Day# 28: Prague

The next day the school had organized a day trip to Prague for students interested in going to see the city. We left at about 4:45 am with two buses full of students. A new friend I have made this semester, Marianne, had organized a private tour of the city for a few students. Thinking it a worthy cause, I signed up and paid the ten euro. Our tour guide was an older Czechoslowakian woman named Paula. We met her at our bus stop. "You are all Catholic, yes?" she asked us. We nodded. "I am a Protestant, I hope you don't mind," she said with a smile. Of course we didn't mind. She was very kind and it was nice to learn a little about the city, and very helpful to have a local to tell us where not to shop or exchange our money.
We saw the astronomical clock in the main square, which at the noon hour had little figures that moved. It was orginally built as an attraction for the city of Prague. The figures included the twelve apostles who appeared at two windows towards the top, and a skeleton who rang a bell telling hte people symbolically, "Memento more," - Remember your death. There was also a trumpeter who played when the clock was finished to announce the hour to the city. Also in the main square was the place where the guillotine once stood. Also nearby was the Dvorjak Concert Hall. Dvorjak was originally from Prague, I think, but he eventually moved to America.
Paula took us up to the castle- Prague has one of the largest castles in eastern Europe. We didn't take the tour because it was too expensive for the amount of stuff you got to see. In the square within the walls of the castle was a cage where adulterous wives were placed so that everyone knew who was being unfaithful to whom. We asked what happened to the adulterous men and Paula said, "The cage wasn't big enough to hold all of them!" Paula showed us the general layout of the castle, the entrance to the gardens - which used to house wolves and bears to protect the castle as opposed to having a regular moat. Connected to the castle was the cathedral, dedicated to St. Vitus, a young early Christian martyr. The cathedral was in the Gothic style and made of sandstone, which Paula pointed out as being more porous material and thus very susceptible to pollution. The church was modified and added to over the years but the pollution had so darkly stained the outside that you couldn't tell which part was older.
We could only stand in the back of the cathedral as the rest of it was part of the tour. The stained glass windows were extremely beautiful. Most of them were in the same style, a mosaic sort of style, but each was a little unique in how the figures and faces were portrayed. There was one however that was very different in its style. This stained glass window, designed in the 1930s, was by the famous painter, Alfons Mucha. His window reminded me of a water color painting. It was also very striking in its color contrast, as a lot of the other windows used vivid, deep shades of colors of reds and purples and blues, while this one had softer shades of golds, greens, and blues of aqua and turquoise. There were also some mosaics on the walls, one of which depicted the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan by John, but these were blocked of by guard rails so we couldn't get very close. Good King Wenceslaus is buried there, as are some of the Hapsburgs, I think. Those Hapsburgs are everywhere! There was an organ in the left part of the transept, but I couldn't get a good look at it since we were in the back.
We visited another church that was once Russian Orthodox but now belonged to the Czechoslowachian government, whatever that means. There was no blessed sacrament, and Czech flags were in the sanctuary. But the organ was playing when we came in - it sounded familiar, like something you might hear at a wedding. I think it was in D Major.
For lunch I got a couple blueberry Czech pastries, the nI got a wrap at K.F.C. because it was cheap. They were playing American pop music in there -Lady Gaga and Rihanna and "Big Girls Don't Cry." Joey Walsh and Craig were bobbing to the music of singing off and on. THAT was amusing. Craig told someone earlier that day, "Emily and I are tight: she plays the organ and I listen!" I thought it rather sweet of him.
During the tour we also went through part of the Jewish part of Prague. Several synagogues had been closed and/or turned into museums. We also saw a miniature of the French Eiffel tower from a distance, and the U.S. embassy -we got to stand on American soil for just a little bit! Because the U.S. owns the property on which the embassy is built in every country except for England.
The final sights of the city we saw were the Charles Bridge and the church of the Infant of Prague. The bridge was lined with statues of the saints on either side, donated by various religious groups or churches I think. Venders selling jewelry, photos, paintings, and other wares had set up stands along the bridge. I bought a photo of the bridge from one of them.
We had stopped at the Infant of Prague church on the way to the bridge. Mass was being celebrated in Spanish at 5 pm, so we returned after the bridge, after we said good bye to our tour guide. There was a solo male singer with an organ accompaniment for the music. The singing was fine, but the organ was very out of tune, so that was a little painful to listen to.
Earlier I had looked around the church and prayed before the statue of the holy Infant. The church was a former German Lutheran church which now belonged to a group of discalced Carmelites. Thus there were Carmelite statues all over: St. Simon Stock, St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avila, and a newer statue of St. Therese of Lisieux. The statue of the infant was about 1 ft - 1 1/2 ft tall, placed on a side altar on the right side of the church in a glass case. I bought a small pin of the Infant and a booklet on the history of the statue and the church.
For dinner we went to a small Czech restaurant. Word had spread amongst Franciscan students throughout the day about how good the food was, so when we arrived the restaurant was full of Franciscan students. We had to hurry and eat as we had about a half-hour to get back to our bus. Marianne got us back safe and sound though. She told me that she thought it would be fun to travel around Europe with me. I was flattered, but I told her it would depend on what she appreciated doing, as I would want to do all sorts of artsy things like go to art museums and concerts. She didn't retract her statement though. I hope to get to know her better as the semester progresses. She and I and another girl will be rooming together in Poland this weekend. We didn't get back to Gaming until 1:30 am. On the bus ride back we watched Dennis Hoffman/Robin Williams' Hook to please the girls and Rocky II  to please the guys. (We had watched Rocky I on the bus ride there). I didn't like Rocky very much, but that's just me. He was a nice guy, but I wouldn't have been able to stand him. I enjoyed Cinderella Man a lot more, and James J. Braddock is much more my type.
Overall, I liked Prague very much, it was a beautiful city. Bit it had a more blatant, darker side to it that in Vienna was a more hidden, I feel. There was witch craft, drugs, and such which I'm sure Vienna may have, too, but at least I didn't have to look at it. The bridge was definitely my favorite, walking across it as it overlooks the river was gorgeous!