Monday, April 19, 2010

Prague, CZ

Prague. My goodness PRAGUE! I sometimes have a hard time believing our life right now. Matt works hard at school but these long weekends have been incredible! Europe is so special. It blows my mind that every weekend we can end up in a new country with its own unique history. Prague's history and cultural landscape have been the most interesting by far. I learned so much!
This is what we saw every morning walking from our hotel to Charles Bridge.

Charles Bridge is so charming. There is a statue every 100m on either side of you and even closer together than that are people selling hand made jewelry and paintings. In medieval times there were no statues but I learned that the first statue ever put on the bride was a cross- paid for by a fine a Jewish man had to pay. This Statue below is of a Czech Saint named John of Nepomuk. Apparently Catholics come from all over the world to See him. If you touch his statue then you will have one wish granted.
Here is Matt making his wish on the John of Nepmuk statue

We visited The Castle Quarters...
Over the entrance arch are two pairs of wrestling giants.

St Vitus Cathedral

The palace has the most amazing view of Prague!

This was outside of the tourture chambers and prisons.
Pragues rooftops

the building on the right is St. Nicholas cathedral

Matt saw this wall from the top of the palace and we spent an hour roaming around looking for it!

We also roamed around Little Quarter...
John Lenon Wall that I made us search for

Around the corner we ran into this gate with "love locks" all over it. The idea is to write the names of the love birds on a lock and then attach it to this gate to represent your love. I tried to convince matt that if one of us had the other in a head lock by the gate then our love would be represented well- but he just wanted to hug.

This is a monument to the Victims of Communism Who Survived. As the figures get further away, chunks of the statue are taken out. It depicts communism perfectly.

Prague's New Town:
It is the coolest feeling to learn about a Country's past while you are standing where it all happened.

On our way to the mall (guess who makes us go to a mall in every country... the one on the left, thats who) we saw this awesome piece of art! It says "Revolution" and it is made entirely out of wire and old keys. Every where you look there is either remnants of a dictator or remnants of a revolution. The spirit that the Czech's have is unbelievable.

Our Frank Ghery Building! This one is nick named "Fred and Ginger" since it looks like the buildings are dancing. The real name of the building is the Dancing House.

We saw Les Sylphide (a great little ballet) inside the most gorgeous theatre I have ever been in. The National Theatre is nicknamed the "Cradle of Czech Culture." More money is poured into this theatre every year than all Czech film production.

After the ballet we got dinner at Cafe Louvre. It's been in business since 1902 but still draws a young energetic crowd. Albert Einstein ate here :) The idea of this Cafe is to feed thinkers. They keep pads of paper for notes on the table and sell their art off the walls. It had a good feel with some real good food! The top dish is traditional Czech food, and the bottom plate is a sundried tomato and ham stuffed chicken. So delicious.

Prague's Old Town:
Olds Town center square. The statue is of Jan Hus-the founder of the Hussite religion. My favorite thing about this square is how almost every big building looks like it is from a different era. Every couple meters tells a new chapter in history.

Astronomical Clock.

Jewish Quarter: During the Nazi era this was a small area were jews were allowed to collect and archive their treasures.
This is the Old Jewish Cemetery. This was the only place that the czech jews were allowed to bury their dead for a couple hundred years. Since jews believe that once a body has been buried it cannot ever be moved it got pretty packed...

While we walked through, all of the men were asked to wear these.

Our final view on the way home. You can see the Castle Quarters up on the hill. So pretty!

4 comments:

  1. It's fun to see your adventures. Thanks for the post!

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  2. Prague really is amazing. I went to a classical concert in the palace and it was just unforgettable. The Jewish quarter and that cemetery you feature is so so so awesome. Im so glad you are having fun.

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  3. What a fun adventure! What a great place for newlyweds!

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  4. I'm there...right now! Glad you enjoyed Prague.
    xoxoxo

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