Prague: Friday, September 11

Dear Friends and Family,

In spite of our best intentions to wake up relatively early on our first day in Prague, we slept until noon. However, we still managed to see plenty of the city. We began (as we began every day in Prague) in search of a bakery. We finally found one in Wenceslas Square, which was an incredible boulevard, with amazing architecture. There was a huge museum (of Czech History, I think, but we didn’t go in so I can’t be sure), with of course, amazing architecture. While taking in the scenery of the busy area, we ate our baked goods. While I can’t remember any of their names, they were all delicious. Some were filled with delicious things like vanilla cream, chocolate cream, fig paste, or poppy seed paste.

We continued to walk around Prague, hitting important sites such as the State Opera House (where we bought tickets to Carmen), Obecni Dum (the Municipal House), and the Jewish Quarter. Luckily, our hostel was in the middle of the Old Town, so none of these places were far. The municipal house Obecni Dum was a pretty cool building, especially because it was connected to a tower, where at the base there was a door where knights (in costume) were fighting for the tourists (Lee got to take a picture with them, and they let him hold a sword). The door was wide open and before Lee and I could react, Kathy bolts into the door and up the stairs. So Lee and I followed her up the stairs, and after walking up the very steep, dark stairs we arrived at a mini-museum for medieval stuff (sorry for that incredibly descriptive description). There was an incredible view of the city as well as a bunch of stained glass windows. After we came down from the tower, we wandered in the direction of the Jewish Quarter, stopping at a bar/restaurant for some soup (it was a delicious potato soup) and dark hot chocolate. In the Jewish Quarter we went to the Old-New Synagogue, the Pinkas Synagogue, and the Jewish Cemetery. The Old-New Synagogue was very old (yet somehow new). The Pinkas Synagogue had its walls decorated with the names of all the Bohemian Jews who had died or disappeared during the Holocaust. The incredible number of names on the walls created a very somber scene. We then walked through the cemetery, which was packed with tombstones, some of which were from the fifteenth century.

We also strolled by the river and eventually back to the Old Town Square, where it was about six o’clock and we watched the astronomical clock (which was cool just by itself) ring, which included the apostles popping out.

We had dinner at the restaurant right across from our hostel, where we got dumplings with sheep cheese, gnocchi, and something else I don’t remember the name of, but it had the word mystery in it. It was a delicious dish, with various kinds of meat (I think this was the mystery). The beer we had with dinner was great and we even tried grog, which I’m not exactly sure what it is, but it was interesting. After dinner we walked back to the Old Town Square where we went to a classical concert in St. Nicholas Church (which was right in the square). The musical selection was great and they even had a fantastic mezzo-soprano singer to accompany some of the selections. Not only was the music fantastic, but the church was also incredibly beautiful.

Love,

Rosalie