Prague
April 5-7
April 5
I arrived in Prague on a rainy day. After taking the bus and subway, I finally found myself on the street that my hostel was supposedly on. Well, little did I know that my hostel was going to be super hidden. So, for around 10 minutes in the pouring rain I ran frantically around a main street in Prague looking for it. Finally I found it only to find that it was up 3 flights of stairs. Wet, tired, and carrying my heavy backpack I finally made it to reception. I got to the hostel before Shay, who was training it in, so I just rested in our room until she got in. We were in a six-person mixed-sexes room. I ran into two Brazilian girls and got to talk about my travels there. I also ran into a 50 year old man wearing tighty whities- getting the real hostel experience, right?
Once Shay showed up, we decided that we were just going to wander for the rest of the day. The first stop on our wandering was to buy me an umbrella. As I quickly learned, my packing for this trip was not suffice. I did not pack any rain clothing or snow clothing. Prague money is Krons and the conversion is 18 krons:1 dollar. So everything is just super cheap for us. I bought a pretty cheap umbrella and we made our way into Old Town Square. Prague was not bombed during WWII and if anything, was cherished by Hitler, so all the buildings in Old Town Square are original and medieval looking. In the square is the famous astronomical clock, which every hour has a little show. It involves a small skeleton pulling a bell and different ‘sins’ shaking their head no. The sins are greed, vain, pleasure, and entertainment. Also, apostles go around the doorways above the sins. After the bells go off, a man on top of the tower then proceeds to play a song on the trumpet into all four directions to tell the city the new hour. Also, on the clock is a calendar. The clock was built in the 15C and still works properly, which is impressive. We got to the clock just in time to see it go off and enjoyed the show.
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| Astronomical Clock |
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| Astronomical Clock |
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| The Apostles Going Around |
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| The Apostles Going Around |
A friend from Haverford who studied abroad in Prague last year wrote me up a huge list of things I should do and see. It was super helpful as Shay and I started to wander around. We went up and down streets just trying to get a feeling of the city. We walked through the Easter Market in Old Town Square, saw Tyn Church, saw Powder Tower, went through the shopping district, and walked over Charles Bridge. All of this walking was done in the pouring freezing rain mind you. Shay and I got dinner on the other side of Charles Bridge. My Haverford friend advised me that most Czech food was not good, but she recommended that I try their fried cheese? I ordered it and it reminded me of a mozzarella stick. Wet and tired, Shay and I decided to head back to the hostel and rest up for the next day.
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| Old Town Square |
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| Tyn Church |
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| Church in Old Town Square |
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Old Town Square
Kafka's father's shop was in the bottom of this building. |
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| Old Town |
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| Powder Tower |
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| Old Town |
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| Old Town |
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| Entrance to Charles's Bridge |
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| View of Prague from Charles's Bridge |
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| Charles's Bridge |
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| Charles's Bridge |
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| View of Prague and Prague Castle in the distance |
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| Charles's Bridge |
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| Charles's Bridge |
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| Charles's Bridge |
April 6
Shay and I woke up and got breakfast at one of the Easter Markets near our hostel. From there, we headed back towards Old Town Square. We found a “Tips Tour” to join and began our led journey around town. It has become a huge fad these days to have ‘free tours’ or ‘tips tours’ in these cities. Basically, everyday at 11 AM and like 2 or 3 PM different free tours are offered and meet in a central location in the city. Since the tours are free, they don’t get you into any sites, but instead give you information about them and you can choose to go back and pay to visit if you desire. At the end of the tour, you tip the tour guide what you see fit.
Our tour guide was a old Czech woman, who spoke decent English. She led us around the big sites from describing the history of the astronomical clock to the slight effects of WWII on the city. She pointed out architecture and different churches or bars that had history, a story, or just some meaning. When we went to Wenceslas Square we learned about Prague Square and we wandered into the Jewish district where she told us about each synagogue. On the tour we met a mid-30s woman from the D.C. area. She was traveling alone and became fun to talk to. She is an elementary school teacher and is unmarried, which would explain why she was traveling alone. She was previously in Budapest and spoke highly of it. She supposedly travels a lot (basically in every break she has) and usually does it alone since “her friends that do have money don’t have time, and her friends that do have time [like other teachers] don’t have the money.”
It was interesting coming from Vienna to now Prague since there was so much similar history. Prague at one point was under control of the Hapsburgs, whom Shay and I knew a lot about at this point. We could follow along well with the Hapsburg history since we were accustomed to all the names. Also, I learned that the opera theatre in Prague was the first place to show Mozart's Don Giovanni! I knew that Vienna at Mozart's time was completely smitten with his work, but it was crazy to come from Mozart's home then to Prague where his work was finally respected!
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A Czech merchant tried to bring Italian architecture and fresco
to Czech. It was popular until the weight of the snow almost
destroyed it. |
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The mole plush doll was and is popular among children.
