Prague's Jewish Quarter
Today was a hard day,
I mean, getting up was hard. We were supposed to have the cleaning service come through today between 10am and 5pm. But we were so lazy this morning, we called them off (we really didn't need them). as we just didn't want to get dressed and outta here before 10am.
And deciding where to have lunch was hard. We wandered a bit and landed on heading back to the Square. Got some lovely pictures, though.
Getting poor directions from Apple Maps was hard to deal with. "Wait, where the fuck is Krizovnicka Street?"
But the Jewish Museum and Old Cemetery was hard. Gasping hard.
Like any Jewish Quarter in the any of the old towns of Europe, the streets, walls, shops, and few survivors cling to narrow sidewalks embedded with random honorary stones, sagging with age and heartbreak, worn down by the horrors of history. The faces cry out to you from depths and darkness you and I will never know. Beginning in 1939 the Nazis murdered 80,000 Czech Jews. The Museum in Prague lists their names. Room after room, wall after wall; a name and a date.
I mean, getting up was hard. We were supposed to have the cleaning service come through today between 10am and 5pm. But we were so lazy this morning, we called them off (we really didn't need them). as we just didn't want to get dressed and outta here before 10am.
And deciding where to have lunch was hard. We wandered a bit and landed on heading back to the Square. Got some lovely pictures, though.
The Astronomical Clock
St. Nicholas
Church of Our Lady Before Tyn
Getting poor directions from Apple Maps was hard to deal with. "Wait, where the fuck is Krizovnicka Street?"
But the Jewish Museum and Old Cemetery was hard. Gasping hard.
Children, teenagers, women, men. It didn't matter. They were systematically exterminated. The museum does a fantastic job cataloging their population in a stark, but respectful manner.
It's a beautiful and very moving.
More. And more and more and more.
Let me give you some scale. This wall of names is as tall as I am and about four feet wide.
At the end of this litany is an outdoor space that guides visitors through the final solution: Journeys with no return. Those 80,000 were mostly burned, buried in mass graves, left to rot in forests or on roadsides. Vanquished from the earth...but not from history.
Capping off the visit to the museum is a stroll through the old Jewish cemetery. Dating back to 1439, it is the final resting place of many notables in the Prague Jewish community. The Nazis fairly desecrated the place so its markers are a chaotic mass of stone and concrete springing from banks of clover and wild strawberries. It's peaceful now, but you can feel the upheaval and hate of those who would find joy in disturbing the long dead Jews.
This is the oldest headstone here. Kara was a well-regarded rabbi and poet.
I needed a drink.
We sought out a local tap house, U Kunstatu - known for its great beer selection.
Then, time to eat! We went back to The Three Roses for some schnitzel and dessert.
I deserve this.
And this.
We're still on track for a trip to the castle tomorrow!
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