Prague-ress, Take 2 and the devastation of the Holocaust (Assignment #2, Category 7)

     Thursday we left for our first field trip of the program. We spent Thursday, Friday, and Sunday in Prague and Saturday in Dresden, Germany. All I can say is wow. A little over a week had passed since my first visit to Prague, but the city was completely different. Easter markets had taken over the town's squares, and it was even more jam-packed with tourists! Our first day we did a short walking tour to see the Astronomical Clock, Charles' Bridge, and John Lennon's Wall. The clock has four figurines on the outside that represent four ideals despised by the Czech's during its construction. These figures represent vanity, greed, death, and Turks. The clock is obviously not the most politically correct thing in the world with its representation of Jews being greed and Turks being infidels. The clock could be considered racist if constructed during modern times, but it is still very eye appealing. Every hour the clock puts on a "show". During the show, the four figurines move slightly, and the two doors at the top of the clock open up to reveal the twelve apostles are rotating one by one by the windows. While it may not be the most impressive thing I have ever seen, it is still amazing when I remember how old the clock is. I have already talked about Charles' Bridge so I will move ahead to Lennon's wall. The wall was seen as a symbol of rebellion during Soviet rule. Individuals would often paint images of Lennon or Beatles' lyrics on the wall to symbolize freedom. Often, authorities would paint over the images but it was a never ending cycle or rebellion. Last year, some students painted over the wall to say that the age of rebellion was over; therefore, taking away a lot of the history the wall had. 

     Friday was spent with a very long journey uphill to see the Prague Castle. The journey was extremely tiresome, but when we finally reached the top of the hill, the views were breathtaking. The castle is connected to St. Vitus Cathedral. The Gothic cathedral is the suspected burial site of St. Wenceslaus and other important Saints and Kings. While the cathedral's construction was started centuries ago, the newest addition was completed in the early 2000's. By the time we had finished our walk through the Cathedral, it was time for the noon changing of the guards at the Castle. The changing of the guards was an over ten minute ceremony complete with music. From what I saw from behind the crowd, the ceremony was simple and to the point. Apparently becoming a guard at the castle is a very difficult task. One most have a specific height, low weight, perfect eyesight and health, no facial hair, no cosmetic defects, and they must pass a rigorous psychological examine. While it seems very over the top, the guards do guard the castle that houses the Czech President whose presence can be indicated by a flag flown at the top of the castle. The part of the castle we were able to access was very old and fulfilled my idea of a medieval castle. Once we finished our tour of the Castle, a few girls and I walked even further uphill to see the Strahov Monastery. Unfortunately, the monastery was closed for the day so we had to settle for seeing the outside of it. Still determined to see more of Prague, we continued our uphill battle to the Petřín Lookout tower to view Prague from the outskirts of the city. The view was worth all of the stairs!

     Saturday we ventured to another country, Germany! I was back in the motherland! We visited Dresden, a city bombed during World War II. The city’s most historical sites were almost all destroyed during the war, leaving the city very modern. Some the city’s sights were reconstructed from the ruins including the city’s Lutheran Church: Dresden Frauenkirche. The church was completely reconstructed to replicate the church’s previous form. Architects examined old church plans and images to ensure accurate reconstruction. They even used some of the old stones from the original church to construct the new one. These stones are dark in color from the fire that ravaged the town after the bombing. It is said that the bombing occurred in stages. First, flares lit up the entire city. Second, red flares designated places to be bombed. Lastly, two raids went through with explosives and fire bombs. Some say the inferno was visible from over 70 miles away in Prague. We climbed up the church to see the mostly modern city from above before heading to a museum.

     Sunday was even more heartbreaking than our visit to Dresden. We spent Sunday morning and afternoon in Prague visiting the former Jewish Ghetto. For hundreds of years, Jews were forced to live in one section of the town away from everyone else. This meant that no expansion could occur, not even the cemetery could be expanded. We first entered one of the synagogues which served as a memorial to the Jewish Czech’s murdered in the Holocaust. 77, 297 people murdered. Over two-thirds of the Jews of the Czech lands were murdered. In my head, I knew that almost 80,000 people is a lot of people. It is over three times the population of my hometown, but yet seeing the names of every single individual murdered brought things to a completely different level of realization. The entire synagogue is covered with the name, date of birth, date of death, and residence of each of the 77, 297 Jews. Families are grouped together, making the number hurt even more. Some family lists go on and on, showing how entire families were murdered simply for their religion and race. Even now reflecting on yesterday’s experience, I still tear up and have a knot in my stomach. I cannot even begin to fathom how something this terrible happened. After taking in all of the names, we moved on to the Jewish Cemetery. For centuries the

Jews only had one small lot to bury all of their dead. Gravestones are piled on top of each other. Each gravestone could represent an entire family. As the space continued to run out, the Jewish community was forced to bury people in the same lot. This meant burying up to six people in one lot. Another synagogue had an exhibition of art by Jewish children in the concentration camps. The images were heartbreaking. Children dreamed of going back home and depicted the horrors they experienced. Drawings and paintings of transportation to concentration camps, guard examinations, “play time”, and heartbreak were all around. The childhood of so many little children was ruined by a system of oppression. The oppression that the Jewish community faced throughout time was only worsened by the Holocaust. At least now, the Jewish community is allowed out of the ghetto and welcomed into society as they should have centuries ago.

