Practically Prague

Let’s start with a not so practical city…. Prague!

Growing up in a Czech town…. I knew basically Czechs polka, eat kolaches, like beer, and… that is about it.  I never really knew anything else about the Czech culture, but now staying here for about a week I have learned it’s more than the usual!

I don’t even know where to start with my experience in Praque.

Sightseeing

The first day I walked around with some people on my trip. We ran into St. Vitus Cathedral, which took 600 years to build. We saw St. Charles bridge which is a very famous bridge that connects across a river. It has massive statues that tell a story. A lot of painters and drawers come sit on the bridge to draw and be artistic. Many people sell their artwork and other touristy souvenirs.

MAIN STREET

The main boulevard is called Vaclosciski Namesti Boulevard. This is the main strip that they used to hold the protests and eventually pushed the soviet to turn the keys over not too long ago.  There is a famous building with a clock. Every hour people gather around the clock to watch two (live) men play the trumpets and 12 wooden apostles also pop out behind a chamber and turn during the bells.

CASTLE

 There is also a castle with a 1000-year history. The Catholics and Protestants got in a fight at the castle and threw a man named St. John Nibamonkey out of a window. This is their way of getting rid of people. He survived supposedly because they threw him out over the horse entrance. He fell in the maneuver and survived. Some people think it is just luck…. I’d say it’s a miracle. But either way… it is disgusting.

The castle is not impressive, just a few rooms that surrounds the St. Vitus Cathedral. The castle today is used for the president and government. The church in the middle still holds service and is gothic style (art history came into play!) They have flying buttresses, apse, and other architecture. Inside is St. John Nibamonkey’s memorial. His burial was extremely outrageous. You can climb one of the steeples to look out. No one told us it was 268 steps to the top AND not to add they were big winding steps all the way to the top! My calves have been sore all week along with all of the walking! Prague is a workout!

Random Fact: John Hoss lead the Reformation in Prague, which gave it the Protestant influence; however, the Czech Republic is mostly un-churched. They hold concerts at night in the churches to raise money.

Old Town Square is old! They have pretty buildings there. All of the streets are made of the original large cobblestone and brick with huge cracks! It’s pretty difficult to walk on. There is gelato on every corner. They are famous for the crystal. There is more pizza than Czech food! I have lived on Pizza and making my own sandwiches from the supermarket.

 

History of our “Hotel”

Our group is staying at the International Baptist Theological Seminary (IBTS). IT has a lot of culture and history! The European Baptist Federation started the location.  There were 52 Baptist divisions in the union, including western Europe, Egypt, and all of the “stan” countries and middle east. . The first three students in the seminary were from France, Germany, and Britain. Boy did they get along…The first president of the seminary was from TEXAS named Walter Satler. HE constantly reminded the three students that the main Kingdom is God’s Kingdom over their own kingdoms. After the First World War, it became a military base for retired officers. It was also a secret engineer technology.  

This area is called Jeneralca. Very few people in the Czech knew about it because it was so secretive and hidden.  During World War 2, the Germans took over the buildings. They kept very accurate files about the people in the concentration camps in one of the rooms. We learned this room is where we have class everyday.  Hitler’s grand plan was to create a museum of “the lost race.” After the war, they gave the files to the Jewish Quarters Museum. These names found in our classroom are now engraved in the synagogue. We visited the museum. The names were ALL over the walls and walls and walls and MORE walls in a very fine print. It was unbelievable! They also had a confined burial space. They kept running out so they just kept putting dirt down. There are five levels now and they literally stacked on top of each other. We also visited a John Lennon Wall (beatles). This is were students came to express there feelings during communism.

Prague has a lot of film studios. During World War 2, they took many fancy limos from these film studios, nice clothes and created a fenced area. When people were fleeing, they thought they made it. The people of the area gave them beer and food. They told them how they fled out of the country and who helped them. The next day they helped them start a new life by giving them a ride in the limo. Now… The Germans had their stories; the people turned themselves along with their helpers. They were not going to start a new life. Prague was basically the only city in the Czech not bombed during WW2.

We took a funicular up a mountain called Petrina. There was a secret rose garden. It was beautiful.

TEREZIN

They split up the adults from the children in two separate locations. Both were very eerie. Just like you read…. Bunks three levels high that held tons of people in a small living area with one disgusting toilet. VERY dark prison cells. Delousing areas. The children were located downtown. There are so many people in one area that the diseases traveled faster than wildfires.

SKODA PLANT

Bicyles to motercyles to tricycles to old cars to state cars to racing cars to modern cars. Skoda has it all.

Little Stories

The first day I ordered a salad and got a bowl of water with chopped up tomatoes. This is right before they said there was an E Coli Breakout!!!! I found a really good looking Caesar salad And now that I’m really craving one… I can’t eat one.

I ordered a Czech Chicken Meal. I end up with Chicken Fried Chicken and Fries. How foreign.

I went to a pastry shop and asked if they had kolaches. The woman looked at me like I was crazy!

My room has a 12-inch nightstand and bed. We are midgets apparently and our door doesn’t open until you jiggle the key for about 5 minutes.

Beer is WAY cheaper than water. Czechs drink it as water.

I found a SOKOL sign.

Sweet Bread is DELICOUS. They use a metal rolling pin and turn it over a stove. They put thin bread dough over the rolling pin with some sugar and cinnamon.  It comes out hollow round and thin bread.

Prague is a very unusual city. The people might not be the nicest but it is practical. They just turned into a free market economy; they don’t know what it is like to be happy and live under no strict rules. It is still new to them and even though the market might be corrupt, this little country is learning and doing a great job competing with the big shots.

All I can say is…. I’ve been in Prague long enough!
Take me to Vienna Please!