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| A Panorama of the cityscape of Prague |
So I have decided that the best way to catalog my experiences in Prague is to not do daily posts but to merge them all together into one longer post. I will be adding more to it as time goes by so this is technically not the final post. The pictures directly below are the pictures from our first day in Prague where we visited the Old Town Square which is basically the center of Prague's history.
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| The Powder Gate. The indicator where the old town begins. This was where wall around it was. |
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| This was a plaque I saw on the street that translates into "Faithful forever." I feel it applies to my focus because it was right near the middle of the old town and shows the deep rooting in religion Praha has. |
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| This is one of two pictures of the Oldest Astronomical clock in the world. This applies to the cruelty of the past in Praha. This beautiful clock was made by a famous artist at the time, and as a reward the people who commissioned him burnt out his eyes so he could never make anything like it for anyone else ever again. |
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| This is the underground of Prague. It speaks to the past of Prague and how it has had many revolutions and has been used for many different functions |
A Reflection in Prague
While In Prague I had many experiences that made me reflect on my identity. One of these experiences was with a man who was staying at Sir Toby's. I believe it was the fourth night staying at Sir Toby's and I was hanging out in the lounge area and got to talking with a man named Micheal. He was Canadian and had never met a Jewish person before. What was profound about our interaction was that somewhere in our conversation e basically said that all of his perceptions of Jewish people were now going to be based off of me. It is profound because I became a representative of an entire people in a split second and from now on this mans thoughts about jewish people in general would be based off of me. I thought it was very powerful to be the representative of a people.
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| A picture of Micheal |
Another Reflection:
I visited St. Charles bridge while in Prague and it was beautiful. While there a learned a little bit about it and gave me some insight to reflect on it. Crossing the Vltava river, it was built in 1357. It was the only means of crossing the river and connected the Old Town with the Prague Castle. As a result of it being the only place to cross, it made Prague an important trade route between eastern and western europe. As I walked across the bridge, looking at the beautiful baroque statues of saints and patron saints, I thought about all that must have gone on on this bridge and all of the history that must have happened here. Prague contains one of the worlds oldest Jewish communities and my relatives are from around this area. I could have been walking the same exact route as my ancestors had. With the deep Jewish foundation of this city, it is possible to see how religion allows people to work together and form cultures. These cultures then have the ability to self reflect and look at their own social justice systems. I went over the bridge only once but throughout my time in Prague, I saw it many times. It was always a reminder of the deep history of Prague and of how much had gone on in this city.
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| A beautiful view of the St. Charles Bridge |
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| Another view of the bridge from another day |
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| One of the statues on the bridge |
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| A view from on the bridge |
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| Me on the bridge |
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| Another of me on the bridge |
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| People rub this for good luck and fortune. That is why it is such a lighter color |
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| The view of the castle from there was beautiful |
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| Another one of the statues |
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| Another saint |
Yet Another Reflection: The Old Jewish Cemetery
Within the Jewish Quarter of Prague, which I will be reflecting on later, resides the Old Jewish cemetery. It has been there for thousands of years and holds many influential people's final resting places. When I visited the cemetery, I was struck with a sense of littleness. The fact that my ancestors here have existed for so long compared to Jews in the United States, which is only 200 years Old, is awesome. The different types of gravestones from different eras displayed visually the timeline of Jewish people in Prague. It gave me a proud feeling that Jews have always been in Prague and will always be in Prague no matter what the opposition.
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| A panorama of the cemetery |
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| A view of the cemetery |
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| On a tombstone in the cemetery |
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| The Tombstone of David Gans, a historically significant Jewish man. If you look closely you can see a goose at the very top of the tombstone. In hebrew goose is gans. Many of the tombstones have animals on them to signify family names. |
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| This tombstone has a fish on it which denotes the name Fischel |
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| A deer on the tombstone denotes the name Tsvi |
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| All of these tombstones were beautifully engraved with pictures such as the grape vine on this one. |
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| An old sandstone tombstone |
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| One of the larger tombs which were reserved for the important Jewish people of the time |
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| The top of the tomb of an important person. This lion head tomb belong to a very wealthy person and it shows in the detail of the tomb. |
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| Another view of the top of the tomb |
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A beautiful walkway into the cemetery
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