This past weekend I traveled to Prague, Czech Republic with my friend Jeff. My other friends had decided to go to Venice for the weekend and I found a cheap flight to Prague and being that it was one of the top places I wanted to visit while in Europe..Jeff decided to come with me and off we went! We were flying WizzAir..which, understandably, sketched us just a
little bit. But the flight was flawless and I even thought it was better than RyanAir! ;)
First off, Prague=BEAUTIFUL! It very well may be the most beautiful city I have visited so far. I would suggest to every person to make a visit to Prague in
their lifetime. The first day, we went to the Jewish Quarter, Josefov, of Prague and toured all the Jewish synagogs and the Jewish cemetery. This ghetto is well preserved because Hitler had wanted it to become his museum to an exterminated race. Sick huh. Anyways...it was very interesting. The cemetery was really sad. The Jews only had a small area in which to bury their dead sothey buried them on top of each other, five hands a part. If you want to see a picture of what it looks like go here: http://www.claremontmckenna.edu/studyabroad/photogallery/fall2005/images/Jewish-Cemetery-Prague.jpg
Another interesting fact about Josefov is the golem. Legend says that Rabbi Loew created the golem in order to protect the Jewish community. It was said that he created a golem out of clay to protect the Jewish community from Blood Liberl and to help out doing physical labor, since golems are very strong. Go here if you want to read more about the legend: http://www.pi
tt.edu/~dash/golem.html
Friday night, Jeff and I had tickets to see the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra at the Dvorak Hall. It was amazing!!! Enough said :)
Saturday we booked a tour of Terezin, a Jewish concentration camp about 50 kilometers outside of Prague. It was NOT an extermination camp, although many people did die here, but rather it was a transition camp where they brought Jews and prisoners and then would later send them to places like Auschwitz. The most interesting thing about Terezin is that it was actually visited by the Red Cross. Terezin was used for propaganda. They staged the whole town to look like a heathy, clean, livable town so the Red Cross would not be suspicious as to what was really happening there. They had the Red Cross tour planned down to the MINUTE so they wouldn't see anything they weren't supposed to. While it was very sad to visit, it was extremely interesting.
After that Jeff and I went back to Prague and spent the afternoon wondering the streets, went to Old Town Square and other touristy places in the city. I of course did some shopping :)
Sunday we went to Charles Bridge and then toured Prague Castle, which is HUGE!
Oh another note on the Czech Republic..so their currency is the Czech crowns..and the exchange is like 20 US $to 1 Czech Crown so needless to say..when I was at the ATM and pulling out 2000 CK..I felt extremely rich! Turns out that's only about $100. But I was entertained by having 1000 bills in my wallet.
Unfortunately I got some bad news while I was in Prague (no details. Those who know, know) and it was very difficult for me, for the first time, to NOT be in the USA. I wanted to desperately be home and with people who might need me. It's very difficult to extend comfort through cyberspace..or worse yet..Facebook. But it was all I had. It was extremely frustrating. I also realized upon my return from Prague that I only have but a little over a month left of time in Europe. Now more than ever am I realizing how much I am not ready to go back. But don't worry ya'll... I will return. :)
Much love
~K
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