Danube Extravaganza: No Really, I Swear I'm Not Taking a Picture Because I'm Out of Breath - Day 12 & 13

 With two days down in Prague, I had two days left and then my trip would be over.  It felt like it had been longer than 2 weeks.  Probably because I fit so much in during that time.

Sunday the 26th started out snowy, though it wasn’t a lot of snow.  For the most part, city streets and sidewalks were clear as the snow had melted on contact.  The sidewalks across the bridge I crossed was the only place I actually saw snow on the sidewalks.  But the snow did litter the plant-life making it beautiful.  

The Prague Metronome

As it was Sunday, that meant the Jewish Museum of Prague would be open (they were closed for the Sabbath on Saturday).  The Jewish Museum of Prague is spread across 5 synagogues and 1 cemetery in the Jewish Quarter of the city.  None of them are more than 2 or so blocks from each other.  The history of the Jewish Museum of Prague is rather ironic.  We have the Nazis to partly thank for creating a museum that was full of Jewish artifacts.  While the Jewish population of Prague had been collecting artifacts for years, when the Nazis invaded, they decided to take Jewish artifacts from across Europe and bring them to Prague, where they would eventually create a “Museum of an Extinct Species.”  This meant that a lot of artifacts from Prague, the Czech Republic, and other places were preserved, instead of dismantled and destroyed.  Also, for the most part, Prague avoided any sort of major bombing during the war, so the artifacts collected there were safe.  What wasn’t safe was the Jewish population of Prague.  

One of the things I learned while in Prague was that in 1938, an agreement was signed between Germany, Italy, the UK, and France that ceded parts of Czechoslovakia to Germany (without permission from Czechoslovakia).  The land that was ceded was home to many ethnic Germans.  The thought was that it would satiate the Germans and they wouldn’t try to expand anymore.  Obviously that proved incorrect as around 6 months later, Germany found their way into power in Czechoslovakia through a puppet government (all of this seems to be somewhat familiar sounding with Russia-Ukraine).  

Many of the Jews of what is now the Czech Republic were sent to Terezin (Theresienstadt) Ghetto located about halfway between Prague and Dresden, Germany.  Tens of thousands were held there before eventually being sent to concentration camps.  Inside one of the synagogues, Pinkas Synagogue, the walls are covered with the names of the Czech Jews who perished during the war.  They are sorted by the city they resided in, then by surname, then by first name.  Where known, dates of birth and death are detailed.  The synagogue has over 78,000 names on the walls.  Upstairs is an exhibit of artwork done by children housed at the Terezin Ghetto.  Then under each piece of art was the child’s name, the date it was done, and their approximate date of death (or in a few cases a note that they survived).  4,000 Drawings were found in the suitcase of an artist who worked with the kids in Terezin.

Out back of the Pinkas Synagogue is the Old Jewish Cemetery, which was used as a burial ground for Jews in the 15th-18th century.  Because they had run out of space and it goes against Jewish beliefs to move old graves, over time they would add more soil and another layer to the grave, which means that in some areas of the cemetery there are many layers of graves, which explains why there are so many gravestones in there.  There are some places in the cemetery where trees have started to grow over the gravestones.  A guide said that because it is part of a UNESCO Heritage Site, they can’t do anything to prevent this from happening because even the trees within the grounds are protected.  

The Maisel Synagogue shares the history of Jews in the Czech Republic, but during the earlier time period of the 9th to 17th century.  The Spanish Synagogue was the only one of the synagogues that still had worship space inside.  Around the edges of the space were displays about the history of Jews in the Czech Republic during the 18th through 20th centuries.  For a long period of time, laws allowed only the oldest Jewish son to marry.  Younger brothers were unable to marry.  It also wasn’t until the 1870s that Jews were allowed to work in certain professions.

