Prague, the Picture Version

Here it is: the real deal. More pictures from Prague, and a delightful explanation of (almost) every single one of them.

Like I said yesterday, it was a great trip. Joe and Robin, who we've been friends with for awhile, are great traveling companions. Especially when Joe is tired and hungry and doesn't want to shop anymore. He's real fun then. Robin is a Tourist Extraordinaire, and she doesn't even charge a fee. We're so lucky! The only time it stinks is when Joe, Robin, and N start talking about work and all I can contribute is, "Um...I like to fly, too."

So. Thursday afternoon we set out to do a little exploring before the sun went down. On the way from the airport to our hotel, N tried to get some language lessons from our cabbie. It went something like this:

N: "So, sir, how do you say 'thank you' in Czech?"

Cabbie: "Smetchejcksysiis jjjiesl ya."

N: "Excuse me?"

Cabbie: "Dye ku ya."

N: "How do you say 'very much?' "

Cabbie: "Dye ku ya dlshgghgilelles."

N: "Dye ku ya glghghjj ii zzjeleh?"

Cabbie: "No. You've just said something very bad."

N: "Oh. Sorry. Do you speak Russian, too?"

Cabbie: "No."

N: "Again, very sorry."

And for the rest of the weekend I practiced saying "Dye ku ya" at every chance. I got a lot of laughs, but I think the Czech people appreciated my attempts.

We walked to the Charles Bridge on Thursday and saw some of the statues (largely copies of the originals, which are housed in a museum somewhere). There are musicians and artists selling their paintings, drawings, jewelry, etc. all across the bridge, which connects the old town to the side of the river with the castle. One of the most popular statues (below) shows St. John Nepomuk being thrown off the bridge. Apparently King Wenceslas didn't approve of John's role in the election of an abbot and ordered him bound and thrown from the bridge. Now tourists rub the little John figure on the statue for good luck. I even heard some crafty fellow telling his female companion that, in order for that luck to come through, women were supposed to kiss a man near the statue.

Instead of a quiet Thanksgiving dinner, we met up with a few other company members and had beer at an old pub, followed by dinner at a recommended restaurant. The pub was the first place in Prague that had Pilsner Urquell on tap, and they still serve it in mugs and PLUNK it down in front of you. Some restaurants also serve Budweiser Budvar, but that was a little harder to come by. The American Bud company stole that name hundreds of years ago, but it originated in the region around Prague.

N had ribs for dinner on Thursday, and, judging by the size of them, I think they were elephant ribs. He said they were delicious, but I was a bit scared of them...

Below was a statue we happened upon as we were walking back from the restaurant to our hotel. It was hidden in a little alley with some shops. It's supposed to be Wenceslas, who ruled during Prague's early history and was eventually killed by his brother, on an upside down horse. Wenceslas is now a patron saint of Prague.

The next day, Robin, Joe, N and I decided to walk to the Jewish Quarter and see several synagogues since they would be closed on Saturday. On the way, we again walked through the Old Town square. Below is an old stone bell on the corner of a house (named the House at the Stone Bell, oddly enough) which indicates that the building used to be a town palace. In the background is the Church of Our Lady before Tyn, from the fourteenth century.

Prague has had a Jewish neighborhood for centuries, and we saw five synagogues, a cemetary, and a ceremonial hall. As in other countries, Prague's Jews have been scapegoats for ages, quartered in specific areas, and persecuted over and over. In the late nineteenth century, the neighborhood was completely demolished; only a few buildings are original, including the some of the synagogues and the cemetary.

Above and below are shots of the Old Jewish Cemetary, from 1478. For over 300 years, it was the only place Jews were allowed to be buried. It's still basically the same size it was all those years ago; people have been buried on top of one another, up to 12 deep. Gravestones are falling on one another and are scattered everywhere. The last person buried here was in the late eighteenth century. Above is a tombstone cemented into one of the walls. It was probably removed from another cemetary and placed there not so long ago.

The last stop on our Friday agenda was the Old New Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in Europe and one of the oldest examples of Gothic architecture in Prague. We barely got inside before it closed for the Sabbath. It's said that Rabbi Low, who was the head of the Talmudic School in Prague in the 1500s, created Golem here and later buried the pieces of Golem within the synagogue's rafters.

Friday night we went to the National Theater and saw Carmen, my first opera! The inside of the building was gorgeous, and we had great seats. It took me several songs to figure out that they were singing in French. Thank goodness for the closed-captioning screen thing above the curtain!

On Saturday, we walked over to the other side of the river to see the castle, a rather large compound of churches, palaces, torture chambers, etc. The guards, while impressive, were nowhere near as still or steely- eyed as the ones in London. Oh, well.

The New Town was filled with people, and it was almost too much. I think week day travel is where it's at. I cannot imagine what these European cities will be like in the summer. I think I'll stay in my little village from May to September.

We wanted to watch the lighting of the Christmas tree at the market on Saturday night, but so did everyone within a 30 mile radius. After listening to some German carolers for 45 minutes, with no sign of a lighting ceremony in sight, we retreated to a wine bar and managed to polish off three bottles of red and a vat of fondue. We eventually saw the tree - lit- when the crowd had thinned out. We were lit as well.

The Christmas music is in full swing around here, and I'm going to go buy some candy canes tomorrow. You know one of the nicest parts of the weekend? Not being accosted by Black Friday ads and pressure.

Go visit Prague, people.