Serious and then not so much

Yesterday morning, we bought a ticket for the Jewish Museums of Prague, which actually consists of 7 sites scattered throughout the tiny Jewish quarter in the old town. Having seen a lot of Jewish history as well as World War II history on this trip, I found Prague's Jewish sites to be particularly poignant. Less than 10% of Prague's Jews survived the war, and today only a few thousand Jews live in the city. However, many many Jewish treasures were saved and warehoused here in Prague as synagogues across Europe were liquidated and Jewish communities deported east. The Nazis planned to build a "Museum of the Extinct Jewish Race", and they saved and catalogued huge amounts of objects. We saw war-time pictures of the synagogues we visited today full of shelves holding rows and rows of silver torah finials, torah shields, spice cups, embroidered linens, and more. Pictures weren't allowed inside the synagogues, and we're both rule followers, but we did get to take pictures, for a small fee, inside the old Jewish cemetery.

The history lesson portion of the post is complete for today.

We split up to do some more wandering and shopping in the afternoon. Donica found, to her great delight, a 7-floor shoe store, the largest Bata store in Europe, where she satisfied her quest for cute Euro tennis shoes. I refuse to let myself go there because I already have cute Euro tennis shoes waiting for me at home, and because if I bought shoes I'd have to leave some shoes behind; I already don't know how I'm going to carry everything back. I did, however, purchase and enjoy a nutella/banana crepe. Very satisfying.

In the early evening, we headed along the river to a beer hall called U Flecku that had been recommended by a friend of Donica's. U Flecku has been serving beer in this location since 1499, and it was quite an experience. There is no dithering, asking what beer is on tap, trying to choose - as soon as you sit, a waiter comes with two big glasses of the only beer they serve, and as soon as you empty one, another will appear. They leave a slip of paper on your table and make hash marks to keep track of your consumption. We ordered very Czech-sounding specialties like sausage, cabbage, potato dumplings, and settled in to enjoy the surroundings. It was loud, but got louder when an accordionist and tuba player showed up and played at each table. People clapped and sang, and made requests.

view of the castle on the walk to dinner

We met the family next to us - he was born in Prague, she's from Moscow, but now they live in Long Beach, of all places. I wished we could sing along with the music, but it was enjoyable all the same. Here's a tiny taste:



We walked home past the now-lit castle and slept very well.