I only have one regret about my trip to the capital of the Czech Republic last year; not riding the paternoster.
You may not know what a paternoster is, that’s okay, either did I until we walked past it on a walking tour of Prague.
A paternoster is an old style elevator- this one was off to the side in a little arcade off Wenceslas Square.
It is a two sided, open lift that operates on a loop, with one side going up, while the other goes down.
A paternoster is continuously moving, so users have to be quick to step in at the right time and off again at the right floor as there are no buttons with floor numbers to be pressed.
This one was also pretty small, if you jumped on with a stranger you’d be getting pretty up-close and personal during the short ride.
I was so intrigued that we returned to take a look the next day.
Unfortunately there was a security coded door in our way and a sign warning that the entrance was for residents only.
When someone pressed in a code and went in, it was my curious side urging me to follow, grab that door and head on in but it was my partner’s less adventurous side that verbally warned me against doing so.
To this day, I’ve never been on a paternoster.
I don’t know if I’ll ever see another paternoster, there aren’t many left these days- apparently they don’t fulfil a lot of OHS standards.
clouds of white 