The Eiffel Tower and the Jewish Quarter

What a haunting experience to travel through the Jewish Quarter of Prague. A ticket allows you to see the Old Jewish Cemetery and five synagogues. Four of these have been converted into Jewish history museums and memorials while one, the Old-New Synagogue (built in the 13th century), is still in use today. To sit in that synagogue and realize how many generations of people sat exactly where I was was a humbling experience.

The Old-New Synagogue

Although only used for three centuries, the Old Jewish Cemetery houses thousands of graves. I'd never seen a cemetery where tombstones were so closely packed together. Some graves were even stacked on top of each other due to the lack of space allotted for the cemetery. The reason for this, of course, was that the Jews of Prague were not permitted to be buried outside the ghetto. Although we hear much about the ghettos during World War II, many people, including me, don't think much about the centuries of discrimination that occurred before.

The Jewish Cemetery

Moving on to a lighter subject: Courtney and I climbed to the top of Petrín Hill later that afternoon. At the top is a miniature Eiffel Tower/Firetower which was totally worth the 299 stair climb. And what a lovely view of the city. With its sprawling landscape, the many bridges crossing the river, and the white buildings complimented by red roofs, it looked like a fairytale come to life. Courtney and I took what I think is our best photo to date. The image below is the photographic evidence of our major success.

Prague Panorama

On our last full day in Prague, we took a riverboat cruise on the Vltava River. The two hour cruise, complete with dessert and a drink, was a fun way to be able to see the riverside areas of the city. And a fun way to spend time with the class as a whole.
Statue Update: again this time, Courtney and I were not on top of our statue game. We saw, but failed to correctly identify Jan Neruda, the Czech journalist and poet; Karel Hynek Mácha, another Czech poet; and Josef Dobrovsky, a philologist and historian tasked with finding manuscripts displaced during the Thirty Years' War (thanks Wikipedia!). All interesting people that I now know about.
Next post will be coming to you from Leipzig, Germany!

Charles Bridge from the River