Prague is something unusual in the essence that is really well preserved. WWII and Communism did have their toll on this remarkable city but the majority of buildings and historical monuments were untouched- which is a rarity in Europe. Prague is known as the Jewel of Europe and Hitler particularly loved this city, thus shielding it from total destruction. The Jewish quarter especially is in pristine condition for one very frightening reason: Hitler wanted to preserve it for the purposes of creating a museum for an extinct race.
Think about that.
A museum for an extinct race.
When you walk the streets of Prague you see beauty in its most elaborate form. The streets are narrow and made of cobblestone where horse drawn buggies (with very large and healthy horses) carry lovebirds from site to site. The buildings are large and intricate. New, modern architecture is nestled in between older, ornate buildings- as opposed to most cities, where older buildings are rare and new ones prominent. The sidewalks are all very old patterned cobblestone, giving the onlooker the impression that every square inch of this city is remarkably beautiful. The temperature is crisp and sunny- cafes line every street and the aroma of fresh bread, pastries and sausage fill the air. The city is extremely dog friendly and there are show-quality canines everywhere, typically not leashed and very, very well behaved. The women are tall, blonde, thin and beautiful and walk with an air of confidence.
Street sweepers are out and about, carefully and constantly cleaning- not allowing any trash to pollute the city. Talented street performers sing, play violin, draw and perform for audiences. Couples, arm in arm with baby bassinets on wheels, walk the streets licking gelato and enjoying the summertime festivals. The air is calm and so too is the feeling when walking around this place. It, in every sense of the word, is a jewel of city.
Everyone told us that we would love Prague- and we really do. The city has a ratio of about 7 to 1, tourists to residents, so it is set up with travelers in mind. You can walk everywhere, and if you do not want the exercise you can catch a tram for pennies. Shops and boutiques selling Czech crystal, marionettes and the latest European fashion are all opened and eager for tourists to browse.
Prague is famous for its beer brewing traditions offering the beer aficionado a real treat. In the land where they invented the world’s first Pilsner- you can sit down at any bar and for $2.00 get a very large mug frothing over with a Czech specialty. The Pragers are so particular with their beer traditions that they serve each beer with a huge head, proving to the patron that the beer is fresh. If the head is missing, no clear-thinking Prager will accept the beer. Pubs are everywhere and drinking is something which happens all day long. Often you will find construction workers standing beside lawyers at a bar at 8:00am getting a quick drink before work. Beer is a very large part of the culture. (The first Czech brewery was established in 1118 and the Czechs consume more beer per capita than any other nation.)
There is a Czech Budweiser which you can only get here that is totally different than the American counterpart. Apparently this Budweiser from Budvar was created years before Anheuser and Busch got together and created their brew in Missouri. The story goes that these two men, from the Czech Republic came to America and when they began brewing they wanted to pay homage to their native land, and specifically their region of Budvar and thus named their beer “Budweiser”- never thinking that it would compete with the original Czech concoction. So, when you come here you will never find the American bastardization of Budweiser- only the original.
Because the beer is so very good and incredibly cheap, compared to that of other European countries, the weekends are filled with UKers and other European groups of guys or gals on hen or stag nights (bachelorette or bachelor parties). Making the weekend scene a real kaleidoscope of accents, fashion and party techniques.
On our first day here we walked the city and stopped off for an afternoon filled with the Prague Jazz Week Festival.
We joined the hundreds sitting on the ground in front of the famous Astronomical Clock listening to local musicians jam out for the crowd. We stayed there until the sun began setting and then we skipped over for a visit to the Communism Museum and later joined a Pub Walk through the Old Town.
The museum had a ton of information regarding communism in Czechoslovakia, and in particular Prague. It showed what daily life, politics, sports, education and the arts were like during that period. The museum is divided into three themes: Communism The Dream, The Reality, and The Nightmare. The whole museum was inundated with artifacts and propaganda. There is a great display of newer posters and postcards that they have designed to mimic old ones and advertise the museum.
The Pub Walk was lead by a goofy Czech guy who really loved his beer. He took us through the Old Town’s most authentic bars and beerhalls and served us traditional Czech food while giving us the history of Prague’s fantastic beer making history.
Since Prague is really set up for the traveler, they offer a variety of wonderful tours- so we really took advantage of this. We spent the next day entirely touring (except for a quick break for the Jazz Festival in between tours). We spent over 8 hours walking through the Old Town, Jewish Ghetto/Quarter, the Lesser Quarter, Prague Castle and Charles Bridge. In that time we also took a riverboat to see the city from the river and we stopped for a traditional three course Czech meal in a famous 17th century restaurant (washed down with a glass of beer, of course). That night we met up with a group for a Ghost Trail through the Old Town- and boy do the Pragers have a lot of stories about women who had done wrong and men who had killed them and became angry ghosts….
