Before we left the train station we visited an ATM machine. In Poland we had just gotten used to the zloty (“zlot-ee”) now we had to get accustomed to the Czech koruna. Our cash came out of the machine in bills that said 2000 on them. We knew right away this would take some getting used to. The exchange rate is about 18 cents for every Koruna. Here is a picture of a Czech bill.
We stayed at the Hotel Julian, which was well situated for all the areas of Prague we intended to explore. As mentioned in our last blog entry, we spent the first half day in Prague – sleeping. By the afternoon we had showered and were ready to explore the city. We knew the following from our recently discovered Rick Steve’s Easter Europe guidebook:
“Until about 1800, Prague was actually four distinct towns with four town squares, all separated by fortified walls. Each town had a unique character, which came from the personality of the people who initially settled it. Today, much of Prague’s charm survives in the distinct spirit of each of its towns.”
As we were looking for something different than we had already experienced - we started in the New Town. We understood New Town was the place to learn more about Prague’s communist past. We walked a good distance to the Wenceslas square. This was the gathering place where ordinary citizenry have gathered historically to protest oppressive rule. In 1989 this was where the “Velvet Revolution” took place. Many events led up to the peaceful demise of communism in this country in 1990. We tried to imagine 300,000 people gathering on this square every night for 7 days in 1989. They peacefully demonstrated their opposition to communist rule. They wanted to be free to control their own destinies. I thought of the word “revolution” and wondered how it was linked to the word “velvet”. This is because the split from communist rule – was smooth, no one was hurt, nothing was destroyed and Czechoslovakia was able to rule itself at the start of 1990. The results of revolution are continuing to evolve as Prague reinvents itself into a capitalistic society. Evidence of this change abounds.
We found our way to the Museum of Communism. This was a museum experience unlike anything we had so far had on the continent. It was difficult to find - poor signage contributed to our difficulty in locating it. We found our way through a courtyard and up the stairs of building that appeared to have been neglected. The artifacts on display were not protected as you would see in typical museums. It was evident all around that funding for this museum was an issue. As we went through the museum we got a deeper understanding of what communism was like in this country. The condition of the museum seemed to symbolize to us that communism had died in that country – but the memory of it lingered on for its residents.
We looked for a place called Le Patio. It was a hip place with “international fare from India, France and points in between.” We did our typical dinner routine. One order for an entrée and one order for a salad, then we split them. This has worked out nicely and enables us to get a balanced diet. The food was excellent – a good find. We had Tandoori Chicken. I have a recipe for this and love to make it. The chicken is marinated in a yogurt sauce for about 8 hours before grilling. The taste is unique and light. It pairs well with rice. This dish was paired with plain aromatic jasmine rice and had grilled pineapples with it. The salad had red endive and assorted field greens. The menu said the cheese was feta, but I am quite sure it was goat cheese. We ordered a bottle of water to accompany our dinner. When we received our bill I was surprised to discover that the water cost about 75% of an individual entrée.
Incidentally, we have had a few emails and comments on our food descriptions. I have chuckled at the comments which say they would expect such detailed descriptions from a dietitian. The detailed descriptions of food and nutrition are always by me – Kristy. Lauren never goes into detail on food. The other day Lauren was blogging about our authentic polish meal in the cabin restaurant on the way to the salt mine. I told her to be sure to write about my beetroot soup with meat dumplings. I described the broth to her as thin and light like a vegetable broth and not thick and creamy as I had expected it to be. I asked her to write that the dumplings were filled with a lightly flavored ground meet and that the broth was gently – not strongly flavored as I had imagined a beetroot soup might be. I also asked her to describe the goulash and potato pancakes that we had. She laughed at me and said – “are you kidding me Mom . . do you really want me to write that detail about the food”? As I told Aaron before he married Lauren . . . she is interested in the “science “of food . . Not the food. Incidentally – whenever there are pictures of food – Lauren has always staged and performed the photography of it. This is a skill she acquired in college.
The next day we decided to learn how to use their public transport system as we were going to be exploring different distant areas of the city. Our hotel desk clerk sold us four tram tickets – they were about $1 each. She took the trouble to show us to validate them when we got on the tram. As it turns out – nobody seemed to check on anybody’s tickets and you were riding on the tram under the honor system.
The tram dropped us at the foot of the Castle Quarter. We visited the St. Vitus cathedral, Royal Palace and St. George Basilica and convent. We departed the castle via the golden lane. There were two things in this cathedral that stood out from the others were have visited. They were :
The tomb of St. John of Nepomuk - This was made with more than 1 ton of silver. It was literally in the aisle taking up space. We thought . . . . he was so important that everyone has to walk around him forever.