He is almost like their mickey mouse. |
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| Cubism architecture |
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| Communist Architecture |
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| Wenceslas Square- Site of Prague Spring Uprising |
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| Sigmund Freud hanging in there! |
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Before people read they would have images of their
professions on their stores rather than signs! |
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| Bar where Bill Clinton went in! |
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| Statue of Kafka |
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| Kafka's beetle in the stone on the ground. |
After the tour ended we ended up getting a cheap lunch with her at the Easter Market in Old Town Square.
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| Old Town Square |
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Easter Market in Old Town Square
From there, the three of us wandered back to the Jewish quarter. I bought a ticket that had all the synagogues included. Shay did not end up buying a ticket since it was relatively expensive and she had a limited budget. I on the other hand really wanted to see the synagogues and had no qualms in supporting the community. She said she was fine waiting outside the synagogues for me, but I still felt bad. Since the woman also bought a ticket, her and me would go into the synagogues and then meet up Shay outside. I felt bad for Shay, but it ended up that we could reuse a ticket, so once I would come out of a synagogue I would give her my ticket and she would head in. |
A quick run down of the synagogues:
The Old-New Synagogue- This is the oldest surviving medieval synagogue in Europe and also its oldest active synagogue. This is also where supposedly the ‘Golem’ remained in the attic. The golem is a clay creature created by rabbis, who used him to protect the community from anti-Semitism.
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The Old- New Synagogue
Golem is kept in the attic! |
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| Inside the old new synagogue |
Pinkas Synagogue- This synagogue turned into a memorial to the 80,000 Czech victims of the holocaust. On the wall are all the names written out with her place of birth, date of birth, and date of death. On the wall are also the name of the ghettos were the Jews were kept. The whole time in the background a cantor is heard singing each name. Moreover, the synagogue holds daunting drawings by children. The children used to draw in the ghettos and camps and their work depicts the real life situations they were in.
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| The names on the wall in Pinkas Synagogue |
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| The names on the wall in Pinkas Synagogue |
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| The names on the wall in Pinkas Synagogue |
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| The names on the wall in Pinkas Synagogue |
Jewish Cemetery- From the Pinkas synagogue, you can walk into the cemetery. The cemetery was started in the 15C and went until the late 18C. There are at least 40,000 Jews buried there. The people are buried in layers so even though there are only a set number of tombstones (approximately 12,000), the people go down deep into the ground. Famous rabbis, Talmudic scholars, scientists, and historians are buried there. Even the rabbi who created golem is buried there.
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| Old Jewish Cemetery |
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| Old Jewish Cemetery |
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| Old Jewish Cemetery |
Klausen Synagogue- This synagogue turned into a mini museum that shows ‘Jewish family and customs.’ So basically….my life. I had a nice giggle going through the museum, watching people read fascinated with a bris or mikvah. I’m like ‘been there done that.’ They did have a lot of relics and who doesn’t like seeing a medieval siddur?
It did make me somewhat homesick though. That night was the first night of Passover and it would be my first Passover away from home. When I got the section on Passover traditions, I got really upset. There was a Haggadah opened to the song ‘Dayenu,’ which is always the highlight of the Hyder-Cohen-Cills seder. I then realized that I should probably fulfill my mother’s (and secretly my) wish of finding a seder in Prague.
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| Inside the Klausen Synagogue |
Ceremonial Hall- This building is right next to the cemetery was used as the mortuary. Now it is just an exhibit.
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| Ceremonial Hall |
Spanish Synagogue- While everyone believes that this is a Sephardic Synagogue due to its name, its just Ashkenazi with Spanish-flavored architecture.
There were other synagogues I did not go into since
(1) They weren’t that famous
(2) I felt bad since Shay, the good ol’ Irish catholic, seemed to be getting her fill of Jews
(3) I had to start looking for a seder!
I saw on a brochure an ad for a Kosher Market in the Jewish District. Since I wanted to buy Matzah and find a seder, I figured I should check it out. Welllll, the market was closed (since that always happens to us Hyders). While I was upset outside of it, I ran into a frum man, who told me about Chabad. I tried to wander to Chabad, but once again got awfully lost. I then found another frum man (I guess all the women were cooking?) who gave me better directions. I told Shay that this would be my last attempt since it was raining again and it was cold.
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DEAR JEWISH THINGS,
WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS CLOSED WHEN I COME
LOVE, SYDNEY |
I finally found the Chabad! I was jumping around in excitement, as everyone around me just stared at me blankly. Anyways, I ran in to the Chabad and found someone working there.” Scared that they didn’t speak English, I slowly explained that I knew it was last moment but that I really wanted a ticket. The boy happened to speak English and led me into the rabbi’s office where I met a yeshiva boy my age. Talking to the yeshiva boy, I found out that he was studying in New Jersey in Morristown! What a small world! He told me that he studied abroad in Prague last year and stayed in touch with the rabbi, who invited him back this year to help out with the seder. I was not certain how many yeshivas were in New Jersey, but I knew a good friend from synagogue back at home was in Yeshiva in Jersey and decided to take a chance and ask if they knew each other. LOW AND BEHOLD- they are davening buddies in Yeshiva and are good friends/classmates! JEWISH GEOGRAPHY AT ITS FINEST! Seriously, it is hard to believe that a guy I grew up with was friends with the random guy I just met in Prague.
