I Spy.... another person reading Rick Steves !!

Hello from Prague!


Arrived on a night train from Krakow early Monday morning. Had a sleeper room all to myself. It was a gas. Here's a pic of me looking out my room onto the station platform. When I got to the station, they were already boarding. Turns out two groovy women from San Francisco and Burlingame were on the same car - so we stood in the hallway and drank Czech beer for an hour. They were working their way up from Croatia and Budapest - so I got a few tips from them.

Had a minor heart attack on the train. We had a border crossing passport check from Poland to the Czech Republic at 1am. I got up at 2am to use the bathroom and realized I didn't have my purse - #^$&$^ !!! Got dressed and was running up and down the train car thinking to myself "whats the damage - lost my license but have my passport, lost my cash but have my ATM card and credit card". Was relieved to see that both ends of the sleeper car were chained for security so noone from the cheap seats could get into our car to use the WC. I figured I had left my purse there and when I knocked on the purser's door he had it - yippeeee! What a relief - made my start to Prague less than optimal but I rebounded quickly since its such a magical city.

Walked around the city Monday - avoiding the seriously touristy spots in favor of just getting the lay of the land. I had to laugh when I walked through the Old Square - I saw two people standing and reading the same Rick Steves Eastern Europe that I had in my backpack. Renee, I am afraid your copy is coming back as a threadbare version of itself. A few days later, I was sitting having a beer on the Old Town square with Joe Cantor (who I met at Auschwitz) and a family sat next to us. The man asked to look at my Rick Steve's book and then CLAIMED to live near him in Seattle. So, Rick, if you are reading this, please confirm John is a good neighbor - picture attached.

Went to the Little Quarter below the Castle and took the funiculator up to the top of Petrin Hill. There is a knockoff Eiffel Tower up there (as tall as the Eiffel Tower but has a head start by being on Petrin hill) that you can walk up. So 600 steps later I got some incredible views of the city. See the Charles bridge above - and all the tourist ants on it. This is a 700 year old bridge topped by statues. Its touristy but earns the praise - just beautiful and great views of both banks of the city. Here's a small band playing on the bridge with Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral in the background.

In the basement of the tower there was a museum dedicated to the memory of Jara Cimrman, the man voted most significant and inspirational by his countrymen. Too bad he never existed. He was the invention of some satirists in the 60s and has quite a following. Here are some highlights from the museum.

1. He trained his tortoise "Swift-footed" the tango

2. He was a nomadic dentist, frequenting train stations

3. Was present with his friend Zeppelin at the first flight of his airship - was heard to have said to his friend, "It won't turn out well".

Look him him up on the web if you want to laugh outloud - I did!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jara_Cimrman

Tuesday May 22 - Took the tram up to the Prague Castle area.

I think its the biggest castle in Europe. First stop was the cathedral. It only took 700 years to finish - wasn't done till the 1920s. Very beautiful modern stained glass windows, including one lovely one by modern artist and local boy made good, Alfons Mucha. King Wenseslas is buried here - he actually existed and helped to modernize the Czechs around 920 AD. I love the tombs in these Eastern European churches - they have an eastern (Byzantine? Cyrillic?) Russian influence - lots of gawdy gold and red to tart everything up. Here's a pic of the stained glass designed by Mucha - gorgeous. He was the leading Czech artist around 1900 - and was a major player in the Art Nouveau movement. He spent time being trained in Vienna and Munich before going to Paris and the US. I just went to his museum - very charming. There was a pic of Paul Gaugin in Mucha's studio playing the piano with no pants~! Mucha was most known for his posters of beautiful women and nature - you would recognize them - and can see them in the window below. He spent the latter half of his life devoted to Czech and Slav art after earning money in the first half of his career designing things like posters for Sarah Bernhardt plays in Paris around 1895, and ads for Moet. When the Czechoslovakia gained its independence from the Austro-Hungarian empire after WWI, he designed the new country's stamps and currency. In 1939, he was one of the first to be questioned by the Nazis and died shortly afterwards. Fascinating man.

