A River Runs Through It

Prague, like many major European cities, has a river running through it. And like most, it basically bisects the city in half. Well, in this case, the river might as well have been a wall - because I never got across it. Let's see.....what shall I chalk this up to (at least partially)....hmmm....what do you call it? Oh yeah - RAIN.

I had three days and two nights in Prague - one of my only cities to be bookended by night trains. So I planned to go to one half one day, one half the other, and then just a free day to do whatever. Well, I should also mention that I either ate something in Budapest that wasn't so great, or that I've been up too late and getting up to early for about 3 cities now, or both. Because when I stepped off the night train from Budapest, I realized that the rickedy contraption they called a 'train', which had given me the worst night of sleep so far, had officially zapped me.

So I made it to my hosts house and crashed. Its taken hours of sleeping in in Prague each day to sort of catch back up in terms of physical endurance. I've walked over 300 by now at the halfway point, so it was good to rest a bit. Too bad it had to happen in a city as majestic as Prague.

Here I am boarding my night train in Budapest. Oh, Brian of three days ago, how I wish I could have warned you to the night's sleep (or lack thereof) ahead...




On the train, I entertained myself, like usual.



This part of the interior of my hosts place. Im staying at a cooking school! Relax, not on the stove. The owner/creator, Marcel, has an entire apartment in the back when I stayed. But then you walk out and it's like a whole other apartment that is just a kitchen. Marcel gave me a tour,and told me to just go into any fridge or cupboard and just take whatever I liked. Wow. I have stayed at some pretty random and great places along the way.



After sleeping in, I ventured into the Jewish Quarter. This is a ghetto of about 7 square blocks that Jews were bannished to live in in pre war and during the war. Here is a synagogue that is part of a 7 building tour of the area. Many aritfacts and objects of Jewish culture and heritage are in there.




Also part of the Jewish Quarter is this cemetary. It was the only cemetary Jews were allowed to bury their dead, and there isn't much real estate here, although more than is shown in this picture. Because they had limited space, they had to bury people often as much as 12 people deep, just one on top of another. Over time, these headstones settle and became crooked.



A common site at this cemetary are these two things: rocks and paper. (No scissors, ha.) The rocks laid on the gravestones symbolize when Jews used to just bury their dead in the sand, and would cover it over with large rocks to keep the body in place. The paper under these small stones are written prayers.



Inside another synagogue (this one about 500-600 years old), women weren't allowed to be in the same room with the men during prayer - something about how women can be distracting to men...has anyone ever heard of this? So check this out: There are the slots cut in the wall all around so women could stand on the other side of the walls and watch the service, without becoming a distraction to the menfolk. As I walked through, I thought "I bet there were some guys who would peer up during a prayer or two and wink at a pair of eyes they made contact with..." hahaha - No matter what time period it is, men are always men and women are always women.



Ooo....I bet that felt good.




I try to do one of these in at least every city. Do one yourself - I dont care how old you are, do it! There's something that just makes everybody happy about going up to a stranger and saying "Will you take a picture of me jumping in front of that church?"




Let this be a warning to you - if you're a liar liar pants on fire, you could become part of a tourist shop, too.




So great here. I saw this girl painting with watercolors or chalk that building in the back with the red roof. Just her sitting on that cobble stone street in the shade seemed like the most peaceful thing to do in early June. She never saw me, but I had to capture this.



Welcome to the Old Town! Let me take you on a quick spin tour of the Old Town Square.



This building is an old church (so many in Europe), but check this out: see that portion of wall painted pink? That used to extend alllll the way to the right of the picture to connect with another church (outta frame). However, when the Nazi's realized they were about to lose the war, they knocked it down with a tank, out of spite. The people of Prague rejoiced, ironically; they had always seen it as a 19th century eyesore in this medival square. Now, the remains of this pink wall (zoom in to see the broken edges) is Prague's monument to "sore losers".




In front of this same church are 27 crosses laid into the tile sidewalk. In June of 162o something, 27 monks were beheaded here for religious persecution. There was a time when Prague citizens would carefully step around these crosses when walking by out of respect. Now people stroll on by, talking on the phone or eating a sandwich.




Here's this crazy awesome Astronomical Clock Tower. It supposedly tells you not only the time, but also the position of the sun and the moon, when the sunset will be, and other complicated astronomically related stuff. I thought it was colourful and big.

