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Published: July 11th 2011
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Jewish Cemetary
Cemetary behind the Pinkas Synagogue has over 80,000 people buried in a fairly small space with headstones dating as far back as the 1200's We enjoyed the apartment in the morning and brought breakfast in for a second day. Our main stop for the day was the Jewish Quarter, which we knew would be less accessible on Saturday. We obtained a ticket and audioguide covering several different sites in the area. We started with the Pinkas Synagogue which has a series of rooms displaying the handwritten names of 77,000 Czech Jews killed in the holocaust, organized by hometown and by family. There is also a display of art drawn by children during the holocaust, showing side by side their fear and anxieties along with hopes and dreams. From there we entered the Jewish Cemetery – a burial plot that goes back hundreds of years. Twelve thousand aged and weathered tombstones are all packed into a relatively small series of courtyards. The stones are often quite close together and protrude at odd angles, accentuating the age of the cemetery. We visited the Klausen synagogue, the ceremonial hall and the “Old-New” synagogue picking up bits of history along the way. Although the ticket to the Jewish Quarter lists seven sites, they can all be seen quite rapidly, and none moved us as much as the Great Synagogue
Lauren with St. Vitus Cathedral
Taken near the Prague Philharmonic Building on the riverfront in Budapest. We needed a break so we decided to skip or at least postpone the last few sights on the tour until later in the day and headed off towards Old Town Square. Seizing the opportunity to mock her parents, Lauren suggested that “just to be different” maybe we could eat lunch today. We picked a tourist restaurant just as we entered the square and reviewed our guidebook over lunch. From where we sat we could see the Tyn church with its imposing black spires and the monument to Hus in the center of the square. Following lunch we walked through the square to take in the many sights and arrived at the famous astronomical clock in time to stand with the crowd for the striking of the hour. We browsed some souvenir shops as well as fine crystal shops and made our way through charming alleys and side streets to the Ungelt courtyard behind the Tyn church where we identified a dinner location and made reservations. We exited the square on Pařížská street (lined with trees and designer shops and named for Paris). The street has a clear view all the way to the river and across, where
one can see the former location of a colossal statue of Stalin. We made one more stop in the Jewish Quarter at the Spanish Synagogue, named for the Moorish style in which it was built and decorated. The interior was spectacular with dazzling arrays of geometric designs in deep browns, reds and greens accented with gold. After taking in the beauty of the synagogue we headed to the famous Charles Bridge (Karlův Most). This pedestrian bridge is lined with statues and vendors selling jewelry and art. On the far side, the bridge arrives at “Little Quarter” with its significant old world charm. We hiked up the cobblestone main street lined with shops and quirky architecture and stopped for photos at the graffiti-covered “Lennon Wall” and an old waterwheel behind a metal fence covered with padlocks (see photo caption for explanation). We followed the road under the Charles Bridge and looped back up to the main road to find an ice-cream snack and then headed home for a nice long break before dinner. As we hiked back through Old Town Square to find our dinner, we were enchanted by the very fine classical music playing on a temporary stage set up
Andrew, Ice Cream and Astronomical Clock
The clock is a marvel made over 500 years ago with the hands that look like the sun and moon and orbit around the center labelled Prague. Explored with ice cream, life really doesn't get much better! for the weekend’s festivities celebrating independence. We ate at an excellent Indian restaurant (based on guidebook recommendation), and found, upon making our way back to the square, the classical music had been replaced by a Czech rock band that would appeal more to the younger late-night crowd on this Friday night. In Prague, as in Budapest, we were lucky enough to be in town for a festival weekend, leaving us with the feeling that both of these cities were filled with enthusiastic and proud young people, excited about their future.
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