I promise that’s the only pun I’ll make for the entire post. So, here goes Prague: Friday morning began with a walk throughout the cold cobblestone streets. At 11 o’clock, we headed to the Old Town Square (home of the famous astronomical clock tower) to begin a free walking tour (by the same company who led the sweet stroll in Berlin). We visited Our Church of the Lady Before Tyn (with the lopsided Adam and Eve towers), the Powder Tower, the Estate Theater (where Mozart first performed Don Giovanni), and several other sites before stopping for lunch at Bohemia Bagel just as the snow flurries began to pick up. This famous bagel joint gave Lox Stock some stiff competition – I got a turkey club sandwich on a parmesan oregano bagel! As soon as my toes had regained some feeling, we started off again and headed for the Jewish neighborhood, past the Wenceslas Square (near the country’s Museum of Communism), the Rudolfinum (home to the Czech Philharmonic), and the super sized Metronome before ending at the foot of the Charles Bridge. Along the way we picked up historical tidbits and recommendations for places to return to throughout the weekend.
The Charles Bridge (literally) blew me away – both the wind and ornate statues were pretty powerful! Our tour guide had taught us that patting the bronze dog on one of the statues brought bad luck (pregnancy for women) but that rubbing the Saint would bring good luck. [Let’s just say that a lot of misinformed tourists will find themselves pregnant in the next few months…] On the other side of the bridge, I came to my ultimate destination, tucked away from the main drag: Troulihar Marionety. This two-room shack housed the handiwork of artists from a local collective. I fell in love with a few wooden friends – a charismatic bee playing the tuba, a ratty fisherman, a jolly chef with check pants and a pig under one arm, a Zazu-esque dodo bird, and a wrinkly witch. Knowing how indecisive I am, you can imagine how hard it was hard for me to decide who to adopt!
The John Lennon wall was a nearby, so we headed to see the layers and layers of paint and graffiti dedicated to John Lennon’s face and the Beatles’ lyrics.
We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around and getting a feel for the area. We stopped at two cafes along the way: first at Cukrakavalimonada for some hot pear cider and later on at Grand Café Orient (housed in a Cubist building!) for some traditional Czech cake. Afterwards, we headed to the National Marionette Theater for a performance of Don Giovanni! The performance was incredible; at times I lost track of the plot and just focused on the puppeteers’ dexterity! A (progressively drunker) Mozart marionette made some comedic interjections throughout the play and attempted to interact with the audience by spewing his sheets of music throughout the seats. A thunderstorm and some spilt wine made for a wet stage!
We had dinner at La Bodeguita del Medio with hopes of warming up a little by means of some Cuban food. We shared a long-straw Cuban mojito (for 5 people, oops!), and I ordered beef tenderloin with balsamic sauce, parmesan and rocket salad, and potatoes aux gratin followed by fruit with chocolate fondue for dessert.
On Saturday morning, we woke up to snow! But a few inches of snow didn’t stop us from trekking up to the gigantic metronome atop the former pedestal of Stalin’s enormous statue. The modern monument serves as a reminder for the time lost while the Czech Republic was subject to communist rule. Given the weather, the view wasn’t particularly memorable, so we continued on to the Prague Castle.
The castle property was incredibly overwhelming. We fell into the tourist trap and purchased an audio guide in order to avoid the long lines and attempt to understand some of the background behind the buildings. (Ironically, we waited in line for over 45 minutes just to buy the audio guide.) Afterwards, we wandered throughout St. Vitus’ cathedral with the beautiful St. Wenceslas Chapel, St. George’s Basilica (home to the crypt of the Madonna holding baby Jesus), the Royal Palace (with its famous window of defenestration), Golden Lane, and the Daliborka Tower. Despite the beautiful architecture of the large buildings, my favorite stop within the castle grounds was the Toy Museum – on the top floor there was a multiple room exhibit displaying every type of Barbie imaginable (collegiate cheerleaders, pregnant Barbie, 80’s deco Barbie, president Barbie, professor Barbie – identity crisis?!?) in honor of her 50th anniversary! I came across both one-of-a-kind versions and other models dressed in outfits that I remembered having as a kid. [I also didn’t fail to take note of the following commentary: “To feminists… the fashion doll stands for a superficial woman who lacks a dependent life, is governed by consumption, and obsessed with her slim figure.”]
Lunch at a nearby Restaurant U Císaru brought old Bohemian goulash with dumplings topped off with Bohemian pancakes with blueberries! Re-energized, we headed to the Strahov Monastery Library. After buying our ticket and heading upstairs, we came to find that the only thing on display was… a construction site! The receptionists had failed to mention that the library was under renovation. Luckily, one of the rooms was still open, and we got to see tons of medieval books.
We trekked back across the bridge to the Mucha Museum near Wenceslas Square. Although the space was small (5-rooms), the museum, dedicated to the works Czech art nouveau Alphonse Mucha, was interesting nonetheless. Afterwards, Adam indulged in a Thai foot massage (poor bunions) as I did a little shopping (win-win situation)…
We then made ourselves comfortable on the floor of the Dobra Tearoom (an awesome little nook with four locations in Prague and two in the United States – one being in Madison, WI) and sipped on some fresh infusions. Dinner at Pivnice u Zeleneho Stromu (near our hotel) brought some more typical Czech cuisine.
We spent Sunday morning in the Jewish neighborhood seeing all that there is to see. We began with the Maisel Synagogue, which has been converted into the permanent home for an exhibit on Jewish culture. The building had burned down at one point, so the only true remaining part of the original synagogue is the balcony where the Orthodox women sit. Next came the Pinkas Synagogue (my second favorite of the bunch). The walls of this synagogue bear the handwritten names of the 80,000 + Czech victims of the Holocaust. The museum also houses an exhibit of art produced by children from the Terezin concentration camp. As the only tokens of these children’s existence, the drawings were incredibly sobering.
Describing the Old New Jewish Cemetery (a mistranslation on behalf of the Germans) as “crowded” would be an understatement. The small plot of land holds between 100,000 and 150,000 bodies. The Czech Jews typically buried at least 12 people per headstone given their limited space. [It was really interesting to see the cemetery first-hand given that it had served as a source of inspiration for the architect of Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial, which I had seen the weekend before.]
After leaving the cemetery, we cruised through the Ceremonial Hall, which had an exhibit about Jewish death traditions. We then headed to the last stop on the tour: the Spanish synagogue (the most beautiful synagogue in Europe, in my opinion).
We squeezed in one last lunch at Velryba – noodles with salmon, broccoli, roasted red pepper, and mozzarella– picked up a few more gifts, and made our way to the airport. [Once in Madrid, I found out that the Metro line I needed to take was “interrupted” due to construction, so the final logistics of the weekend weren’t so pleasant, especially at 1:30 in the morning!]
Despite the cold, Prague was beautiful and fun! I feel so lucky to have been able to walk across the beautiful Charles Bridge, explore the castle, pick up some Czech garnet, and dine on some fiiiiine goulash! Back to reality… or Rioja next weekend!
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