Jewish Quarter of Prague

Another slow start today. I like taking my time...it's relaxing.

Today I saw the Jewish Quarter of Prague. Jews have lived in Prague since it was founded over 1,000 years ago. At one point, Prague had the third highest Jewish population in Europe. The Jews were forced to live in the three block area and they were allowed to collect and archive their treasures there as the Nazi's planned on keeping it as a "museum of an extinct race" after they finished murdering all the Jews. The Jewish Quarter holds the most visited Jewish Museum in the world. The museum is composed of seven diffrent sites. I went to five of them.

First I saw the Pinkas Synagogue where the Jewish people worshipped for 400 years.  Today, it is a memorial to the victims of the Nazis. The walls are COVERED with names of people that were sent to gas chambers at Auschwitz and other camps (77,297 Czech Jews to be exact).  It was a beautiful way to display and remember all the people that died/suffered.My pictures did not turn out (they're not allowed anyway) but here is one from google:

In the upstairs of the synagogue, there is a room full of pictures that kids that were sent to the Terezin Concentration Camp painted/drew. They weren't allowed to do hardly anything, and this was their way of expressing themselves. If it weren't for these pictures, there would be no record for them...this is the only proof of their existence. The pictures showed life both before and during their time at Terezin as well as some that looked like hopes for the future.

After that, I got to go into the Old Jewish Cemetery.  For about 300 years, this was the only place that the jews were allowed to bury their dead. So there are layers and layers of bodies just piled on top of each other...as time went on and the ground settled, the tombstones went crooked. It's kind of eerie, but really, really cool at the same time.

I went into a monastery and two synagogues and saw the exhibits there. I learned all about Jewish culture including birth, bar mitzvahs, marriage, eating, the Sabbath, medicine, death, and much, much more. I learned a lot!

I ate lunch nearby and saw the Astronomical Clock show on the hour. I think I talked about that in an earlier post. There was a huge crowd, and it was very anticlimatic.  I enjoyed it though. I took a video so you can see that when I get home.

I went to Wenceslas Square one last time and while I was there I did some thinking. I decided that instead of paying to send a package home I would buy a bigger day bag/purse to hold my stuff in. So I went to H&M and did just that. Sorry family, you will have to wait longer to get that Swiss chocolate as well as the Sicilian Sundried Tomatoes I forgot to tell you about. :)

I take an overnight train to Paris tonight. I didn't even bother getting a bed this time since I slept just as bad with a bed as I did with a seat. I arrive in Paris late tomorrow morning and immediately take a train to Avranches for my next workaway. It is a 4 hour ride west of Paris. I can't believe that my travels are mostly over...this next part of my journey is mostly workaways. I'm really looking forward to unpacking my bag for a while and staying in one place. I'm excited to work at a B&B in the beautiful Southern Normandy for almost three weeks! 

Tombstone

Old New Synagogue

Spanish Synagogue

Town Hall tower

Ceremonial Hall/monastery

Inside a synagogue

The wall of names

Astronomical Clock

Old Jewish Cemetery

The pictures the kids painted/drew

Old Jewish Cemetery

Old Town Square

Cemetery

The menorah that the Obama's borrowed a couple years ago

Old Town Square with the Church of St Nicholas