Spanish Synagogue

The Klausen Synagogue and the Ceremonial Hall next door detailed Jewish customers from birth to death, an explanation of the Jewish calendar and the main holidays in Judaism, and the texts that are vital to the Jewish faith.  Overall, I think the museum covered a whole range of topics and was well worth the visit.  I spent something like 3 hours there.

I wandered some more through the Jewish Quarter and Old Town.  I found another place that was known for good hot chocolate and got myself a hot chocolate and a croissant that came with chocolate to pour over it.  It was indeed a good hot chocolate. 

Choco Cafe

As I slowly wandered back to my hostel, I came across a group of men singing and playing instruments on the main thoroughfare.  I stood there and listened to them play through 3 songs.  It was snowing, probably around 30, and they were all there playing their instruments with no gloves on.  At one point there were 3 little kids dancing to the traditional sounding songs they were playing.  

That evening, after having had no roommates the night before, I ended up with a group of 3 friends from Switzerland and 2 friends from Germany as roommates.  There were some interesting conversations regarding university studies, music, and work in the room that evening. 

On my last day in Prague, I slept in because the only thing really left on my list of things to see was Prague Castle.  After packing my stuff up, checking out, and putting my luggage in storage, I headed out.  Prague Castle, like any good castle, is up on a hill.  There were a load of steps up to the castle and as I haven’t exactly been doing stairs as exercise recently, I had to take a picture break halfway up so I could catch my breath.  I had been walking 25,000 steps a day, but stairs…man, they’ll kill you.  The castle was rather unique because it had gone through some renovations over the years.  Part of it looked rather new from the outside, but upon visiting the inside, it really still looked like an old castle inside.  

My "hold on I need to catch my breath" picture.

My ticket got me into St. Vitus Cathedral, the old royal quarters, an older smaller church, and a place called Golden Lane.  The Cathedral was the first place you ran into.  An old gothic church, it had high ceilings, nice stained glass, and a very elaborate tomb.  The cathedral also had some nice artwork on the outside as well.  

From there, I went into the old royal quarters.  You first walked into a large hall that was used as a meeting space.  Off to one side of the room was the entrance back into the private royal quarters.  If I was writing this a few days ago, I would have had some more to say about the space, but I’ve forgotten some of the details and will just move on.

Back side of St. Vitus Cathedral

The next place was the old church.  It was unusual in the sense that it was very narrow and long.  The church was built way back in the 10th century.  Ludmila, the patron saint of Bohemia, is buried in the church.

The last place I visited at Prague Castle was a place called Golden Lane.  This place has a curious history.  Once upon a time there was a set of fortifications around the castle.  Then they expanded the castle a bit, leaving some space between the old fortifications and the new ones.  For the most part, this area was out of the way and some of the palace guards asked the king if they could build small housing units in the walls in this area and the king said yes.  They built up walls and eventually ended up with tiny houses that were not more than about 10 feet deep and 10 feet across.  These houses eventually got rented out to people like seamstresses, healers, goldsmiths (for which it got its name…though the text said they were rather poor goldsmiths), and there was even a pub there.  People were still living there until the mid-1900s.  At one point even Franz Kafka lived in one of the tiny homes.  

Golden Lane

Out the end of Golden Lane was a tower that housed a dungeon and torture chamber.  All your necessary devices for torture were housed there.  Definitely not the sort of place you would want to find yourself.  

After leaving the castle, I took the long way down the hill through some gardens, which led me into a park.  I followed the river back around and crossed Charles Bridge one last time.  Then I wandered through the streets of Old Town and Old Town Square one last time.  I made my way back by way of one of the hot chocolate shops I had stopped at previously.  Then I ate at Bageterie Boulevard again and picked up my stuff to head to the train station where I would catch a bus to the airport.  While I wasn’t flying out that night, I did have a room at the Holiday Inn across from the airport so I didn’t have to find a way to the airport at 3am in the morning.

And with that, my trip was done.  I flew back home with no issues.  Overall, I really enjoyed my trip.  Salzburg was probably my favorite place, followed by Budapest, Prague, and Vienna.  I loved how much varied history I was able to take in.  It was a good time and a good trip!

