noticed: little boy beauty

June 4, 2011

Porcelain little boy in the Kings Parade, Prague

Waking up way too early for our own good, our class trekked up to the Prague castle to follow the annual Kings Parade. Commemorating a castle to castle journey made by the King from Prague to Karlstejn, the parade lasts two days and has all the accoutrement you would expect from any royal gathering. On horseback, or horse-drawn carriage, the mock-royal party makes their way from castle to castle, iphone stuck in their spandex and DSLRs around their necks. It's mildly oxymoronic, but you can't really expect a full-fledged reenactment this day and age, especially from the teenagers making this journey. You know, they need to check their Facebook and update their statuses to something like "only 20 more km then I can rip this wretched velvet cloak off and run naked through the fields wild and free as i should be. txt if you wanna join. there'll be beer." -- the usual teenage overly melodramatic Facebook post. 

Anyways, it was ungodly hot to be donning multiple layers of velvet, spandex and the occasional headdress of iron mesh. As much as Europeans already sweat because of lack of air conditioning, wearing these historical outfits, probably didn't help their cooling techniques, unless of course they have superhuman sub-dermal air conditioning systems and/or those costumes had fans like mascot costumes do. 

The parade started with trumpets blaring, boots stomping and large loads of horse droppings raining down on the cobblestone. Fragrant aromas wafting over the crowd, the procession and its spectators wound through the narrow streets of the city. Causing all tram, car and cyclist traffic to stop in its path, it moved more swiftly than I expected practically racing down the cobblestone. Running to keep up, we would snap a few shots, then sprint to the beginning again. It proved to be quite an unexpected workout. 

I was entranced by the immaculate skin of this little boy and his commitment to the parade. I can't really imagine myself being that dedicated at such a young age. I took this picture because he looked so regal and majestic and I thought it really captured the essence of the parade, despite the invading technology that may have downplayed its importance.