Prague: Finding the Soul in an Ancient City

Originally posted March 2, 2004

The month of travel continues. I have a list of places that I wanted to visit this semester. At the beginning it seemed just a little ambitious with 10 destinations to hit and only 16 weekends in the program. I have now successfully visited 4 of the places on my list. I will be leaving for Greece on Thursday night after my last final for my first-ever solo vacation. I am a little worn out from constant travel, a few days to get caught up with school work and get ahead, and then leaving again, but all that will end pretty soon. I have my finals this week and then after spring break we start our internships. Mine will be at the American Chamber of Commerce which is located just off the Champs-Elysées. Bad experiences at the other end of the Atlantic aside, I think the internship will be a profitable experience for me.

Republic Square

This weekend was Prague. When I was young, I saw this Levi jeans commercial that said “In Prague, you can trade them for a car…” Ever since that time, the city has held this mystery for me. I also vividly remember the car from the commercial driving along the cobblestone streets.* My friend Marshall from W&M, participant in our weekend in Brussels, mentioned he was thinking about going to Prague the next weekend. That's about all it takes for me these days to agree to a trip, so I booked a flight for Friday morning returning home in time for class today, Monday. He invited some of his other friends but it ended up only being us who went through with it. I booked a hostel that used to be an old mansion right in the center of Prague on Republic Square, the place of many an uprising and rebellion.

On my flight over, we stopped in Munich to change planes, and the Munich airport seriously impressed me. It is by far the best airport I have ever been to. First of all, it was so filled with light and so sparklingly clean, I felt like I was in an ice palace. And it was quiet. No, it was borderline silent. Zero beeping, no loud conversations, no yelling at ticket agents, just the gentle whisper of changing departure boards and a soft murmur of voices near cafés. The design of the airport exudes German sleekness and efficiency. Everyone was wearing cool-looking eyeglasses and I strolled passed Bulgari, Prada, Cartier and other designer stores while I was going to my gate. Clear glass surrounded me and I could see 360 degrees of snow-covered countryside and airport happenings. The weather was getting bad in Munich and our plane had to be de-iced which caused a bit of a delay, but I finally got to Prague.

I arrived Friday afternoon around 4:30, got to the hotel and found that for a little over 10 dollars a night we got to stay in a quirky yet charming old art-deco mansion that had a perfect location. Prague, as we were pleased to discover throughout the weekend, is incredibly cheap. Getting there is not, at least if you fly, but once you do, it’s all downhill. Our room had high ceilings with chipped and cracked walls but it was clean and warm. The bathrooms were freezing cold but the water was hot. The mosaic tiling on the ceiling of the breakfast room offset the heavy red velvet curtains and dark wood walls. The building was old but so lovely. Every night they have live New Orleans style jazz and there’s a popular café attached to it as well.

City view from Prague Castle

So after I had gotten settled Marshall and I went for a walk into town to see the city under the cover of night and all lit up. Crystal boutiques line every corner and they have very beautifully engineered lighting on all the famous landmarks of the city, so walking at night is like walking through a postcard. We took our time and wandered through the maze of streets. Then we went back to the hotel where Marshall listened to the jazz band and I went to sleep.

The next morning Marshall and I had breakfast in the hotel, then went out to Prague castle, bundled up complete with long underwear so you would only see our eyes. The castle and the church there were amazing. The big cathedral within the castle walls was built in 1344 by Charles IV. The sun poured in through the stained glass windows, recently restored, and splashed a thousand colorful refractions into the cavernous vaults. We went through the old Royal Palace whose main hall was so big they used to have jousting matches in it. We walked around to the city gate and down the narrow street where Franz Kafka lived. We ducked into tiny houses with low doors and bright paint jobs that sold traditional Czech crafts and musical instruments. Then we crossed back over the Vlatava river into our part of town and went to a bakery café for lunch. After we had warmed up we went to look at the old Jewish quarter, but because it was Saturday everything was closed.

Charles Bridge and the Vlatava River

Undaunted, we walked south of the city to go see the state theater and possibly get tickets for a show that night. We succeeded in both respects. The state theater towers over the rest of the buildings on the right bank of the river showing off its roof that resembles a night sky with intricate brass terraces and golden star accents on the cobalt blue roof. We found the box office and bought tickets to see The Marriage of Figaro that night. Then we went back to the hotel to rest before a night at the opera.

State Theater of Prague

We got to the opera just as it began and had little time to take in the beautiful blue theater where Mozart had his first showing of Don Giovanni and wrote the Symphony of Prague. This city loves Mozart. We heard the opening bars of the overture and settled into our seats for a night of quality vocal performances in a beautiful historic venue. At intermission we had the time to admire the baroque embellished balconies and galleries, as well as the gigantic crystal chandelier in the center. The opera was funny and well acted. We again had the cheap seats but we could see more of the stage this time than at the Ballet in Paris.

