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Published: August 2nd 2010
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Wenceslas' Shrine
at St. Vitus' Cathedral, Prague This morning was a bit of a repeat of yesterday... In the sense that the first thing I did was take the tram up to the Castle. This time, however, I bought admission and rented an audioguide for a couple of hours. The tour was fairly interesting, although I have to admit I was kind of disappointed to learn that St. Vitus' cathedral is mostly a 19th and 20th century structure. I was still fascinated by the reliquaries and such, since they were mostly housed in the older sections of the Cathedral, and the tomb/relics of St. Wenceslas was pretty impressive. The one thing I need to figure out, but didn't, was how this Wenceslas fits with the guy who's in the Christmas carol. I'm sure Google will find me the answer.
The castle also housed an exhibit entitled (imaginatively) The Story of Prague Castle. It was brilliant. Well laid out, thematically coherent, with "paths" that you could follow based on your interests and amount of time you wanted to spend there. I was fascinated by the "Story of Burials" section (oh, I know, not a surprise), but after a while began to wonder whether the amount of grave goods
on display was a bit excessive. The numbe of corpses they must have stripped for textiles alone became a little creepy, when you started adding up. It was the first time I've been in a museum where I wondered whether it wasn't sort of disrespectful to the dead. But fascinating nevertheless. I wrote postcards in the courtyard and posted them from the castle itself (hoping that shows up on the postmark) - a coworker's daughter just broke her arm pretty severely (shoulder-to-wrist cast), so she has also been added to the postcard list.
After getting my fill of the Castle, I headed out, over the Charles Bridge (where I stopped to buy a black and white photo from a vendor that will go nicely with the ones already in my place), and headed for the Jewish quarter. First stop, the Pinka synagogue. It is... I don't know what to call it. Heartbreaking? Inside, the walls are inscribed with the names of Czech Jews killed in the holocaust. They're written in print less than an inch high... And they cover almost every surface.
From there it was to the old Jewish cemetery (what? You thought I might make it
through a country without seeing a cemetery? Ha!). A pretty miraculous survival, given the religious and political history of the area. I was amazed at the tombstones, some dating back to the 14th and 15th centuries, some probably even earlier. The way they tilt and jut out and yet still persevere... Another thing I need to look up is the custom of putting small pebbles or coins on top of the tombstones. I used to know what it was about, but have totally forgotten.
As evening came on, I again wandered through Prague in the general direction of my hostel. I gotta hand it to Prague, too... They have some of the best fake football jerseys I've ever seen. I wandered into a store near the Charles Bridge and almost rejoiced at finding a small Czech jersey. Then I took a closer look. No official hologram. Things that should have been embroidered were printed or embossed. Tags instead of the label printed directly on the shirt. Close, but not quite right. I ended up getting the medium from the place I'd scoped out yesterday.
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