MPD

I’m currently on the train from Prague to Berlin and have a chance to write in my journal.  In Prague, I stayed with my friend, David, at his family’s house.  The first two days, I saw the sights by myself, but Thursday and Friday were holidays, so David didn’t have to work, and we went out together.

On Tuesday, David recommended seeing the castle and cathedral area, so I started there.  The architecture in Prague is interesting because the influences were different and later than in the other cities I’ve seen so far.  The height of Prague’s power was in the 9-14th centuries, plus, the Renaissance arrived later than in Italy, so there are some great examples of really late gothic.  For example, the entrance to the castle is the largest Gothic hall built without inner supporting pillars.  Even without ornate ceiling or wall frescoes, it was pretty astounding.For a while, they held jousting contests inside.

I know all this because of the audioguide I rented.  Even though they double the cost of the tour, I think the English guides are really worth it; I would have had no idea what I was looking at, and instead, I am now filled with trivia about saints and Kings.

Speaking of which, King Wenceslaus of Christmas Carol fame ruled in Prague.  They venerate him quite a bit, calling him the eternal ruler, etc., so I made it my mission to figure out whyhe is a saint.  Turns out, there isn’t much of a reason.  He was king until his brother killed him in front of a church and took over.  Historians are not even sure why he was killed.  In those days, also, there was a much different path to sainthood.  Instead of requiring an examination of the potential saint’s life and a papal decree, any priest could declare someone a saint who was killed and whose remains were taken to a church (it sounds strange to me, but that’s the way I understood the guide).  Wenceslaus’s brother, after killing him, took his remains to the Prague cathedral and had him declared a saint.  Oddly enough, having a saint as a brother gave him more political power.  To me, this is the strangest part of the story because I would think murdering your brother and a saint would bring more shame than honor.  In any case, Wenceslaus’s brother was a fairly good ruler and increased the power and prestige of Prague quite a bit.

The first night, I didn’t want to impose, so I went out for dinner by myself.  It was really amazing, actually; soup, salad, potato dumplings, a big steak, and a drink for only 11 Euro.  I barely finished because it was so much.  When I got back, I learned that David’s family had actually expected to eat with me and were a little worried when I didn’t show up.  (Also, I learned that 11 Euro is still a lot to pay…  I love Prague.)

On Wednesday, I slept in until 11:00 because it was so nice having a real bed.  When I woke up, it was absolutely pouring outside, so I spent a few hours checking email, updating my blog, etc.  At 2:00, the rain suddenly stopped, the sun came out, and it was beautiful again, so I headed down to the national museum.  This turned out to be a pretty typical museum, with dinosaurs, minerals, etc., plus the audiotour wasn’t great, so I only stayed a few hours.

That night, for dinner, I made sure to get back to the house by 7.  Unfortunately, David’s parents left for a vacation in Nice Wednesday morning, so we were left to fend for ourselves.  We ended up with frozen pizza.  Exquisite.

On Thursday, David and I woke up, ate eggs and toast, then went to visit the Jewish Quarter.

Before the Holocaust, 118,000 Jewish people lived in Prague, but now, only 3,000 are still there.  However, the Nazis used the Prague Synagagues as storage for all the Jewish relics for a large area, so today they form a series of Museums that commemorate Jewish history and the Holocaust.  Probably the most famous sight in the Jewish Quarter is the old Jewish cemetary.  It seems that Jewish people in Prague have always been on the receiving end of discrimination, so for centuries, they have been burying their dead in one cemetary.  By the 20th century, graves had been stacked one over another so much that the ground level is much higher than it used to be.  Moreover, they have tried to keep all the gravestones over each grave, so the cemetary is packed with 12,000 headstones.  Surprisingly, while in one of the museums, we met two other MIT students visiting Europe this summer.  They recognized me because of my tall frame and blond hair…

After the Jewish tour, we decided to see the museum of medieval torture instruments.  It is off to the side at the end of the Charles bridge away from the castle.  Even though it is very small, we quickly saw more than enough to satisfy our curiosity.  I learned tha tpeople have the potential to be incredibly evil.  Even when enforcing capital punishment, they wanted it to be long and painful.  Beheading was considered a very light punishment, so it was reserved for the upper classes.

Finally, we met David’s brother Victor and saw Ocean’s 13 in English with Czech subtitles.

Friday’s weather was not so good, and we were both tired of being constantly busy, so we decided to take a day off to eat French Toast and play old-school computer games (StarCraft and Diablo II).  This brought back a lot of memories of 8th grade.  Sadly, I soon realized that I am not the player I used to be…  Half the time, the computers beat us 2-on-2.

For lunch, David took me to a local pizza place that was near enough to walk.  Actually, outside of Italy, it really is one of the best pizzas I have had; I got yummy crabmeat toppings on mine.  We fared a little better for dinner Friday, too;  spiced grilled chicken with farfalle pasta.

Around 11pm, David wanted to take me to one of the largest clubs in Eastern Europe; five floors of music and dancing.  It did turn out to be a really nice place.  We danced until 4:00 am…  Just not with women.  David assures me that he’s never seen it so overrun by men before.  Every floor was at least 3:2 or 2:1 men:women.  Very odd, and no so good for us.  David only danced with one older woman, and she tried to steal his wallet…