Supposedly (no one I talked to seems to know if this is rumor or fact), but supposedly the people of Prague were so impressed and delighted at the pristine craftsmanship of this clock, they blinded the artist upon its completion so he wouldn't recreate it in another city. However: I saw a clock very much like this in Bern, Switzerland. See for yourself: there's a picture on my Swiss blog of me (what else) jumping in front of it.




Check out what it does at the top of every hour: The skelton holding the hourglass and ringing the bell is supposed to symbolize that our time is all running out...



The Spanish Synagogue. The self proclaimed "Most Beautiful Synagogue in Europe". There may be something to this statement. Just look at how orante it is. Lots of WWII memorabilia upstairs here too, about Prague citizens that never returned from concentration camps. One person I heard nearby asked "How is the religious community today?" The answer: Services dont happen all that freqently here in Prague, just once in a while - because there are only about 1,500 Jews practicing in Prague. Before the War, there were over 30,000.

At night many churches and synagogues host classical concerts (mostly for tourists). This one was amazing! "Gershwins Greatest Hits" it was called, along with a few other composers' works. And just imagine how it would have sounded in such a huge place. Amoung the great tunes performed by this quintet of strings and one trumpet:

-West Side Story: Main Theme and Maria
-Rhapsody in Blue
-An American in Paris
-I Got Rhythm
-Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
-Someone To Watch Over Me



Here's a little "Someone to Watch Over Me".




Back at the chef school with Marcel. After a night teaching people how to cook some Mexican dishes, I got to sample a few...mmm..




The next day I had decided to try and see the other side of the river, and also check out to see what other concerts I could find to go to that night. Maybe mix it up, I thought, how about some blues, jazz, a little who knows. A conversation with Marcel in the (late) morning:

Me: Yeah, so I'm thinking about going to see another concert tonight. There sure are a lot to choose from in town.
Marcel: Yeah. Like Metallica.
Me:.....(thinking the Czech accent had made me hear it wrong)...what?
Marcel: Yeah, you know, like how Metallica is playing here tonight. I wish I could go.
Me: ....(long silence)...You're kidding me.
Marcel: (smiling) Nope.
Me: (Just smiling and nodding).

Betcha didn't know I like Metallica, did you? I decided to cross the river and enjoy the other side of town as much as I could before going to the concert. That never happened. I got the equivalent of a $45 ticket on the tram for not having the proper ticket (my fault, but still to steep - a person later joked that a Czech person could get to Italy for that kind of money...thanks). Then my card was declined at ATM after ATM. Apparetnly almost no ATMs in the Czech Republic are on the Star Network, which is what I need. So I had to back track to the only ATM I knew worked for me the day earlier at the train station. Boo. (1st attempt to cross the river, fail.)

I didn't know if I would be able to get a ticket or not, but Marcel assured me it was no problem outside the stadium. Check out the loads of people in black t-shirts pouting out of the trams.




I got one!!!! Only paid about 15% above ticket price too, not to shabby.




That's not an illusion: James Hetfield is actualy playing two guitars at once. So cool.




This picture turned out sooo cool. Check out Lars (the drummer on the big screen) it looks like he's eating James! ahaha




Here's a little taste of Master of Puppets! I love when crowds all know the words at a concert.



Best picture of the concert. James always stands like he just got off a horse and still retains the shape, I thought. Captured this cool pic as they were switching to another shot.





Here's a little dedication that James (the lead singer) made just for me! Catch me very quickly near the end shouting "That's me!"




On the tram ride home: What is the deal with these "long shorts/short pants" things that are all the rage in Europe? Make your mind, people! I've heard Europeans think wearing actual shorts are only for the beach, and at any other time conidered tacky. So they comprimise with about 4 inches of exposed thigh. Ooo, daring. I think they look so dumb. Check out the guy further back with a jeans version + a fanny pack.




What a crazy, awesome two very different nights I had in Prague. First, a classical concert, then a hard rock concert.

So I said "Today the third day. Im going across the river". Nope. Rain. Here i sit like a caged animal checkin email. (2nd attempt to cross the river, fail.)




Marcel and I decided to make "breakfast" around 3pm. Bacon and eggs....oh man....I haven't had those in a long time. So much bread and cheese along the way...this was like heaven.



So, this is what you get when it rains - a very thorough blog! About to get on my next night train....hoping it will be smoother, but not holding my breath. Off to Poland now. Probably going to be one of the toughest countries to visit, in terms of war history...