10.2.12
It has dawned on me that in my last blog entry I forgot to talk about being on Austrian television! Yes, it’s true, Annika, Addison, and I were on PULS 4, an Austrian television channel for a talk show about the Mohammed video. It was definitely very difficult to understand what was going on, but it was still an amazing experience to actually be in a studio audience.
Me, Addison, and Annika on PULS4
On the weekend from the 21st to the 23rd we all went to Prague with our Ethnic Diversity teacher Frau Heuberger. We all had an amazing time, and Prague is truly a beautiful city with a rich history.
We traveled to Prague, Czech Republic in a double-decker bus and we sat on the top level at the very front. Yes, we had a super fun time:
Annika, Addison, and Nick on the way to Prague
Getting into Prague, it was at first a little unsettling to be surrounded by an incomprehensible language again (like when we traveled to Slovakia) but soon we realized that Prague is such a big tourist destination and everyone speaks English so the weekend was much easier than our day trip to Bratislava in terms of communication!
On the drive into Prague.
The first thing we had to do upon arriving in Prague was get money. They don’t use the Euro in Prague, rather Crowns, and finally we found a public ATM. Unfortunately, I forgot to tell my bank that I was going to the Czech Republic and I couldn’t use my card. I had to borrow from Annika the entire weekend, but here is a picture of 1000 crowns:
1000 Crowns.
We had a nice lunch with Frau Heuberger right next to Powder Tower and then met our tour guide, Teresa. Our first tour was on the inner city and we entered the old city through the Powder Tower and on the way to the famous Old Town Square we saw an Art Niveau building:
Night picture of Art Niveau building.
Night Photo of Powder Tower
a building in Cubisim style (very Czech design):
An example of Czech cubism.
where Mozart performed Don Giovani in the Stavovske Theater and the creepy dementor-like figure outside:
A creepy dementor figure.
the Wenceslas square where a philosophy student commit suicide as a martyr for the anti-communist movement:
Museum at the end of the Wenceslas Square
and the Havel Market (mini-Naschmarkt):
Havelska: Havel’s Market
Definitely the highlight of Prague is the Old Town Square. There is the beautiful old town-hall and astronomical clock.
Later, on our own, we came back to the Old Town Hall and took pictures from the tower:
The finals staircase to get to the top of the tower, (very narrow, only 1-way traffic)
Stop-light to show whether it was your turn to walk either up or down the staircase into the tower.
View from tower. People are crowding to watch the clocks and bells to go off.
View of Prague from the Tower
View of Prague from the Tower
View of Tyn Church from the tower.
View of Prague Castle from the tower.
There is also the Tyn Church (which I have been called the Maria Church because there’s a Maria figure on the top). What is interesting about this church is one of the towers is bigger than the other and they symbolize Adam and Eve and when the sun rises, Adam casts a shadow on Eve.
We also went underground and saw old Romanesque structures. I found it interesting because they had 21st century technology like holograms and projectors and there was a film about the Renaissance playing…
Our first night in Prague we went into town again to take night pictures. Most beautiful was the Tyn Church and I took several pictures of it:
In Prague they have a lot of street musicians in the squares. They range from terrible Native American impersonators with plastic feathers on there head, and amazing string quartets:
We all went to dinner at a restaurant just off the square and I had a very delicious lasagna. One thing that’s different about Prague, and Europe in general actually, is that good service is not as important as it is in the US. In the US, the customer is always right (even when he or she is wrong.) Here, the servers do not treat you that well, they’re not nice and they will try to dupe you. It’s also the hardest thing in the world for them to split the bill for you. Some will make you say it before hand, some won’t, and every time it is complicated and a catastrophe! You just can’t win…it’s a fact.
We spent a lot of time on Charles’ Bridge, taking pictures and just hanging around enjoying the atmosphere. There are a crazy amount of tourists and souvenir stands but the architecture and view are very beautiful.
Charles’ Bridge
Annika touching a priest who was thrown into the river for good luck.
Me on Charle’s Bridge with Prague Castle in the background.
