Day 18 - Prague

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Day 18
After enjoying two and half weeks of good summer weather, my luck finally ran dry….or wet. It was July 19th and rain pissed down on me the whole day. Before I arose, I enjoyed quietly listening to the sound of the rain hitting the window beside my head as I lay back in my cot. It was rather relaxing…until the familiar clattering of the hoofs upset the serenity. Ox-lady had arrived and she had returned for her daily pound of flesh.

"Water, water everywhere, I guess I'll just go drink". Once the gaggle of misfits woke from their drunken slumber, they decided that due to the inclement weather, they would drown their day in a successive series of Prague pints. I, on the other hand, was determined to not have a few drops of rain detract me from my goal. I was going enjoy the sites and history of this majestic medieval city nonetheless. Margo, again like me, preferred to also spend the day exploring and joined me as we set out to tour Prague.
We started with a search for something to eat. A quaint pastry and coffee shop did the trick. It was kinda cool. As the drizzle steamed down the windows, the two of us sucked back cups of good hot coffee and ate crumpets in a café overlooking Prague’s main square. To add to the atmosphere, as everything is so cheap in Prague, I decided to do something that is unthinkable in either Vienna or Berlin. I had a second cup of coffee. I think this is where the beauty of Prague really gets its name.

The first attraction on our list of things to do was see the statue of Good Ole King Wencelas followed up with a visit to the Prague Museum. After plodding our way through the maze of streets we found a statue of the big man. I looked up, my eyeball was hit by an errant monster raindrop and I immediately decided that while nice and old, it was time to see drier attractions. The museum must be a better way to spend the next few hours. What we found inside was quite unexpected. It was a Museum of Natural History. The place was crammed full of animal carcasses, stuffed fish, fossilized bones, bugs that are stabbed with little pins and a seemingly endless pile of rocks. While the attractions were old and probably had interesting stories, it was not the way I neither expected nor preferred to spend my time. However, on the bright side, I was able to dry myself out for a few hours and was better suited to get back to exploring the auld city.

After out visit to the museum, Margo and I decided to take off in different directions. She was in the mood for trinket shopping and I wanted to explore more of the city. My first stop was the old Jewish Quarter. Located nearby the main city centre, Prague’s Jewish ghetto was a cramped, dilapidated neighbourhood. Hiding behind a series of tall stone walls was a comparatively tiny cemetery which held the remains of thousands of Jews. Most of the dead were the victims of religious prosecution in less tolerant times. As a student of history, I know that while the German’s were best known for their barbarism and evil treatment of the Jews unfortunately, this bias and hatred was not limited to the Germans. Scores of similar cemeteries and ghastly evidence exists to prove that such treatment of Jews was not limited to the Third Reich.

As today was a Saturday, the Sabbath, and all Jewish religious places were closed I was unable to enter the cemetery for a closer look. I was, however, not totally shut out from my objective. I was able to peek through a hole in one of the cemetery walls and although I didn’t get the best look, what I did see was quite amazing. It looked like the ground was exploding. I later learned that there were so many folks buried within the tiny area that they had to be laid to rest standing up. Pretty cool eh? They didn’t think so.

I wandered around for a couple more hours, got bored and went back to the collective. There I cooked myself a nice meal of freshly baked lasagne, a bowl of soup and washed it all down with Prague beer. I think the dinner set me back for about a $1.20. For the evening, I went out on the town with the rest of the crew looking for some excitement (beautiful local women aching for a taste of western freedom or whatever). Nothing exciting appeared. Instead of continuing the fruitless search I decided to go home and crash. Within moments, the rest of the aimless crew also recognised the utter futility of our nomadic behaviour and joined me back at the flat.

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