After the performance we walked home at a brisk pace to stay warm and Marshall again hung out to hear the band downstairs while I went to bed. The next day we crossed back over the river first thing in the morning on the historic Charles Bridge which is marked by two huge towers on either end and has sculptures of Christ and the saints at intervals on either side of wide cobblestone path. It leads directly into St. Nicholas’ Cathedral which is a stunning example of Baroque architecture and one of its centerpieces. I have never been much of a fan of the ornate style, but I kept thinking of all music that I love from that time. The Brandenburg concerto kept playing in my head over and over. Walking around Prague, you feel like you should be accompanied by a string quartet all the time. After we had explored St. Nick’s and a park by the river, we went back across to try to see the Jewish quarter again. It was definitely open.

St. Nicholas Church - Republic Square, Prague

In 1180 the citizen’s of Prague built a 12 foot wall around a small area of town which was henceforth the Jewish section or “Josefov” in the Czech tongue. It remained densely populated until WWII when the Nazis cleared everyone out and sent them to concentration camps. One of the legends is that Rabbi Loew created something called a golem, a mud creature which he brought to life to protect the city. My first question was whether or not that has any relation to Gollum, from Lord of the Rings. Sadly, I don't think it does.

Josefov cemetary

The biggest attraction to the quarter is a cemetery with well over 12,000 graves in just under 1 sq. kilometer of space. The result is a fascinating array of tombstones jutting out at any and every angle, shifted by time, the Hebrew inscribed on them half-worn away by the weather. It was established in the first half of the 15th century and was the final resting place of every Jewish inhabitant of Prague until the end of the 18th century. After almost 400 years of burials, it’s no wonder it’s so crowded. They had to start stacking cemeteries one on top of the other. The morbidly beautiful place, with headstones jutting out at uncomfortable and unintended angles, gives off a feeling that there are souls trying to break free from down below.

Cathedral in the Baroque style

We then toured an old synagogue and then headed to a café to warm up again. After the café we walked to the grocery store to buy dinner and get tickets to an organ concert going on at 5 that night. We again passed a lot of streets and fun little shops. So we got our food, rested at the hotel a while, bundled back up, then went out to the concert which was held in a church just outside of the center of town. It was a little hole in the wall and it was barely heated but the music was wonderful. There was a strong soprano who sang some famous arias and a phenomenal organist who I wished had had a more inviting venue and a more impressive instrument to complement his talent. We heard Schubert, Mozart, Haydn, Handel, Beethoven, Bach, Vivaldi and Verdi to name a few. Even though it was cold we enjoyed ourselves. Then we left to go to a bar we had heard was pretty cool so we found it and got some famous Prague beer. It was alright, but Guinness and Straffe Hendrick taste better to me. We sat there for quite some time avoiding the cold and killing time until the jazz band we wanted to hear started playing at 9. Marshall educated me about comic books, Indiana Jones, Batman and Spider Man and their cultural significance, and gave me his treatise on why Harold Blume should not disregard movies and comic books as part of the western canon. Marshall is a pretty smart dude.

After we had finished our beers and then tried some absinthe, a local specialty, we walked over to the jazz club where a former band-member of B.B. King's was playing. I’ve never seen anyone play guitar like that guy did. The rest of the band was pretty strong too and stuck to an all blues set list. I had a really good time, but true to form, I got tired and ended up back at the hotel long before Marshall. As I walked back with the snow swirling around me looking up at the astronomical clock and the old buildings in the square I was content (not warm, but content).**  Marshall and I had had a snowball fight earlier and I was thinking to myself, I had a snowball fight in Prague…

Astronomical Clock

It’s still hard to imagine that I have actually seen some of the things I have; the paradise of Capri to the green fields of Dublin to the chocolate and waffles of Brussels to the snow covered domes and castles of Prague. Instead of a staid textbook telling me about everything, there is a living energy to the story of this continent now. All these names and places and dates that I had to learn are right there in front of me and I’m seeing what places were conquered by this ruler and who built this famous church and how it all fits together.

I am looking forward to the end of classes and the beginning of an internship though I’ll have to kiss my leisurely Monday and Wednesday mornings, and my free Fridays goodbye. I hope Paris warms up soon. Prague would have been even more stunning had all the gardens been in bloom, but I was thankful for the snow. Hope everyone has awesome spring breaks. Maybe some of you can send ME some postcards this time?? Until next time.



*This car, the Trabant, a sort of symbol of East Germany and the now-dissolved communist bloc, was also featured in the music video for U2's song "One" and in the artwork for the album on which the song appears, Achtung, Baby. The Zoo TV tour featured three brightly colored Trabants as part of the stage set up, and those cars are now present in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where I have seen them hanging.

**That night, walking home alone from that jazz show, is an enduring memento from my time abroad. It was so cold, so quiet and the snow on all the old buildings was so beautiful. I hope I never forget that.