Wenceslas Chapel – This was quite remarkable. The wall is encrusted with semi and precious jewels. The chapel is roped off to protect the jewels. Wenceslas is the same on of the Christmas carol fame.
In the Royal Palace we learned that angry Czech protestant nobles threw two catholic governors out of the window. This is an act based on an old law called “defenestration”. It is still permitted by law. The architecture of the palace was graceful and simple. In it’s simplicity it was as beautiful as anything we had seen.
On Golden Lane we saw where Franz Kafka once lived. Lauren was horrified by the veneration of this author. She studied ‘The Metamorphosis” during a humanities class in college. It was really weird and she is unsure why it gets so much attention. “ Czech people think he is the bomb.com so . . . whatever. “ That was quoting Lauren.
It was lunch time. We czeched out Rick Steves restaurant suggestions and vetoed each one. We happened upon a place called “The colonial Café”. It was of the same quality as we had had the night before and we were very happy with our selections.
We spent the afternoon exploring the Jewish Quarter. Prague’s Jews were allowed to collect and archive their treasures during Nazi rule before they were sent to concentration camps. They were warehoused in their synagogues. Hitler had plans to use many of these artifacts in a museum of the extinct race. The Jews in Prague lived like any other citizen . . . . their homes were similar, their clothing similar etc. They were distinguished by their religious practices and this enriched their culture.
The PInkas synagogue was a memorial to all Czech Jews that had been exterminated by the Nazi’s. On the walls of this synagogue was written the name of every person. The information recorded included the city they were from, their name, and date of birth, date of exportation or date last known to be alive. The cantor in the synagogue reads the names out loud continually. We visited about 6 synagogues and the Jewish cemetery. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the Jewish museums, so we cannot show you any of the beautiful things we saw inside. The architecture surprised us in that it was very similar to the Christian cathedrals we had seen. Some of the synagogues were plain –but some were ornately decorated as the Catholic sanctuaries we visited had been. We saw many artifacts of Jewish Religious Life: things that would have been used in worship such as menorahs and torahs. We saw artifacts from birth, bar and bat mitzvahs, marriage and death ceremonies and rituals. The Jewish cemetery was especially interesting. It is the only place where Jews could bury their dead. So the Jews were buried on top of each other. The dense collection of tombstones in the cemeteries illustrates this.
We strolled to Old Town Square where we took in the architecture and monuments visible there. The clock tower was especially interesting. It was an astronomical clock that had so many things going on. It shows both bohemian and modern time, indicates the time of sunrise and sunset. It portrays the signs of the zodiac and identifies the saint of the day. At the top of the upper clock circle there are four statues. One is a Turk with a mandolin to symbolize hedonism, a Jewish money lender symbolizes greed, a figure staring into the mirror is vanity. These three items remind us of death. The fourth figure is a skeleton holding the hour glass of death reminding us that our time is running out. As if that wasn’t enough for a clock to do . . . when it strikes the hour death tips the hour glass, pulls the cord, rings the bell , the windows open and the twelve apostles parade by. The clock dates to the 15th century.
We strolled down several streets and admired the architecture. Prague has examples of different styles such as Romanticism, Gothic, neoclassical, renaissance, Art Nouveau, Functionalism, Baroque, Rococo, and Cubism. This city is worth coming to – just to see the architecture. Different styles were butted right up next to each other. They were painted in different colors. It was an eclectic collection of styles and colors – but oh so beautiful. Tile roofs were predominant and added to the charm of the skyline. There were no skyscrapers, very few billboards. Everything was charming and picturesque.
Our last major Prauge tourist attraction was to stroll across the Charles bridge. My friend had commented that we must see that before we left. When she said this I wondered why the Charles bridge? There were several bridges that we could see that cross the river Vltava. We had already walked across one , the scenery was lovely. Carolee spoke highly of the Bridge; I wondered how this bridge could distinguish itself from the other bridges in Prague, what was so special about it.
Once we started walking on th bridge, we immediately knew why the bridge was so special. The cobblestones, statues, musicians, vendors, expansive scenic view, street lamps etc. made this strolling only bridge one you wanted to linger on. We enjoyed some of the musicians performing and took our time getting across. It was a memorable part of Prague. Thanks Carolee . . . without your tip we might have ignored the Charles as just another bridge.
We followed Czech tradition and touched this statue and made a wish.
We finished our evening at a Czech-Mex restaurant. Very good – we ate very well in Prague.
We foudn the menu funny.
"Traditional Mexican Chocolate Dessert"
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