No, I haven’t been on the weed in one of the many shops selling by the Castle in Prague – I really do have a baby climbing the TV Tower above my head.
I’m noticing the baby doesn’t seem to be held on too well to the surface.
Nor is he wearing a nappy – I fear an accident.
David Cerny’s ‘Climbing Babies’ have become a symbol of modern Prague.
One of many wonderfully irreverent, but never irrelevant, symbols of how today’s Czechs cock a snook at perceived taste, and authority.
The Climbing Babies (there are 13) are thought to be inspired by ET’s desire to get home.
But Cerny never reveals the meaning of his sculptures so you can put your own interpretation on it.
We have a hot chocolare halfway up the 216m TV Tower in the Oblaca Bar (it means clouds).
Where we are told we can see a baby out of the window.
When we can’t I ask our ever-obliging guide Jirina if she will hang out the window for me.
Perhaps not a good idea though in a city where they have a history of throwing people out of windows…
And over the King Charles Bridge… if they don’t agree with them.
I have come across Cerny’s handiwork before.
On my last visit Hope springs eternal to Prague and the Czech Republic.
Which comes as little surprise.
