prague-alogue, czech it out!
11 september 2000

groeten vriendinen, {greetings friends},

this was our first trip to "eastern" europe and gary and i had the same first and continuing impression of prague, the capital of czech republic: "ohmigod, this is the most beautiful city i've ever laid eyes on, wow, this is the most incredible architecture anywhere in the world, i can't believe it's more intoxicating than paris, every building is a work of art!". walking around with our mouths hanging open and our eyes bulging, it was difficult not to bump into things while staring heavenward, trying to capture all the architectural nuances, of which there were many. the view is such that you can stand in one place and rotate and get an eyeful at any angle. statues, bridges, and spires to name but a few features. the city is built on gentle rolling hills, green and lush at this time of year,contrasted with varied and unusually colored buildings. lots of golds and yellows abound.

our lovely hotel was situated right on the charles bridge which spans the river vltava, or the "moldau" as smetana called his famous piece of music. from there, we sauntered through archways and alleys to get to the old town square, the site of a famous clock which draws lots of people to see its hourly show, the players being a skeleton and some saints seen at the top windows. if only it had tolled the correct time! in and around the square, we were inundated every minute with brochures of concerts, marionette shows, black light theatre, and all sorts of happenings about to take place. no need to worry about boredom in that town and after a short time, when we were tired of collecting all these papers, we politely started saying "no".

off the beaten path, if there is such a thing, we chose an opera for our evening activity. not just any opera. what luck that "clemenza di tito" by mozart happened to be playing in the very theatre that he premiered it in. we couldn't resist sitting in a box, which i've decided is the only way to go. this elegant theatre was used quite a bit in the movie, "amadeus" and apparently mozart was much more accepted in prague than in his austrian homeland which is why several of his operas premiered there. the orchestra and singers did a banner job but the staging was about the worst i'd ever seen. ok, i'm a bit critical on that subject but really, the director, set designer, lighting desinger, and costume desinger should have been shot! those were gary's thoughts too, so it wasn't just me. too bad and how embarassing for the performers.

there are certain "touristy" things that you really can't escape in certain cities, some more worthwhile than others. exploring the old jewish quarter falls into that category. prague has a lot of jewish history laid out in exhibits in several old synagogues and a very unique cemetery. it is overcrowded with all of the stones very close together and juxtaposed at interesting angles. it was the only burial ground permitted to jews for a long time and people are buried on top of each other, up to 12 layers deep. having been to spain not long ago, we were extremely fascinated with the spanish synagogue, designed in the moorish style with jewish symbols in place of the islamic ones prevalent in spain. one of things i've loved about europe is being able to make these types of connections.

dinner, that evening, turned into quite the experience. we couldn't help overhearing the man at the next table, who happened to be reviewing the restaurant. he and his girlfriend were obviously getting "the treatment", being served more food than anyone could possibly eat. by the time they got to dessert, we were all chatting gaily, { he's from baltimore, she's czech but grew up in holland}, and we were sharing their wine, dessert, and their table with them. it was great fun and we learned that had we been there two nights earlier, we may have been in the background for a johnny depp film, being shot at that very restaurant. it was great fun meeting them and getting the scoop from an expat living in prague.

other highlights of the following days include a trip to prague castle; way too many people there to be enjoyed fully, a stop at st. nicholas' church, with it's amazing frescoes, a ride on the funicular railway, which goes up and down a mountain, and a great contemporary dance concert by balet praha, at a lovely outdoor theatre. a visit to the mucha museum found us extremely attracted to the czech artist, alphonse mucha, in addition to other pieces in the art noveau style. in fact, we fell in love with his work and got a little crazy in the gift shop. he was mostly a graphic designer with a preference for using goddess like women with flowing hair, to depict nature and other themes in beautiful curving lines and patterns. he moved on to design furniture and jewelry and then devoted himself to expressing czech culture in an ongoing project called "the slav epic". we were also mesmerized by a vibrant stained glass window he designed, housed in a gothic cathedral at prague castle.

by mid week, we decided to rent a car and explore the bohemian countryside. bohemia is a specific region of czech republic; i've always wondered where that was, now i know. the countryside is a blend of moutainous terrain and thick forests, alternating with tiny villages. you can get a sense of character just by driving through these towns with their looming churches and corlorful houses. periodically, a castle would appear at the top of a hill. we did make a pit stop at a town called karlstein, home of a medievel castle by the same name. we took the tour because that's the only way you're allowed in and gleaned some historical facts but i must say, these tours are not my preferred style. later, we toured a 19th century manor house and another castle and both of those tours were in czech. as i said, there's no other option if you want to see the inside.

