Hello friends!
Today started amazingly well. I think I mentioned it in the previous post, but our current roommates are the quietest roommates on earth. I didn’t wake up once in the night. It’s our first time staying in an all female room and everyone is super nice.
Dressed and ready for the day we set off, with the map our hostel gave us in hand, for the John Lennon Wall. After a lot of confusion on turns and bridges we finally realized the map was absolutely bonkers. There was no sense of scale at all and we quickly discovered we were better off using the maps on our phones.
When we reached the Lennon wall it was still quiet and there were only two couples in the area. We were able to spend a good amount of time checking out the graffiti and art on the wall. Here is one of my favorites:
We crossed over the river at the Charles Bridge which has some interesting sculptures and is much larger than I imagined. Maybe longer is a better word? It’s walls are made of stone instead of fencing which is a change from most of the bridges we have seen. Loads of artists set up on the bridge and it is interesting to see how they approach the public. Some are quiet friendly and others choose to stand back and are a bit standoffish. I don’t know that either is a better sales technique, but more a personal statement.
We decided since we didn’t know loads about the city we would try a free tour recommended by our hostel. Our tour guide was a guy from Israel, who as I am beginning to learn all guides have this in common, chased after a significant other and stayed. We learned later that it was his first tour on his own and we never would have known. He did a great job blending the factual with the mythical which is apparently a large part of Prague’s culture.
We learned about the two defenestrations that occurred in Pragues history. The people of Prague were so fed up with the powers in control they literally marched into the administrative building and threw people out the window. The first time the people fell to their deaths, but the second time they were spared by landing in a pile of horse manure outside the window. I think they still successfully made their point.
We also toured the Jewish district. The area had a long history of being the slums or ghetto. When Hitler took control he purposefully maintained the Jewish synagogues because he wanted to use the area as a museum of sorts when he had successfully eliminated the entire race. How creepy is that?
Our guide told us a story of the Old New Synagogue (named because at the time is was the new synagogue but there has since been a new New synagogue so it was renamed) which according to legend has a golem in the attic. The Rabbi formed him out of clay to protect the district at night, and during the day the golem would return to the attic. One day a Nazi officer decided to venture into the attic. He was never seen or heard again and no one has gone in the attic since. There is even a ladder of sorts attached to the outside of the building one could use to access the attic, but the weird thing is the ladder starts about ten feet off the ground. The golem is another interesting blend of reality and myth which seems to surround the city.
At some point the city decided the ghetto was a blight to the city and tore everything down. They then raised the area three meters and built large upscale buildings. Now it is home to fancy apartments and streets to rival Rodeo Drive.
After our tour we returned to a church which has an actual arm hanging from a ring on the inside! It’s been tested for authenticity even! The legend goes like this. In the old days the safest place for valuables was a church and one night an enterprising man hid in the church until it closed. He had cleaned out the valuables when he saw the jeweled necklace around the statue of Mary at the front of the church. Unable to resist he climbed a ladder and was reaching for the necklace when suddenly the statue came to life and grabbed his wrist. As suddenly as it came to life it turned back to stone except now it held his wrist. Unable to wiggle free the man dangled the rest of the night until the clergy arrived in the morning. Wanting to make an example of the man, and unable to get him out any other way, they chopped off his arm. They hung the arm as a reminder to all to not steal from the church. Quite the reminder I’d say!
After we walked back down the shopping district and I picked up new socks (yay!). We had dinner in a lovely restaurant and I had chicken steak with green beans and American fries. Holy yum. So so so so good. I also tried the apple cider instead of beer. Also delicious.
After lots of time spent being lost and walking the streets aimlessly I told Alison that while not all who wander are lost, today those who were lost wandered!
We did feel more confident about our directions and orientation by the end of the day. Tomorrow we tour the castle and have a delicious breakfast.