How would you describe Prague in two words? Cool buildings! Like this one Mozart gave concerts in.
What is there to do on the other side of the river? The castle. Snazzy white peacocks included! You can even go in when the president is there working, his flag waving outside (guards out front of course.)
What did you eat there? Bratwurst mostly. It is cheap and there is a stand every ten feet.
We also stumbled upon this fantastic dessert. It's like a hollow cinnamon roll with nutella inside! Yumyumyum.
What are all these people looking at? Prague's famous astronomical clock. On the hour the figures on the sides start to move and dance as bells ring and a door at the top opens. 12 apostle figures take turns moving forward and bringing gifts to the door. It is all topped off my a mechanical rooster crow. This seemed like a freaking iPod in the 1400s.
You can tell the zodiac, time, where the sun is and lunar cycle all from the various hands on the clock.
The bottom circle is a calendar with the 366 days of leap year. Each one is accompanied with a name. If you want to name your Czech baby something other than one of these 366 choices you have to go to the government for official forms. So all Czechs have a birthday and a "name day," which is not as fun because you buy drinks for everyone else on your name day)
Are there any other cool clocks in Prague? Yes, a Hebrew one that goes counter clock-wise just like Hebrew is read right to left. It is by the synagogue that has a legend about a "golem" that was a machine made by a Rabi who was accidentally left on and now no one returns from going into the attic where he was kept. DUN DUN DUN.
What else is in the Jewish section? Some really powerful things. Jews were kept separate as usual in this eastern European country. They were only given a small plot of land for their cemetery so they had to pile graves on top of each other. The tombstones are squished trying to mark their corresponding graves. The cemetery at the end was more than 6 meters deep with people.
The Pink Synagogue (which is where the cemetery is found) also is a memorial and museum. The inside walls are completely covered with the names of the 77,000 Czech Jews who died in the Holocaust. The Czech people decided to make this monument to honor them and after all the painstaking work it was spitefully destroyed during another one of the periods during which the country was occupied. They later re-wrote them (still by hand) a second time. The picture below is just one of three big rooms covered from floor to ceiling with tiny handwriting of the names and birth and date deaths of the victims. Very powerful experience.
It was incredible to think, "These were just the Czech citizens...just the ones they knew about...not even a 6th of the total number of victims of the Holocaust."
The museum upstairs had drawings done by children who were held in a Jewish ghetto that were saved by their teacher who had them do art as therapy. Surprisingly, only two or three were gruesome, depicting violence and death, most were hopeful - drawings of home and the future.
What do I touch for good luck on the bridge? This death scene. NOT the other bronze thing (a dog) which was put up by Czech students as a joke. The tourists who don't know the difference are doomed to a wish of pregnancy instead of good luck.
What are these marks so high up on the wall? How high the water was during various floods in Prague!
Why are these statues peeing on the Czech Republic? It is the piece outside the Kafka museum made by controversial sculpture David Cerny. It is meant to represent how Czech's bigger neighbors have always treated the smaller country. They actually rotate at hips as well.
Why is there a bumpy cross in front of the famous Natural History Museum? Prague's history is riddled with occupations - the Germans, the communists... It actually wasn't it's own independent nation until very recently. In the 60s a student lit himself on fire in the middle of a public square to protest not just the communist occupation, but the Czech's (what he felt was) submissive reaction to it. This is his grave; he is considered a national hero.
Why is there a real rotten arm, hanging in one of the small churches? It is connected to a legend that a thief came to try and steal a necklace off the statue of Mary and she came to life, grasped his arm, and turned back to stone. The priest who found him had to cut his arm off to get him free and they hung it in the church as a warning to those who steal from God.
What is with the 6 meter statue made out of keys? It represents freedom - the people were not locked out of going wherever why wanted by the strict communist rules anymore.
What saint is this church (which is on the way to secret police headquarters and the house where Amadeus was filmed) named after? One who God gave a beard when she prayed to him to intervene in the marriage she was about to be forced into with a pagan man. The pagan didn't want no bearded lady.
What is that cool colorful wall? John Lennon wall! Although he never visited Prague his music was a symbol of liberty to them. What started as one graffiti site turned into a collage where people still leave their mark today.
Peace out Prague.