The palace part is pretty limited but they did have an awfully big room in it - they actually had jousts inside. There is a room on the second floor that was being used by two Catholic agents of the Austrian Hapsburgs to run Protestant Czech republic. At one point, the Czechs got frustrated and threw these two out the window - they didn't die because they landed in a pigsty. It would be a funnier story if this incident hadn't started the 30 Years War.

Walked from the Castle area back over the Charles bridge - love that bridge. Its 700 years old and holding well. I think that they recently cleaned it up. Its jammed with tourists but amazingly charming, with music, artists, and all those statues lining it.

One word about Prague - feet. I have had more conversations about my feet with people, or have seen tourists sit down and talk about their feet, ad nauseum. WHY? These cobblestoned streets sound pretty and all - but when you walk on them all day its like you are hiking. This place has nothing on the Inca Trail that I did last year. In fact, I switched from walking sandals to light hiking shoes that I wore in Peru since I couldn't stand it anymore. Here are my sore and blistered feet next to a lovely continental breakfast prepared by my guest house hostess. I've seen three places that do Thai massage and foot massage and am seriously considering that today!

Meant to go on the tour of the jewish quarter today with Joe Cantor but the guide never showed up - so we made do by sitting in the hot square and drinking yummy cold Pilser Urquel. Will try again tomorrow. I did manage to do my laundry at a laundrymat for the first time in 2 weeks - yikes! It was a spendy option to doing handwash in the sink but I will treat myself every few weeks. This laundrymat claims to be the first to have internet connectivity - so I made good use of it.

This shot to the needs a quick explanation. We were sitting on the old square when this woman walked by. Had high heels on - crazy to walk on cobblestones with them. And was wearing a super short skirt that looked like someone had gone after it with a pair of scissors. And she was pushing a baby carriage. A group of us looked at each other as if to say, "you see that?" - and I got a quick pic.

Went on a tour of the Jewish Quarter today. This is one of the oldest jewish areas in Europe since Prague was at a crossroads for trading about 1200 - and the Czech king invited the Jews here to act as intermediaries who could handle money. When the Nazis invaded in 1939, they left the quarter intact = but for despicable reasons. Hitler planned a museum dedicated to the extinct Jewish race, to be located in Prague = so he let the Jewish community in Prague and Czechoslovakia alone to collect and document Jewish history = as other Jewish communities were being wiped out. Eventually the Nazis cleared out Pragues 70,000 Jews to extermination camps like Auschwitz. Only 12,000 survived the war.

On the tour, had a flashback to the book "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay ". The story features two young men who partner on a comic book venture. One of the men escapes the Germans in Prague by hiding in a casket leaving Prague with a Golem in it. All very mystical. The origin of the golem myth is that a Rabbi Leon had special powers = and in fact, he started the Kaballa sect (to which I am sure Madonna is still grateful). He created a man made out of clay (note the tie to the book title) to help the Jews in their chores. Unfortunately, the Golem got out of control and to be destroyed = and was caught by the rabbi on the roof of the OldNew synagogue, the oldest one in Europe.

One last word about the history of Prague. On the surface, its easy to think that Prague with its 600 spires and castle and bridges and those damned cobblestoned streets is cute and endearing. However, the Czech Republic has been at the center of so many events in Europe, being centrally located. I stayed on Wenseslas square, which is a 4 block long boulevard in the "New Quarter " = around 1500. This square was the scene of riots in the spring of 1969 as the Czechs tried to push out the Communists that had ruled since 1948. Two college age students named Jan set themselves on fire in protest steps from my pension door, and died. There are two monuments to them here. In 1989, this square had 200,000 people again pushing back on the Communists. The theory is that Michael Gorbechev could have sent in Eastern Bloc troops and tanks, as in 1969 , to crush the rebellion = but Tiannemann Square had just happened and he feared a repeat of backlash against Russia. The playwrite Vlaclav Havel was part of the group addressing the crowd = and he became the Czech Republics first President.

I leave Prague tomorrow and will attempt ( and I do not use that phase lightly ) to get to a place called Adrspach Teplice = a national preservation area with unusual rock formations. The pics looks like the hoodoos of Zion National Park = and I hope to get some hiking in.