Throughout the tours we met a number of people that made the days even more fun. There were several on the tours, but in particular there were three girls who stood out. At the jazz concert we sat down beside two gals from the US Airforce. One, Cheka, works in the Netherlands for NATO and the other, Shauna, was visiting on leave from Iraq. We chatted them up for a bit and we now have an open invitation to visit Cheka! Too bad our trip is not taking us there. On the Ghost Tour we met Betsy from Kansas City, Missouri who had gone to New York and made it…. Sounds like a line, but its not. Betsy a singer and dancer in the City, took advantage of being in between shows and took a month off to tour around Europe.
But lets get back to the cultural aspects of our time in Prague. As I mentioned above, Hitler actually had a very large part in the preservation of many of the culturally Jewish sites in today’s Prague. In 1942 the Nazis established the Central Jewish Museum in which all confiscated artifacts from synagogues ad Jewish homes of Bohemia and Moravia were brought. A Dr. Augustin Stein, who was Jewish, somehow teamed up with the Nazis on this particular case simply to save the confiscated memorial objects- I guess he knew there had to be an end to the madness at some point and keeping the artifacts safe, no matter the intentions of the Nazis, was important enough to wait it out and cooperate, and in time constantly saving and adding items that would normally have been destroyed. After WWII came the Communists who effectively stopped all activity of the museum through a number of restrictions that just made it impossible for the museum to develop any further.
But that too came and went and on October 1, 1994 the buildings of the Jewish Ghetto/Quarter and all the artifacts collected during the Nazi occupation were finally returned to the Jewish Community.
1994
It took 52 years (since the beginning of the war) for the families who eventually returned to their homes to see their heirlooms and items from other family members who had perished. (Approx. 92,000 people from Prague alone died.)
So, where 52 years worth Stein’s efforts to collaborate with such monsters? Apparently so, the museum has one of the most extensive collections of Judaic art in the world, containing some 40,000 exhibits and 100,000 books. Also, the items are all from a single territory which is just unheard of in post Nazi Europe.
The “museum” is actually several buildings throughout the Jewish Ghetto- not just one central location with display cases and excessively lit corridors with framed artwork against blank-modern walls.
We decided to devote the better part of a day touring the Jewish Quarter since our previous tour just passed through it quickly. In total we visited 6 of the 8 areas withing the Jewish Museum. (No photos were allowed within the buildings, so look into the links provided.)
The first place we walked to was the Maisel Synagogue which was built in 1590-1592 and then renovated between 1893-1905 into the pseudo-Gothic design you see today. The building is no longer used as a place of worship and within its walls are exhibitions of the history of Jews in Bohemia and Moravia from the 10th century until the end of the 18th.
The Pinkas Synagogue was built in 1535 near the Old Jewish Cemetery- after WWII the sanctuary was converted into a memorial to the Jews murdered by the Holocaust. When you first walk into the building there seems to be a subtle pattern on the walls, but upon closer inspection you begin noticing names popping off the walls….and then it hits you….hundreds upon thousands of names are staring at you.
Although our families did not come from this region we found the names Mann, Altschuler, Mandelbaum and Cohen amongst the names of the lost. Here’s a figure to put it into perspective; there were 10,000 children under the age of 15 that were imprisoned, of that 8,000 were deported and only 242 survived of the total 10,000.
From there we went into the Old Jewish Cemetery. In Judaism it is customary that when you have buried a parent, sibling or child that you do not visit their gravesite for a year in order to give yourself a proper amount of time to mourn so when you visit, on the year’s anniversary, you can do so with a clearer head.. So upon entering the cemetery I was acutely aware that this was the first time in nearly a year that I was even close to a cemetery. I am still trying to find the words to best describe that overwhelming feeling…
The cemetery was established in the first half of the 15th century and it is one of the most important surviving monuments in Prague’s Jewish quarter. The cemetery contains almost 12,000 tombstones but the number of people actually buried there is actually far greater. As the Jewish community continued to grow the area allotted for the cemetery remained the same. So necessity took over. There are several burial layers- one on top of the other. When more space was needed the keepers of the cemetery brought in loads of earth and poured it upon the older ground. Then the previous tombstones would be put in their same location, but on top of the new earth. So one plot may have 5 tombstones on it to show all who are buried in the same place. Just incredible.
We also saw the Ceremonial Hall (built in 1911-12) and the Old-New Synagogue (mid-13th century) on our tour. The main hall of the Old-New Synagogue is the only existing medieval type hall of its kind and divine services are still held in the building today.
After our tour we met back up with Betsy for a day filled with people-watching and chatting. The three of us took a walk to the Fred and Ginger building, which I had been dying to see. It reminded me of my father dancing with his mother.
After that we said our goodbyes and Jay and I spent the night at a horrible play and then retired to rest up for our trip to Amsterdam the next day…..
All I say is that Prague was amazing- it was the most beautiful city we have ever traveled to- a place I think everyone should make an effort to see….
Our group for the first few days was made up of ourselves and two others. Lindsey Kuhn and Rose Barr (no not that one) turned out to be the absolute best travel partners we could have asked for. We shared some great times and have become good friends. They live in Denver where 
