Kylin's European Grand Adventure: Day 24 -Praha unexpectedly

This morning started off with a tour to the old Jewish neighborhood or ghetto. We were a little early so walked around and took pictures of the area around the astronomical (not atomic as I said previously) clock. I tried to take John's photo but this mother kept getting in my way trying to take a picture of her son standing behind John! I got the giggles at first but decided the only thing I could do was walk in front of her. Hmm! Not so good when it happened to her! There was a Segway tour trying to get participants and she said John could try it out even though he wasn't going to take a tour. Hopefully, at least one of the photos will be good!

I wish I could capture just a little of the intensity and passion of our tour guide this a.m. She made us feel the despair of the Jews in Prague. The only period of time that they were not persecuted and allowed to flourish was the early 1900's. That was the only time they could expand outside the ghetto and they built some wonderful buildings where the exclusive shops are today! The nazis didn't destroy or damage these buildings because their plan was to use them as a museum to show the world the Lavish life style of an inferior people. .

The cemetery is so small that they had to bury the bodies 23 layers and some of the headstones have so many names that part of them are hidden in the ground! They had to build a high wall so that they could layer the bodies. There are six Jewish synagogues in the area but only one of them is used as a synagogue today. Before the extermination camps, there were over a 100,000 Jews and after the war, there were a little over 7,000 that came back to the area or were left. Some emigrated to the US.

The Jews made their living as a one man business - illusionist, jeweler, tailor, banker, shoemaker and their names often told their profession -- Schumacher, Goldsmith, etc.

They were persecuted by the Catholics because they would not convert; illusionists were considered magicians and that was considered evil, etc. She explained that the communists rule took away their interest in their faith. I'm not wording it as she said it so I'm afraid of changing her meaning. What she said though turned on a light bulb for me because I wondered why the Jews did not return to God after their period of persecution. In the OT whenever they were released from captivity or punished by God through allowing other nations to rule over them, they would return to their faith and this did not happen after the extermination camps according to what we've heard in Budapest and Prague.

The Star of David became a symbol for Jews first in Prague. In Prague there is a funny hat in the center which symbolized the hat (not the yarmulke) the men were required to wear as a form of ridicule when outside the ghetto.

The guide was so passionate that we thought maybe she was Jewish. Anyway, we sensed some of the despair she conveyed.

After the tour we took a boat ride w/o a guide so didn't recognize many of the buildings we were seeing but it was pleasant.

We did a little shopping, ate some lunch, walked and walked, went back to the hotel to pick up our suitcases and then headed to the train station. We were way too early and the station did not have a sit down restaurant so we walked around and bought some supplies for dinner on the train. Imagine our surprise when we found someone else had the same sleeper. The date on our reservation was incorrect so we were without a place to stay. The city is so crowded right now and our hotel was booked for tonight and we had no cellphone to call hotels so we took the metro back to our previous hotel and they helped us find a place for tonight -- Marriott executive apartments. Thank you, God, for that prayer answered so wonderfully! How pleasant to have a small kitchen, living and dining area plus a bedroom! We decided God knew we needed a rest so we plan to take life easy tomorrow.

Mary in the astronomical clock square

Astronomical clock

John (and the mother and the son)

Clock

Buildings around the square

Sane

Same

Church of the lady of our tyn

Same

Same square

John on the segway

Again

Our guide explaining that the tile pictures and art on the Jewish buildings are stories from the OT, not the NT. Mother and son are not Mary and Jesus rather they are Miriam and Moses. The 3 kings are not the wise men who came to see Jesus but King Saul, King David and King Solomon. Queen is not the blessed mother but Queen Esther.

Synagogue built for a private family but now a museum

Oldest Jewish synagogue in Europe still a synagogue used for worship

Wall of cementary

Burial preparation room

Star of David with hat

Statute of Kafka -- his book about the man who dreamed he was walking around on an empty suit.

Damaged area in UNESCO site not yet repaired. She explained that the owner lived in Canada and wanted the building to be a reminder of the horror that happened to the Jews. The govt agreed to keep it like this as long as she lived but she died recently so they will soon start to restore it.