Morning Walk in Prague

I walked from our hotel at 5:30 this morning, to the Charles Bridge, across the bridge, then back to the hotel for breakfast, with Lindsay and Manu.  We have had an incredible few days in Prague with the ASU Global Studies team, Noah, Shira, Lindsay, and Manu.  We enjoyed their company, time with students, and seeing Prague for the first time.  We are impressed by the Global Studies programs ASU offers, and proud of our support.  We loved Prague - a beautiful city, full of culture, history, beautiful homes and buildings, clean, walkable and with good public transportation, amazing restaurants of every cuisine imaginable, and easy to communicate with everyone from everywhere speaking English.  A great time!

Jewish Quarter Tour and Concert

Just after breakfast this morning, I walked along the riverfront of Prague, from near our hotel to the National Theater and back.  

Papa and I met Noah and Marketa, our guide, at 9:30.  We took an Uber to the Jewish Quarter for our tour, and visited four synagogues plus the Old Jewish Cemetery, the largest in Europe, dating back to the 1400’s.  Our first stop was at the Pinkas Synagogue.  Its interior walls are covered with the names of 80,000 Czech Jewish victims of the Holocast. We then walked through the Old Jewish Cemetery, with a few thousand headstones, the oldest dating to 1439.  It was sobering to listen to Marketa, talking about the Czech Republic’s history over the past century, dealing with Nazis, the Holocaust, the Russians, and the Czech people that had the courage to stand up and fight for liberty and an independent government.

We visted the Old New Synagogue, the oldest in Prague and Europe, founded in 1270.  

We also visited the Spanish Synagogue, built in 1868 in Moorish Revival style, on the site of the oldest synagogue in Prague.  There is a statue of Franz Kafka just outside the synagogue.  He attended the synagogue and went on to become the most famous Czech author.

On our walk to the Old Town Square for lunch, we stopped at the Maisel Synagogue, to see an animated visualization of a handmade Model of Prague, showing the Jewish Quarter as it was before the urban renewal.  Langweil spent 11 years making the model.  It was fascinating to see!

We had a delicious lunch with Noah at Restaurant 420, on Old Town Square.  After an afternoon rest, we joined Noah, Lindsay, Shira, and Manu at the Klementinum’s Mirror Chapel for a concert by an ensemble of the Royal Czech Orchestra, playing works by Smetana, Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart.  The concert was superb!

We had dinner at Mazel Vinohrady, sitting in their plant filled atrium.  It was another delicious dinner, with good conversation.  A terrific evening!

Prague Castle in the Morning and Cooking Class in the Afternoon

 Our guide, Marketa met us at our hotel at 9:30 this morning and we took an Uber to Prague Castle.  We spent over 3 hours touring with Marketa, seeing The Royal Gardens, The Ball Room with its beautiful scratched surface art exterior, the President’s House (with peacock walking across the lawn), St. Vitus Cathedral, and the Old Royal Palace.  We spent most of our time in St. Vitus Cathedral, built between 1344 and 1929, and built on top of a Romanesque rotunda founded by Wenceslaus, Duke of Bohemia in 930.  Interior work, including most of the beautiful colorful stained glass windows and new organ, continued until present day. 

We had a wonderful Czech lunch at Kuchyn with Noah, just outside the entrance gate to Prague Castle.  After lunch, we rested a couple of hours, then participated in a cooking class in the afternoon at Chef Parade, with 20 ASU students, interning in Prague this summer.  We had a great time talking to students and eating what we cooked - two soups, potato pancakes, and a sweet dessert with vanilla rum sauce.  

At dusk, we walked from Old Town Square back to our hotel, with a stop at the Franz Kafka Rotating Head by David Cerny.  The head is a kinetic sculpture 10.6 meters tall and made of 42 rotating stainless steel panels, weighing 24 tons.  Each layer is mechanized and rotates individually.  The head turns on the hour, for 15 minutes.  It was fascinating to watch!