They All Sit in a Row
In many neighborhoods, the bottom floor is occupied by a business. In Old Town Square, many of the businesses are cafes, restaurants and pivovars (beer cafe) for all the tourists. In our neighborhood, a potraviny (grocery store), meat store, hair salon and realtor are on this first level.
Often the businesses are actually in a below ground area. Directly below our apartment, there is a hair salon, but you only see a small window and door. You step down several steps to enter the door and go down to the salon in what might be called the basement level. I'm not sure how businesses make it like that with little outside presence to announce their existence. (In this picture, our apartment door is the farthest door on the right.)
When we were touring the Zizkov Tower several weeks ago, I finally got a picture of how these apartments are built. Of course, I took the picture on the left to show you what I'm trying to explain.
Now you can see why a tunnel has to be put in the middle of this row of buildings to access any parking area within the courtyard. We don't have a parking area behind our flat, so there is no way to access our space behind the building except walking through the building.
I have no idea why the housing in Europe is built this way. It certainly gives solidarity to the neighborhood. I wouldn't be too afraid of tornado damage if one ever did come to Prague (not too many ever hit Europe). The buildings all hold each other up.
Does your apartment smell like a hair salon?
ReplyDeleteNot at all. There's a floor between us and the salon. The only thing we smell is the women who work there outside smoking during the summer when our windows are open. :)
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