     I am glad to be back in Olomouc for a few days before our next journey. I need time to recover, both emotionally and physically. I am not exactly for sure how to prepare myself for our future visit to the concentration camps Auschwitz and Theresienstadt. These trips will surely bring my knowledge and awareness of the Holocaust to a new level. 

**More images of my trip can be found on Facebook.

5.) Cultural Differences (Assignment #1)

  It goes without saying that the Czech Republic is very different than Nebraska. We have had the opportunity to meet multiple Czech students as well as a few foreign exchange students and it has been a treat. One thing that has shocked me is the way that people hang out. In Nebraska, my friends and I would often hang out together at coffee shops or watch movies. My experience here has included meeting people in pubs. It seems as if there meeting place is always the pub. Just got done with class, let’s go to the pub. Just finished a movie, let’s go to the pub. It’s a very different atmosphere and something that I am trying to get used to. Meeting people in pubs creates a very relaxed atmosphere with less pressure on keeping my "indoor" voice, something in which I struggle.

     Voice level is another difference I have noticed between locals and our group. We tend to be a slightly rambunctious and loud group. Most Czechs are soft spoken and blunt. As Nebraskans, we tend to be polite and smiley, even if we are not feeling the best. One of our professors used a very good example to express this difference. In Nebraska, it is very common to ask someone how they are doing even if you are not extremely interested. It is simply polite to do and could be considered rude not to ask. If you ask a Czech how they are doing, they will respond with a detailed answer and they do not hold back. If their day was terrible, they will tell you. There is definitely a big difference there.

     It also shocked me that you can smoke indoors. In Nebraska, we have laws prohibiting smoking in public establishments, so this is a hard adjustment. To make matters more complicated, it seems like everyone smokes here. I do not know if there is actually a larger percentage of smokers or if it is just more apparent because people can smoke where ever they please. The pubs, which are the meeting place of young people, seem to be only found thick beneath a fog of smoke. 

     A very pleasant change is how they handle pets. Dogs are found all over the city. People can take their dogs with them on public transportation and often leave them outside the store while they run inside. I would love to implement this in Nebraska, but I feel that it would be very challenging. The dogs here seem so obedient. Many owners leave their dogs loose to stroll around town and the dogs never stray from the owners. It is truly amazing. I know personally that my dogs would never be calm enough to take on public transportation. They would be jumping on everyone's laps begging to be pet!

     The last and probably the most shocking difference is the enforcement and strictness of liquor laws in the Czech Republic, more specifically Olomouc. For instance, there is a law that forbids liquor and open containers in public. This law is almost never followed. You can go to a bar and order cocktails to go! This is just completely shocking. They also have much more relaxed laws pertaining to alcohol in general. For starters the drinking age is 18, but this is rarely verified or enforced. I have never been asked for my I.D. but in the US it is required to always check the buyer’s age or you could face prosecution. It was also shocking that Clubs and bars stay open until the crack of dawn. Since clubs stay open until five in the morning most people do not even show up until midnight. Norfolk, Nebraska’s liquor laws are quite strict. Liquor can not be sold before noon on Sundays and bars close around one in the morning.  Bars in Norfolk can not sell liquor after one and all bottles and liquor most be put away or finished by 1:15 AM. I have yet to see anything of this level of seriousness here. I feel that the vast differences in the way each town handles liquor is directly related to its level of misuse.

     I still can not believe that I am really here!

Until next time,

Miranda

 

Prague-ress, Take 1

Nerudova Street

     After our long and tiring journey in London, we decided we should take a little bit of time to relax. This was especially true after our red eye flight to Prague. We left our London Hostel at the ripe time of three in the morning. Unfortunately, our hostel was at the very top of a scenic hill, Nerudova Street. This meant that we had to lug our bags all the way to the top. Exhausting! When we arrived at our hostel, we were pleased to find out that our room was available right away. We took the first night easy and wandered around the city.

