After a good nights sleep, Lez and I were ready to take on Prague (well, after a really nice free breakfast at our hotel... yum!). Prague is litterally something out of a fairy tale! Beautiful buildings in pretty colors, tile roofs, etc.
We started at the Jewish Museum, which isn't one location, but six separate synagogs within a short distance of each other.
The first stop was the Pinkas Synagogue (no photos allowed inside). What is so amazing about this synagogue is that there are 77,297 hand written names of Czech Jews who were sent to Nazi death camps written on the walls. Actually there are 77,297 names RE written on the walls after the communists erased them. Each name was probably about a half an inch tall and written in simple calligraphy with the first letter in red and the walls were completely covered in names. Floor to ceiling covered.
Outside was the Old Jewish Cemetery. It was the strangest, most interesting cemetery I've every been to because all the tomb stones were piled on top of each other. It looked like a mouth that was badly in need of some braces and teeth pulling. (Keep these photos in mind for my next post on Berlin). Kind of eerie, but also really cool to look at.
Next was the Ceremonial Hall, which had a really interesting exhibit on Jewish medicine and funeral practices. One thing that stood out to me was that, according to the museum, the rich and the poor were buried exactly the same. There was no difference in dressing the body or other rituals. Another fun fact was the reason why so many Jews became doctors: they didn't see medicine as interfering with God's plan, but rather illness as a sign from God that that person needed help.
After the Ceremonial Hall was the Old-New Synagogue. To be honest, I was kind of "eh" about this one, but it was built in the 13th C, so that's kind of cool. Fun fact: in the 13th C, only Christians could build buildings and they were really good at building four ribbed ceilings. Only problem is that this makes a cross (not the best in a Jewish building). So they tacked on a random rib. It looks really awkward, but at least it's not a cross any more.
Then we went to the Maisel Synagogue, which contains the treasures of the destroyed Jewish communities of WWII. Hitler planned on turning this into a museum: "Museum of the Extinct Jewish Race." Next was the Spanish Synagogue, designed in the Moorish Style (don't believe me? Compare pictures from Spain!)
We really wanted to make sure we got all of the Jewish museum done the first day because it would be closed the next day (Saturday).
Next, we went to the Old Town Square. It's bustling with food vendors selling sausage, churches, and the really cool Astronomical Clock. Not only did we get to see it ring (yes, see... it' a very elaborate CooCoo clock!), we also got to go up it and see the town square from above. Oh, and did I mention that every hour a trumpet plays!
Then we saw the Powder Tower, the Municipal House, and the Mucha Museum. Really cool to see the old, Gothic Prague of the Tower next to the Art Nouveau Prague of the Municipal House. And the Mucha Museum was AMAZING! I love his work... so romantic and whimsical. And the swirly bits are just so cool! We ended our touring at the Tyn Church, just off the Old Town Square.
That evening we saw a Black Light show. The theater is completely pitch black. I mean COMPLETELY dark. And the performers (dancers/gymnists) are wearing body suits that are black in some places and neon in others, so under a black light all you see is the neon. The effect is so cool and the way they use this illusion is really creative. (Czech out the website here for an idea of what I'm talking about).
Day 5:
On the second day of Prague, we crossed to the other side of the Vltava River, going over the Charles Bridge.
We started at the Strahov Monastery and Library. I LOVED the library (of course the English Major loves the library).
Next we had lunch (ok... so maybe we had a bit of a late start this day) and had an amazing view of Prague.
After lunch, we went to the Prague Castle. The main highlights were the Old Royal Palace and the St. Vitus Cathedral. The Cathedral was HUGE and really cool. The stained glass was kind of modern looking and there was a window that Mucha designed (I recommend you click on the photo so you can zoom in to see the faces)! I think Mucha's window the best stained glass I've ever seen. The Royal Palace was cool too and Lez loved taking pictures of all the awesome ceilings. Fun fact about the Royal Palace: the 30 years war started here at the Window of Defenestration. In 1618, 3 men were thrown out of a window and survived!
We ended our day with the Communism museum. It was very informative and easy to understand (except when the time line jumped around). What I found really interesting was Communist Propaganda. They said that they were good because they were against the Nazis from the beginning, unlike the other parties. Also, they had their own witch hunt (like our McCarthy Trials), except their trials could end in a lot worse than just being black listed.Overall, I really loved Prague. It was so cute and a really interesting city.
Stay tuned for... Gorbachev, Tear Down That Wall!
For more pictures, click on Segway Batman:
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