Prague, Day 1

We spent most of this morning in Prague's Jewish Quarter. Several of the synagogs, the cemetery, and a meeting hall have been turned into a coordinated series of museums on Jewish history and culture in the area. There was a lot to see and assimilate (more than I'll inflict on you here), but I thought a couple were noteworthy.

One was an exhibit on Jewish messianic figures, and one of them was Solomon Molcho -- a Jewish martyr from the 16th century. He was born into a Christian family which had been forced to convert from Judaism, and then converted back to Judaism as an adult. He wandered about preaching, teaching, and having various adventures and eventually declared himself the Messiah. That didn't sit well with the emperor, and Molcho was burned at the stake. The exhibit had his tunic and banner, and I found it hard to believe that I was looking at two pieces of cloth which were 500+ years old.

The exhibit which left the strongest emotional mark on both of us was the Terezin Children's Art Exhibit -- drawings and paintings made by Jewish children while in the Terezin concentration camp. These were 10, 12, and 14 year-old children and their pictures were much like ones our own daughters have drawn. Except that they were of typical scenes in the concentration camp -- families traveling to the trains for transport, group showers, school lessons in the barracks, bunk beds, and imagining what it would be like to return to Prague. Most of the artists died in the camps. We picked up a copy of Draw What You See, A Child's Drawings from Theresiestadt, by Helga Weissova and it said that 15,000 kids were sent to the camp and then later on to Auschwitz, and only 100 of them survived. The drawings presented the Holocaust in a light that I'd never seen before.

Behind one of the museums was a modern art exhibit with a back-lit sand table you could use to draw a picture of Golem. My only knowledge of Golem is from The Hobbit, but apparently he has some significance in Jewish folklore. The price was right (i.e., free), so Beth tried her hand at painting with sand and light.



We walked through the Old Town square and found another market selling produce, trinkets, and chocolate. It reminded me of Seattle's Pike Place Market.








The map indicated that the shortest path from Old Town to the Charles Bridge (the next item on our itinerary) was along Karlova street, but silly me didn't realize that every other tourist in Prague was following the same plan. Karlova street was pure tourist mayhem -- a narrow street lined with shops and packed full to overflowing with tourists. Every now and then a tour group would surge through behind an upheld umbrella, causing the crowd to become even thicker. I was reminded of a tide pool filling, draining, and constantly moving.



We found a quiet railing from which to view the river and the Charles Bridge.



I noticed that there were some yellow plastic paddle boats on the river, so on the spur of the moment we decided to go boating. It was a great way to escape the crowds and enjoy a different perspective on the city.



Eventually we were able to thread our way across the bridge and on to some quieter less-touristed streets. From one point we could look back across the river at the bridge.



We took the subway and bus back to the pension and then caught dinner at a nearby restaurant.



The map below is centered on the Charles Bridge (Karluv most), with Old Town and the Jewish Quarter over on the right side of the river.


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