Danube Extravaganza: Hot Chocolate Perfection - Days 10 & 11

 To the top of the tower on the top of the hill, I say!  

With potentially poor weather on Days 11 & 12, on Day 10 I chose to do what I figured would be the least fun day to do in bad weather.  Petrin Hill is a 400 foot hill overlooking the city of Prague.  Up on top of it is 200 ft tall Petrin Tower.  My goal for the day was to make it up to the top of the tower.  

I set out from my hostel, and made my way through town towards the Vltava River.  Where I crossed there was a small island in the middle that had a path around it, as well as a restaurant and what looked like in summer might be a small music stage.  After a brief walk around it, I continued across the bridge.  There are two smallish dams on the river through this section, and on the western bank of the river was a lock to let boats upriver.  I also saw a muskrat on the the banks of the river.

A few blocks from the river is the entrance to Petrin Hill.  Petrin Hill is a park with paths that crisscross the side of the hill, through orchards, gardens, forests, and vineyards.  I started up the hill and about 10 minutes in, I realized that I had never stopped to get food on my way like I planned.  I figured I probably needed a bit more energy if I was going to make it up the hill so I set out to find something that looked good.  I walked past a place that had a sign with the words “Hot Chocolate” and “Waffles” on it, and I figured that sounded good.  The hot chocolate was the thickest hot chocolate I’ve ever had.  It was so good…and trust me, I know hot chocolate.  I’m a connoisseur of hot chocolate.  The waffle came with whipped cream, chocolate, a fruit jam, kiwi, berries, pear, and apple.  The waffle was somewhat flavorless alone, but once you got the whipped cream and jam on it, it was good.

Filled up with food, I was now able to make the trek up the hill.  Since I basically had all day to spend there, I was in no hurry to get to the top.  I zigzagged around the park’s paths.  In some places the path was quite steep.  I was impressed with the parents with strollers in some of these areas.  I eventually had to take off my coat because I had warmed up so much.  However, as I got close to the top, the wind started to pick up and the coat went back on.  

No, not steep at all.

I had decided I was going to swing by Strahov Monastery first, before heading up to the tower, but when I walked into the ticket office, I found that they were about to take a break for lunch, so I decided to come back after I went up to Petrin Tower.  The two weren’t very far apart.

Strahov Monastery

Petrin Tower

From up this high on the hill, the view of Prague was amazing.  Most of the houses in this part of town have orange slate roofs, so it makes for a pretty picture from up high.  I made it up to the tower, and bought a ticket to go up.  It is 299 steps to the top of Petrin Tower, much like Bunker Hill Monument in Boston, it is breathtaking, as in, when you get to the top, you are gasping for breath from climbing all those stairs.  It was funny because you could tell who had just arrived at the top by how heavily they were breathing.  The tower was built in 1891 as a sort of rival to/inspired by the Eiffel Tower.  Being up on top of a large hill, it is technically higher, but the actual tower isn’t as high.  It also only took 2 months to build.  It has two viewing platforms and the view from either one is fantastic.  

By the time I came back down from the top of Petrin Tower and walked back to Strahov Monastery, it was back open for the afternoon.  I started out by visiting the library building.  There were two libraries: the Philosophical Library which carries books related to the sciences, and the Theological Library which contains books related to religion and theology.  Both are absolutely gorgeous and it is no wonder they are found on lists of “The World’s Most Beautiful Libraries.”  After the library, I stopped by the church, before heading to the gallery and the exhibit on the monks who lived there and St Norbert who started the monastery.  

The Philosophical Room

The Theological Room

I once again zigzagged my way around the side of Petrin hill, trying to avoid taking the same path as I already had, if possible.  At the bottom I stopped at the Memorial to the Victims of Communism.  Czechoslovakia was under communist rule from 1948 to 1989.  The memorial is for those who were killed, tortured, arrested, and forced to live their lives in a way that would keep them from being killed, tortured, or arrested.  

