive–even taller than I am.

The exhibit itself is dark and mysterious. All of the fixtures of this exhibit are in black, the bright lights serve to illuminate the shapes and colors of the world’s most famous surrealist.

Like any good Dalí collection, one can see how the the return to common themes.

And of course, something stamped in his signature style, yet stands out as entirely different from the rest.

I spend a solid two hours examining this surrealist exhibit before I set out back into the real world. With my thirst for culture sufficiently satiated, I returned back to my flat. Storm clouds were forming, so I sought shelter indoors. After a brief thundershower, I briefly thought about cooking yet another meal in the common area kitchen of my student housing. Yet when I saw the evening sunlight illuminating the street outside the window, I scrapped that plan and headed to Czech-German restaurant right next door. Once seated, I took out my trusty pen and pocket notebook, and started writing:

My God in heaven, how beautiful this city is. Right now it is 8:15 pm, and after a brief thundershower, the sun is shining. The brief but potent rainfall has broken the day’s oppressive humidity, and it is now quiet, cool, and calm.

Prague is a good place to be. This morning I awoke on a mission: to prepare all my own meals, and to refrain from drinking any alcohol. This mission lasted until 8pm, when I finally surrendered myself to the beauty of this golden city.

Shortly after I wrote this, my food arrived. I devoured the Czech chicken and vegetables, and slowly sipped my pint of pivo. When my waiter asked if I wanted another, I simply said no. He looked at me as if I had suffered serious brain damage.

Maybe next time I will order that second beer 😉

Until then, tomorrow is a new day . . .