Our second day in Prague we went on a tour of the Prague Castle. This castle has been used for a very long time by nobility including Rudolf II, an Austrian Habsburg. Because she thought it was ugly, Maria Theresa rebuilt the outside in Baroque style. Nowadays, the president works here but doesn’t live here.
Prague Castle
View of the city from Prague Castle
The Cathedral here was ordered to be built by Charles the IV (just like the University and Charles’ Bridge). It is built in the gothic and neo-gothic styles and I swear I have never seen so many people in a church before! There was also a wooden carving of a perspective view of Prague that was…rather brown.
Front of Cathedral
Inside the Cathedral
An aerial view wood carving of Prague..It’s…rather…rather brown, isn’t it?
Inside was also an original fresco and it was interesting to compare the older part of the church which is Gothic and the newer part which is Neo-Gothic. The new stained glass also has some Art Niveau influences and the Prague town symbol can be found in lots of places too.
Stained Glass, Art Niveau style
City of Prague Symbol
Original Fresco in Cathedral
Charles and his four wives are buried in the cathedral, and in the castle the famous “Defenstration” or “Fenstersturz” took place. This started the 30 years war where protestants threw Habsburg (catholic) secretaries out the window.
Right outside is a beautiful Golden Lane, where old middle-age houses have been repainted and are now really cute tourist souvenir shops. Franz Kafka lived in one of these houses.
The Golden Lane
Our last night in Prague we took more night pictures and went out to dinner, again near the square.
On our last day in Prague we did one more tour of the Jewish Quarter. This really was my favorite part of our trip! I loved going inside the different synagogues. It’s interesting because in the US I’ve never been in any actual “synagogues,” mostly just community centers, but these were actual synagogues, temples and they were rich with history and absolutely beautiful! Unfortunately, we couldn’t take pictures of the inside of most of them.
The first synagogue we went into actually isn’t used as a place of worship anymore, it’s a museum, rather a memorial about all the Czech Jews who died in the Holocaust. All the names are handwritten on the walls throughout the first and top floors of the synagogue. On the top floor there was also an exhibit of drawings done by children living in the ghettos and how life was for them.
First Synagogue: the Museum, Memorial.
The next synagogue we went to was the Old-New Synagogue, and this is the oldest synagogue in Prague, built in around 1280. It’s set up is quite old-fashioned, men had to wear a sort-of yarmulke to visit it, and one could see where women were allowed to watch services because they were not allowed inside the main hall with the men.
Old-New Synagogue
We then visited the Jewish Cemetery which just seemed to go on and on forever. There are 12,000 graves and was used from the 15th-18th centuries. People are actually buried on top of each other, with five-hands space in between them.
Just outside the cemetery there were many souvenir stands, and I bought a yarmulke that was hand made by the Czech woman selling them.
We also visited the Spanish Synagogue where we learned about the differences between Ashkanazi Jews in Germany and Sephardic Jews that came from Spain. This Synagogue is done in the morrish style and looks “exotic.” We learned how during the reign of Franz Josef I the Jews had a pretty good life and weren’t forced to convert during the last few decades of the Austrian Empire (Golden Age of Jews.) The Synagogue was built in the 1800s and services are still held here.
After our tour we went to a restaurant nearby for typical Czech food and beer (a Pilsner). Following lunch we had our last few hours in Prague to ourselves and we went back to the Havel’s Market to buy souvenirs and then to the Jerusalem Synagogue. We couldn’t go inside, but this synagogue was absolutely stunning on the outside!
Jerusalem Synagogue
Our time in Prague was very special and I am so happy to have explored a very historical and beautiful city in Europe (some believe it’s even older and more beautiful than Vienna but you can’t say that here!) Though the restaurant service is sub-par and we could have learned more from our tour guide than we did, our experiences in Prague were excellent and I’m so glad we had this opportunity!
Again, if anyone has specific questions about Prague just leave them in the comments and I’ll answer them. I want to keep this blog interesting for readers, so let me know what YOU want to hear about. Till next time!
rainbowtravels 