Memorial to the Victims of Communism

Because it was a nice day, and still somewhat early, I made my way to what they call the John Lennon Wall.  It is a graffiti tribute to John Lennon that changes from time to time.

The John Lennon Wall...this end seemed to be rather Lennon-less, but the other end had a few murals of him.

I then crossed the Charles Bridge which was built in the second half of the 14th century and is one of Prague’s major landmarks.  I took a quick wander through the busy Old Town quarter, before heading back to the hostel for the night.  And what a quiet night it was, because I had no roommates.  I was the only one in a 6 bed dorm.

On Day 2 of Prague, I set out knowing that I might happen across some rain, sleet, or snow.  Stop #1 was the Franz Kafka Head.  I kind of feel like it is fitting that the man who wrote The Metamorphosis, has a weird mirror-like head statue in central Prague, that rotates once an hour.  It is also right outside a 3-story shopping center.

From Franz Kafka, I headed down to the Memorial to the Heroes of the Heydrich Terror.  The memorial consists of a plaque on the outside of the Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius, and an education room, and memorial in the crypt where the assassins of SS Officer Reinhard Heydrich, a high-ranking member Nazi official in Czechoslovakia.  A group of men who had all fled Czechoslovakia in the early days of WWII because they did not want to fight alongside the Germans, parachuted into Czechoslovakia, with a plot to sabotage the Germans and to assassinate Heydrich.  They accomplished their task on May 27, 1942 (though Heydrich didn’t die until June 4th).  The Nazis were obviously furious and set out to find the assassins.   Before having found where the men were hiding, the Nazis arrested anyone even loosely tied to the men, and massacred or arrested nearly the entire towns of Lidice and Lezaky before burning it to the ground because they thought there was a tie to the assassination.  They hid in the crypt of the Cathedral of saints Cyril and Methodius in central Prague for 21 days before being informed on by a traitor within the groups’ ranks (one not hiding in the crypt).  The Nazis laid seige on the church.  The men in the crypt fought until it was obvious they would not make it out, and took their own lives.  The assassination was a huge moral boost for the resistance in Czechoslovakia during the remainder of the war, as well as showing the Allied forces that the country did not favor the Germans.

Bullet damage is still visible on the outside of the Cathedral of Saints Cyril and Methodius where those who assassinated Heydrich hid.

From the memorial, I headed down to the Vltava River where there is an area where they have a farmers’ market…even in sleet the market was open with people there.  

From the market, I continued down the river to Vysehrad.  Legend has it that Vysehrad was where the first settlement in the Prague area was made, though no one can confirm that.  Vysehrad is up on a fortified hill, has a number of buildings, a church, and a cemetery.  The cemetery is very crowded based on the size.  A number of famous individuals are buried there, though truth be told, the only name I recognized was composer Antonin Dvorak.

At this point it was only around 12:30 and I had already visited the places on my schedule for the day.  I decided I was going to head up to the Powder Tower.  Really, the Powder Tower is just another old tower in town, so it was a quick 5 minute visit once I got there.   

The Powder Tower

With nothing else planned for the day, I trekked back to the hostel.  I stopped for lunch at what seems to be a local fast food place called Bageterie Boulevard.  They have sandwiches on baguettes and delicious potato wedges.  I got back to the hostel sometime around 2-2:30 and relaxed for a bit.  Feeling like I ought to do something, I researched “Best Hot Chocolate in Prague” and set out for Chocafe which did indeed have one of the most amazing hot chocolates I’ve ever had.  It was so thick!  I have another place marked, to try tomorrow.  With my hot chocolate to keep me warm, since it was the coldest day of my trip so far (around freezing), I headed back to Charles Bridge.  It was nearing sunset and I wanted to get a view of Prague Castle lit up before calling it quits for the night.