Anyways, the yeshiva boy also sold me some matzah, which he got a price reduction for me since I was on a tight budget (thanks!). I then ran out to Shay and started getting all excited.
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My Newly Acquired Matzah thanks to the
Prague Chabad! |
We had time to spare until the seder, so Shay got dinner in the market square. One of the touristy things to do in Prague is to try absinthe. *Cover your eyes mom and dad* So, Shay and I asked our hostel for a good place to go and after wandering lost we finally found it. We ordered our 70 proof absinthe got to enjoy the little show. When you do absinthe right, the server will light a sugar cube on fire, let it drip into the absinthe on a special spoon that is held over the drink. Then they drop the sugar cube in and let the whole drink catch on fire. After burning the absinthe for a while, they put out the fire and give it to you to drink. Awesome. They also provide you with water and peanuts. Their advice “small sips and separate them with water.”
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| Absinthe Bar |
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| Some minty Absinthe! |
How does one explain the taste of a 70 proof drink? Numbing? Burning? Visceral? Taking a sip was an ordeal in itself. You first need the courage to take the sip then you have to hold it in your mouth and prepare yourself for the swallowing. As you swallow, you can just feel the burning down your throat into your stomach….and then your mouth goes numb for a while. Shay ended up taking a video of my face while I drank it because she wanted me to see how in pain I looked as I sipped it and she was so right. I really don’t understand how people drank this on a normal basis. Anyway, our mindset of ‘When in Rome’ did not upset in our little absinthe extravaganza.
Afterwards, I headed to the subway to go to the seder. The seder was in the new part of town and I was a little nervous to go since I had little to no direction and it was dark. I did know it was at the Hilton, which I assumed people would know? I finally found the place and even though I was a little late, I took my place at my table. The seder was huge with 200 people! I was sat a table with an American family, a woman living in Israel but doing business in Prague, and kids from America studying abroad in Prague. The kids studying abroad in Prague were super nice and helpful with advice about the city. Their experience sounded so different from mine and we had fun swapping stories. When they told me that for the first two weeks of their arrival the temperature did not rise above zero degrees Fahrenheit, I was super happy to have been in London.
The seder was led by the orthodox Chabad men, which meant it consisted of drunk frum men dancing, singing, and praying. Seriously- this is where the party was at! The rabbi would get up on a chair and just start dancing. Frum events never disappoint….unless you are stuck on the woman’s side….I met the rebbetzin and we talked about how she had to kosherize the Hilton kitchen and help cook all the food! And she had an infant on her hip. What a woman! I also ran into the yeshiva boy again in between prayers, as he was busy schmoozing and leading prayers.
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| Chabad Seder |
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| Chabad Seder |
The seder was actually mostly Czech people, which was really heart warming. There were the handful of Americans, most of them being study abroad kids like me, but the Czech community was definitely out there in numbers.
I left the seder, departed with the Prague kids, and made my way back to Shay, who was reading in the hostel. Shay and I explored Prague at night and then went to bed.
April 7
Shay and I headed back into the rain on our third day to Prague Castle. We were running somewhat low on cash and did not want to pay the huge price for the Prague Castle. While you can walk around for free in the courtyard and in some of the churches, you need to pay to go inside some sites. Shay secretly snuck into some parts you needed to pay for to take some pictures. We now know what it feels to be homeless.,, bumming around cities trying to be as cheap as possible. The Castle provided some really nice views of the city.
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| Charles's Bridge + Prague Castle |
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| Charles's Bridge + Prague Castle |
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| View of Prague from Prague Castle |
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| Prague Castle |
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| Prague Castle |
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| St. Vitus Church in Prague Castle |
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| Famous alfons mucha window in St. Vitus |
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| St. Vitus church in Prague Castle |
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| St. Vitus Church in Prague Castle |
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| Prague Castle |
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| Prague Castle |
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| View from Prague Castle |
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| Shay and I with Prague in the background |
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| Interesting Hitler Stamps we found |
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| Communist Stamps |
After the Prague Castle, Shay and I headed towards the metronome. The metronome is a huge statue that replaced the huge statue of Stalin that once stood there. My friend from Haverford recommended it and said that we needed to climb to the top to get the best view. The stairs up were super tiring, but she was not wrong! Prague was truly gorgeous from up above. Shay and I then walked around the gardens up at the top and made our way to the beer gardens. The beer garden was closed, but the rest of the park was nice. It was really residential and I felt like we were the only real tourists there. Shay and I sat, enjoyed the view, and our last couple of hours in Prague.
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| The Metronome |
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| The Metronome |
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| View of Prague from the Metronome |
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| View of Prague from the Metronome |
Finally, we headed back, got our bags and headed to the train station. We were taking an overnight sleeper train to Krakow!
Overall, Prague had a really old feel. It was really authentic and was what I expected it to be. I could see why all my friends who studied abroad there loved it so much!
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