We ended up at the Museum of Communism which provided a detailed account of post-World War II life in Czechoslovakia. Indeed, it was a dream, reality, turned nightmare despite Karl Marx’s manifesto:
For lunch, we picked up sandwiches at nearby Zona Bistro and various local Czech beers which we enjoyed in our apartment. Some of the beer tasting below:
Rachel and I wandered out and took this selfie in front of a statue of Franz Kafka, the famous novelist from Prague:
We headed to the Jewish Museum, which is actually a collection of buildings in the Jewish Quarter that we walked through last night. Each building holds an impressive collection of Judaica and was well-curated. We first went inside the Old New Synagogue which we passed yesterday. I didn’t take photos as the seats were lined with photos of Hamas hostages and I was just so sad. Then we entered Klausen Synagogue which is the largest synagogue pictured below:
In Ceremonial Hall next door, they had exhibits about funeral customs as we were also near the cemetery which has over 100,000 remains and is one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in Europe.
The most moving though, was the Pinkas Synagogue which is the second oldest surviving synagogue in Prague and commemorates over 77,000 Jews from the Czech lands who perished in the Holocaust. The walls of the synagogue were lined with their names while a recording of a cantor singing was playing. Although moving, I didn’t take a photo as I tried to take in the awe of the many names listed.
Here’s a photo of Maisel Synagogue:
And finally the newer Spanish Synagogue with the beautiful moorish architecture:
We returned to the apartment where we all rested and I napped a little. We timed our departure to visit the old square and so we could watch the astronomical clock strike 7 pm. Here’s a photo of us in the old square with cocked hips trying to look cute:
Here’s one of the houses that lines the square and is known as Storch’s house. It’s also known as “At the Stone Virgin Mary” with a depiction of St. Wenceslas on a horse:
William tried to pump this barren well - no buckets!
In the nearby Municipal Library, was the “Idiom Installation” by Mateo Karen which was a tower of 8,000 books with a tear shaped opening - a series of photos below:
Then by the Charles Bridge, we had reservations at Mlýnec where we were served by the lovely waiter Lucas with a goth look. But we were all smiles:
Kind of:
We tried a local Czech white wine called pálava that reminded me of moscato after our first round of cocktails. As the food documentarian, here’s a collage of our cocktails and appetizers:
And main dishes and desserts:
To walk off dinner we walked along the river which had a lovely view of the Castle and Charles Bridge at night:
But we were busy looking at our phones to figure out planning and routing:
On our route, we passed by the National Theater:
And the plaza with a heart dedicated to Václav Havel, the first post-communist president of the Czech Republic and the airport namesake:
Then to the David Černý designed head of Franz Kafka which was not rotating, but we decided to come see it anyway:
And take a group selfie:
We also passed this statue near the Art Nouveau Lucerna Palace of St. Wenceslas on a dead horse. We learned later it was also a David Černý statue:
We hummed the Christmas carol, “Good King Wenceslas” as we walked to Wenceslas Square and took in the view of the National Museum:
And on our way home, we passed the Prašná Brána or Powder Tower, one of the original city gates. It was near the Museum of Communism, but we had walked in a different direction earlier today:
But directly adjacent to the gate was the Municipal House or Obecni dům which houses a concert hall called Smetana Hall. We had taken this picture inside the lobby to a bar entrance when we popped in earlier:
And then we returned to the apartment. Although we departed around noon, we sure saw a lot as we chatted and walked all over Prague!
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