Prague Sept 23

The weather has been pleasant, high of 22, mostly sunny.

We did a lot of walking today. The high-light was a guided tour of the Municipal House. This building was built between 1905 and 1912, and is in the Art Noveau style. It has a lot of historic significance, because the Czech independent was announced here in 1918. It served a the parliamentary building for many years. At the moment is is no longer used for government purposes, and it is closed to the public, except for tours. The rooms are in beautiful shape, with most of the furniture and chandeliers original from 1912. The Art Noveau theme is gorgeous, one of the architectural gems in the world.

It is also the home of a big concert hall, where we will enjoy a concert tomorrow evening.

Afterwards Sandy and Sonja had a lot of fun window shopping, and some real shopping.

One of the big attractions in Prague is the hourly display at the Astronomical Clock. There are literally a couple of hundred tourists waiting for this event. At the hour bells chime, two small doors open, and several saints appear. The whole thing doesn't take more than a minute. Very anti climatic.

We also visited the old Jewish quarter, located near the town square in a beautiful area of Prague. The street leading to the Jewish quarter has every expensive boutique you can think of, there were even some Sonja didn't recognize. I did recognize a few.

The synagogue in this area is the oldest, continuously active synagogue in Europe. It was built in 1207, and, the story goes angels transported stones from the ruined temple in Jerusalem to Prague, to build this synagogue. 

Another interesting feature is the Jewish cemetery. Because of anti semitism it was not allowed to expand. It is relatively small, but is the burial place for 20 000 graves. Because of the limited space the cemetery is several feet high.

When Sandy and I were in Prague in 2007 we discovered a great Italian restaurant, a bit out of the way. Lo and behold we actually found it again, and had a great meal there.

It pays to have a good memory.

Photo 1 the Municipal House

Photo 2 One of the rooms in the Municipal House

Photo 3 the coffee lounge. The coffee machine still works, 110 years later

Photo 4 another photo of the Main Square. The statue is a memorial statue of Jan Hus, who was a religious reformer, before Luther. The Catholic Church didn't like his ideas and burned him at the stake. So much for religious dialogue.

Photo 5 the Old New Synagogue. The explanation for the name is long.