as you may know, i am not the ideal traveller, although i constantly assure gary i'm getting better. i'm fairly picky about what i eat and i was pleasantly surprised at the great quality and selection of food in prague. well, here we were in this smaller town and mostly everyone was speaking either czech or german, however there was an english translation on this menu. i ordered the spaghetti with ketchup thinking, "they really mean tomato sauce", but no, it actually was ketchup! who knew they even had ketchup in that country. BIG MISTAKE, i'll never do that again.

one of our priorities for this trip was to go to a "spa". this is a town that has natural mineral springs which provide "the cure" by drinking the water from them. of course i thought we'd be soaking and swimming, not drinking some foul tasting sulfurous water. but we really wanted the experience and it was obvious why famous people such as the philosopher, goethe and others used to frequent these towns for r and r purposes. marianske lasne is a reconstructed 19th century style town with pleasant strolling areas and we spent two nights there. our hotel had a strange feeling about it. it seemed like no one else was staying there and it almost felt like time was standing still, particularly when we discovered that the shower head was on backwards and gary had to drag a chair in the shower to assess the situation. i know, as americans we are obsessed with bathing, but we didn't think it was asking too much to have a working shower. {we borrowed another shower til ours was fixed}. then at breakfast the second day, the dining room was filled with people, all about 30 years older than us. we began to realize this was a very popular elderly german tourist destination.

at one point, we considered going to auschwitz, which is in poland but realistically it was too far away. instead we visited terezin, a town not far from prague. originally it was built as a fortress but from 1941 to 1945, it was a jewish ghetto, already having walls to close it off from the rest of the world. it was actually a transit camp, a temporary hell for people before they were sent to the death camps. it is the most chilling place i have ever visited and it made my heart hurt. the town has an emptiness to it although there are people living there. i really can't imagine who would or could live in a souless atmosphere like that. the history of what happened there really hangs in the air and it's very hard to describe.

there are several exhibitions and a reconstructed barracks building. across the river is a place called the small fortress, even more overwhelming than the town. it is where a lot of the horrors took place, and you can see the different rooms, such as the shaving room, the solitary confinement room, the surgery room. it is all devastating especially to learn that the nazis were using this place to make propaganda films, assuring the world that they were providing a good life for the people imprisoned there. on and on. the one tiny bright spot was that the jews formed a self governing operation there with the emphasis on education and art, particularly for children. there were many drawings, paintings, written accounts, and poems on exhibit from this period; music concerts and plays were performed in secret and it's fascinating to think about these creative efforts being produced in the midst of this living nightmare. i can only imagine what daily survival must have been like. actually, i can't imagine.

we felt a bit shaken after seeing all of this and spent a quiet night at a reconstructed gothic castle. the outside was grand, however the bathroom was not in the room but down a very long hallway. this is not a situation that i enjoy but nothing else was available. the castle was located in what is called the "bohemian paradise" appropriately named for its exquisite views and interesting rock formations. but we had been away from the action of the city for three nights and yearned to spend our last one back in prague.

we scored a very nice hotel room {en suite}, and went out and about. after buying some opera tickets for that night, we looked for a place to eat lunch, as it was about to dump rain. here came the wind as we settled down on a boat restaurant. bad choice during a storm but not as bad as the people out on paddle boats. i made gary sit on my feet to keep them warm.

"jacobin" is an opera by czech composer dvorak and it was performed at the exquisitely decorated national theatre. at least this one had some production value, beautiful sets and costumes and just being in that magnificent hall was something else. the voices were not great and the staging needed work, but overall the production was entertaining. from now on we will be packing more upscale clothing, as people "dress"for these events and we were not really up to fashion par. live and learn.

our last day was spent walking and shopping and just loving being in that lively city. we were determined to come home with a set of cups and saucers a la art noveau and after a week of looking, found what we wanted. it's hard to believe czech land was communist not too long ago; it feels pretty western but definitely maintains a quality of "old worldness". prague fits right into the list of places that i've fallen in love with. it remains a relatively inexpensive city to visit so watch the fares and if you get a chance to go.....it is a really special place!!

with love,

eurodeb