Re: [Leica] Leica revisited & production tolerances

["Gareth Jolly" <garethjolly@bigpond.com>]

Bruce Feldman wrote

>
>In a word, money, Gareth  -- got an offer I couldn't refuse and had two
>days(!) to clear out of Warsaw to take the job.  When I got here I
>immediately started checking out the Leica prices, which are a bit high for
>the new Ms and Rs.  The good news is, though, that there are quite a few
>camera shops selling very interesting vintage equipment, including lots of
>old Rollei, Exacta, Voightlander, etc. stuff, and lots of Leica SM and
>clones and the like which seem to be very cheap.    I'm looking forward to
>exploring them all and giving the LUG a full report.  If anyone knows
Prague
>well enough to point me in the right direction, I'd be grateful.
>

Short answer is, I don't really know Prague that well.

But there are  a few camera stores in the streets around the old Town
Square - one in the maze of streets leading to the Charles bridge and
another few in one the streets leading back the other way (perhaps Celetna?)

Don't know about real Leica stuff, but plenty of Russian Leica forgeries,
Zenits, Horizons etc which I'd imagine you'd have seen a fair bit of.

Also a bad part of town to buy anything, given that its at the tourist
heart.

If you don't know Prague all that well and want to do some sightseeing, I
strongly recommend Cadogan's guide to Prague.  By far the best guide I came
across and written with a great sense of humour and descriptive ability.
And you must try and do a guided tour through the Municipal House - it has
stunning, recently renovated art nouveau interiors.  If you like that sort
of stuff, try and also see (or have dinner at) the Hotel Europa.  A
beautiful turn of the century hotel, now slightly threadbare and definitely
having seen better days.  Not in the best part of town, either.  But still a
beautiful building.

I'm just about to relaunch my website - there'll be a few photos of Prague
on it.

I loved Prague.  An 'Electronic Postcard' I sent to a few friends from
Prague is follows capturing some my impressions at the time follows, in case
you're interested.  Don't get the wrong impression from some of the
references (neo classical) etc - I was actually having a quiet dig at one of
the original recipients.

Regards
Gareth
____________________________________________________________________________
__________

An Electronic Postcard from Prague

(without the pretty picture)

Hi guys

I've come across a stylish art nouveau internet cafe in Prague and,
given that Kate stayed up all last night writing post cards, thought I
might send one of my own.

Prague is a simply stunning city.  I had high expectations so, in a way,
I was surprised not to be disappointed.

One of the most amazing things about Prague, which I never really picked
up from the brief bit of trip pre-planning I did (i.e looking at a few
black and white shots of Charles bridge), is the seamless melding of old
and new.  So, St Vitus' cathedral - construction which began in the
tenth century and finished only at the beginning of this century -
combines classic gothic architecture with modern stained glass and
leadlit windows from the 1930s beautifully.  The streets are lined with
buildings ranging from the medieval to the art nouveau to (occasionally)
the modern.

Prague's art nouveau architecture is simply extraordinary.  It's blown
both Kate and I away.  Many catalogues etc to show you.

We've visited the Prague castle, seen an Art Deco exhibition (furniture,
posters, clothes, jewellery, crockery etc),  the Jewish quarter, had a
'turn of the century dining experience' at an extraordinary (if slightly
threadbare) art nouveau hotel - the Hotel Europa, comprehensively
photogaphed the streetsweepers on Charles bridge (and anybody else who
came along - actually I did that by myself at around 6.30 am) and had a
guided tour of the extraordinary municipal house, just restored, another
art nouveau masterpiece.

Today we are going on a city tour in a 1920s Czech cabriolet motor of
some description, then tonight seeing a production of Boris Gudinov at
the State Opera building (restored neo-classical)... in Russian.

Then flying back home on Thursday (sigh).

Weather has been fantastic (touch wood), as have been just about all the
other cities we've seen (Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, Paris, Berlin).

See you soon

Gareth & Kate