The view from Charles' Bridge

      The next day we decided to try a walking tour, but it didn't quite work out for us. We got about half way through the city tour when our guide informed us that his wife was in labor.  I believe his exact words were, "My wife, the water, it broke!" Definitely an interesting experience to say the least. Our short time with our guide gave us lots of information. We visited The Church of St. James in Prague. Just to the right of the entrance was a mummified hand. The arm belonged to a thief who tried to steal jewels and offerings from the Madonna statue. Legend says that Madonna grabbed his arm and didn't let him leave. The police found the thief the next morning and were forced to cut off his arm to get him out! The monks then took the arm and hung it by the door as a warning to all other thieves. It was shortly after the church that our guide had to leave, so we did the most logical thing and visited the city's Ice Pub. It is a pub made completely from ice sculptures! It is so cold inside that they give you a giant parka, gloves, and a hat upon entrance.
After our freezing drink, we strolled across Charles' Bridge -- it was breathtaking. On our walk back to our hostel we decided to try trdelnik, a pastry-esque dessert favored by Czech tourists. It was good, but way too sweet. 

     Sunday came much faster than expected. We mapped our route to the airport very extensively, but yet we still failed. We took a tram to the outskirts of Prague where we waited 45 minutes for a bus that never came. (We figured out later that the bus was out of commission for the day.) Luckily we left with amble time to spare because we had to go all the way back to the city center in order to trace another, much more successful, route. We were finally off to Olomouc!

London Calling

              We arrived in London on Tuesday, which seems like forever ago. London is even more amazing than pictures portray. Beautiful buildings and architecture are all around the buzzing city. We successfully navigated the intricate tube line back to our hostel without any hiccups. Our hostel experience was one that will never be forgotten. Three bunk beds were shoved into a room only slightly larger than my room at home, leaving a little walkway to the beds. The walls were dark and the bathrooms tiny, but it was a place to sleep. We had a rather unique experience within the first thirty minutes of our stay, but that will be revealed toward the end of my trip.

Trafalgar Square

                After we gather our bearings, we went on a self-guided trip around London. We walked through Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, and all around Soho. I swear we walked for miles. We finally found our way to an underground and continued our discoveries on the other side of the river. We relished in the views of Big Ben and the house of Parliament. I don’t think I could ever get tired of seeing this sight. We ate fish and chips near the London Eye and then continued toward Westminster Abbey. We saw places in London most people never see and it was amazing, even if it was only because we got lost. We ended our night exhausted and full of burgers and fries. 

                The next day was what I like to call our major tourist day. We saw all of the stereotypical places of London.  The day started at the Kensington Palace where Will and Kate Middleton reside. The place was beautifully painted and had great exhibitions. We saw dresses the Princess Dianna wore as well as dresses from different times in history. One dress was almost covered in jewels.

              

                Westminster Abbey was our second stop of the day and unfortunately no photography was allowed. The place was absolutely breathtaking. Beautiful sculptures and carvings covered almost every square inch of the church. Many of these sculptures comemerated different people throughout time. The ground was covered with stone engraved with the names of important people burried in the abbey. It was eerie to think of all of the people buried beneath the abbey. The abbey had different chapels funded by different Kings and Queens. The chapels had kings, queens, and other substantial people throughout history buried in tombs. One of the chapels was in memory of the Royal Air Force. This chapel also housed the body of Oliver Cromwell, a man who over threw the Monarchy. He had himself buried here after his death but his body was removed after the Monarchy was reinstated. The Royals had his corpse hanged and decapitated for his injustice.

                After our visit at Westminster Abbey, we were starving. We made our way to Borough Market, a giant outdoor market situated underneath a bridge. The market was full of fresh vegetables, fruits, meats, baked goods, and food. We decided to eat roast pork on a ciabatta bun because we could not get over how good it smelled. After we were completely stuffed, we went to the Tower of London which is where the Crown Jewels are located. The fortress was huge and filled with different buildings and towers inside. Once finished, we made our way to the Tower Bridge. We walked on the very top of the bridge and saw London from a different angle. The bridge was breath taking on its own, but the views from the top were even better. We learned a little about the bridges history before we made our way to the last stop of the day, the London Bridge Experience. The London Bridge Experience is a history lesson from actors on the bridge. We walked through what seemed like a maze and learned about the bridge’s long history. At the very end of the experience was something called the London Tombs. This was basically a haunted house, but nonetheless it was fun.

                We ate supper at a small local pub. It was chicken night, so we were able to get ten hot wings, fries, coleslaw, and a drink for about $7. We returned to this pub again because the price was so good! That same morning we went to The Making of Harry Potter. This place had most of the set pieces from the film and a multitude of props. It really gave me a new appreciation of the films.`This was our last day in London and I have to say I was ready to leave. While the city is beautiful, it is a little too much for me. Everywhere was filled with people, something I’m not used to in Nebraska. Even when we left for the airport at 03:00 on Friday the streets were still busy with people.

If you want to see all of my photos from my trip you should be able to access them on my Google Profile.

Next destination: Prague.

Cheers,

Miranda