July 4^th, 2012

Day 46: Prague, Czech Republic

Happy happy 4th of July, America!

For our first day in Prague, we decided to take the free walking tour that afternoon at 2pm. In the morning, we chatted with the front desk receptionist for a bit for some suggestions for breakfast/lunch, and headed out armed with a map to track them down. We never ended up finding the places she mentioned (mainly because we had no clue what the names of them were), but we wandered through the Old Town Square and over to a busy shopping sreet. Here, we found a small sandwich shop and each got a baguette for lunch.

Our walking tour started at 2pm and we were with a great German/English guy named Michael who was so enthusiastic about all of the information  he was telling us. His jokes were funny, his attitude was positive and he was so excited to share his knowledge with us- probably one of the best guides we’ve had so far.

Prague has a long and interesting history and Michael helped us understand it easily, He went through facts and also gave us some of his opinions as well. One of the most intriguing things I learned this morning was that one of the largest reasons Prague still looks the way it does today (old, ornate, cultured, etc.) is because Hitler really liked it. He didn’t center any sort of industry out of Prague, nor did he order any destruction, and as a result a lot of the churches, buildings and squares have a  much longer history than some of the other locations we’ve been to.

Here are some photos/explanations from the walking tour:

Walking across Charles Bridge from our hostel

One of the statues on Charles Bridge

Old Town Square

The astronomical clock tower! The #1 most disappointing tourist attraction, ever. Every hour on the hour, the little men next to the hands of the clock dance a bit, and that's all. 

The clock dates back to 1410 (I think). The 4 figures around the clock face represent the Church's 4 biggest fears- vanity, usury, death and Islam.

St. Nicolas' Church

A building built in a 100% cubist style!

The inside of St. James' church. There is a story that says that there was one a thief who tried to steal a golden chain from Mary's neck- the statue came to life and grabbed his arm, then refreezing into stone. The thief was caught by the priest and begged for him to help. They decided they should 'cut off the arm.' The thief was referring to Mary's arm, but the priest was referring to his, saying "if she grabbed your arm and froze into stone, trapping you, just think of what she'd do to me for cutting her arm off entirely!" Either way, the priest cut off the guy's arm and preserved it, hanging the mummified arm above the entrance of the church as a warning for future thieves- and it still hangs there today!

A memorial to Franz Kafka, a German novelist and short story writer

The "Old New" Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter

The Pinkas Synagogue. It is now dedicated to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust where the walls of a nave are carved with the name, birthdate and death date of about 80,000 Jews from the Bohemia area. There is also an art exhibit of children's drawings that were saved and collected by a woman who was in the Dakau Concentration Camp. While there, she ran art classes and encouraged the kids to learn how to express their feelings via art. Before being transported to Auschwitz and killed alongside her husband, she hid 2 suitcases full of their artwork that were found after the war. The sick thing about the  building though, is that Hitler was stockpiling Jewish artifacts and information here with the intention of creating a Museum to an Extinct Race after his plan was carried out.

I think this in the concert hall? A gorgeous building regardless!

Prior to the beginning of our tour, Stephen and I were bombarded by crazy bar workers with 4^th of July gear up the wazoo. And I thought America was the only country that stole other peoples’ holidays. There were plenty of activities going on later that night to celebrate America, so naturally, we were down. We ended up going on a 4^th of July pub crawl that started with 2 hours of an open bar with beer, wine, vodka, run, absinthe, jager and sangria. Woof.

The rest of the bar crawl was a pretty good time, and we spent some of it singing along to the national anthem or arguing with Brits about why it was great that we were free. All harmless banter, though! We got back around 4 or so and fell right asleep!

Also- just want to share with you all the best 4^th of July related pickup line I’ve heard:

“On a scale of one to America, how free are you tonight?” BOOM.

Favorite part of the day: Repping America abroad. It was a lot of fun and my red white and blue shutter shades certainly helped out.