June 23:Today was the first day that was not booked with tours and things like that, and I don't have class on Mondays, so it was very nice to get to relax. My roommate and I sat in a cafe and created our own Prague bucket lists, planning out different ways to explore the city on our own terms. After attempting a trip to the grocery store I had my first daily humiliation, as I would come to call them. These are things that we have all learned to embrace...those moments where you walk in to a new place and accidentally do something ridiculous, or you cannot communicate with the workers at all and they laugh at you, or you get completely lost, or anything like that. There have certainly been plenty of them, but they are what makes living in Prague so interesting. And if you learn to laugh about them they can be a good source of entertainment. There will definitely be more to come about those (stay tuned for a fictional character, Esmeralda, experiencing them in poetry form in Austria).
June 24: Prague Castle Exploration and Classical Music
This morning, a friend and I went into Old Town to explore the Lobkowicz Palace Museum and attend the Daily Prague Castle classical concert. Well, since the concert is titled "Prague Castle" concert, we assumed it was up at the castle. However, after a lot of steps and a long time searching we were finally told, looking at a map, that we were "way up here" and we needed to go "downdowndowndowndown." So, we did just that, and explored a really awesome museum at the palace.
The Lobkowicz Family had all of their possessions taken during Communist Rule, and then the father was able to return after the Velvet Revolution and gain it back. There are 3 children who currently own the palace, and one of them did the audio tour. So it was really cool to hear it from a person actually in the family, and done in such an interesting manner. My favorite was seeing the painting of Maragarita Teresa, Infantina of Spain, who also appears in the famous painting Las Maninas. Apparently she had an arranged marriage at the age of 9 to her uncle (yuck), and then she died giving birth to her 4th child before the age of 22. Poor girl, seriously.
It was interesting seeing the painting of the Defenestration of Prague-it was the moment that set off the Thirty Years’ War, when the Protestants came up to the Castle and actually threw the Catholics out the window. We then happened to learn about it in class the very same day. Apparently a couple of them survived the 70 foot fall due to a dung heap.
The Dog Room, filled with dog portraits, was of course also my favorite even though it was pretty pretentious. Apparently the dogs were actually posing for the pictures. They were all decked out in their jewel collars and sitting on these fancy velvet seats.
After the museum, we attended the concert, which featured a pianist and violinist from the Czech Philharmonic. With the exception of a little girl, we were by far the youngest ones in the audience, but we really enjoyed hearing such talented musicians play traditional classical pieces with what seemed like no effort at all.
This is a pretty short video, and unfortunately the violin player doesn't play much in it, but here's a clip of what it was like:
June 24: Prague Castle Exploration and Classical Music
This morning, a friend and I went into Old Town to explore the Lobkowicz Palace Museum and attend the Daily Prague Castle classical concert. Well, since the concert is titled "Prague Castle" concert, we assumed it was up at the castle. However, after a lot of steps and a long time searching we were finally told, looking at a map, that we were "way up here" and we needed to go "downdowndowndowndown." So, we did just that, and explored a really awesome museum at the palace.
The Lobkowicz Family had all of their possessions taken during Communist Rule, and then the father was able to return after the Velvet Revolution and gain it back. There are 3 children who currently own the palace, and one of them did the audio tour. So it was really cool to hear it from a person actually in the family, and done in such an interesting manner. My favorite was seeing the painting of Maragarita Teresa, Infantina of Spain, who also appears in the famous painting Las Maninas. Apparently she had an arranged marriage at the age of 9 to her uncle (yuck), and then she died giving birth to her 4th child before the age of 22. Poor girl, seriously.
It was interesting seeing the painting of the Defenestration of Prague-it was the moment that set off the Thirty Years’ War, when the Protestants came up to the Castle and actually threw the Catholics out the window. We then happened to learn about it in class the very same day. Apparently a couple of them survived the 70 foot fall due to a dung heap.
The Dog Room, filled with dog portraits, was of course also my favorite even though it was pretty pretentious. Apparently the dogs were actually posing for the pictures. They were all decked out in their jewel collars and sitting on these fancy velvet seats.
After the museum, we attended the concert, which featured a pianist and violinist from the Czech Philharmonic. With the exception of a little girl, we were by far the youngest ones in the audience, but we really enjoyed hearing such talented musicians play traditional classical pieces with what seemed like no effort at all.
This is a pretty short video, and unfortunately the violin player doesn't play much in it, but here's a clip of what it was like:
In the afternoon I attended my first class of Czech Culture and Civilization. I have two instructors who switch back and forth teaching, and we all feel sort of bad because one of them is phenomenal and the other is not good at all, so we really only pay attention when the really great lady lectures and tend to look at dog photos together when the other guy teaches. Anyway, we listened to our instructor cover 1,000 years of Czech history in 3 hours, which was pretty painful for everyone involved, but really, it is pretty cool being in a country where learning 1,000 years of history barely scrapes the surface.
This is a photo of our school, Charles University:
They have a piano in front, and almost every day you can hear someone insanely talented playing between classes.
After class a few of us got together and went to dinner in Old Town and then attended a free outdoor concert right outside the castle. This time it was the whole Czech Philharmonic. They were amazing, and there were many instruments that I've never even seen before. Watching them on the screen reminded me of watching the piccolo player from the Boston Pops on the 4th of July. There was even one woman with funny expressions that everyone kept laughing at (just like the piccolo player), but really she was quite good.
There was a whole audience in front of the screen, and obviously the actual stage, but this is the view from where we are sitting. The Castle isn't in the frame but it's to our right.
Walking back in the evening:
June 25:
Today we went to Wenceslas Square and visited the Museum of Communism. It was kind of sad and terrifying at the same time, but it was so interesting. After seeing all of the propaganda that this country was subjected to only a couple of decades ago, I saw why my professor gave us the advice that she did: “doubt everything. Even self-doubt is healthy. I know it’s not very American.” She’s great.
We learned from the museum that in 1921, the Communist party strengthened significantly, and took advantage of the poverty and declining economy. The Germans in the Czech Republic looked up to Hitler, and Hitler looked to seize Sudetenland and then later, Czechoslovakia. In our class we are learning about events that we've learned all of our lives in history class, but now from a Czech perspective, and are learning how unfair it was for the Czechs. For instance, we learned that the Czech president was not invited to the Munich Agreement (nor consulted about its results), where Hitler was appeased and therefore able to seize Sudetenland, allowing him to later seize all of Czechoslovakia.
There was phone tapping, censorship --the Czechs were completely in the dark about Western prosperity -- and the secret police only obeyed orders of the Communist Party, nobody else. Even peaceful criticism of politics resulted in punishment. There were executions and arrests based only on meetings discussing the political situation. One extraordinary woman who was both in the museum as well as mentioned in class today, was Milada Horáková. She was put on what was supposed to be a show trial, which were scripted trials during which people were forced to explain made-up stories and admit to crimes that they did not commit, but Horakova managed to state the truth. She was sentenced to death along with three of her colleagues after standing firm and sticking with her ideals completely.
Jan Palach is a major Czech figure-at 21 years old, he set himself on fire in Wenceslas Square in protest of the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1969. He pleaded that other students not follow his path, but stay alive and fight.
We also saw a piece of the Berlin Wall, which was torn down in 1989 as citizens fought hard against the regime.
June 26:
After class today my roommate and I did some exploring of Prague and walked what felt like manymany miles. We walked around Kampa Park first and then went to Petrin Hill, where you can see the best view of Prague.
Kampa Park
We went up the funicular to get to Petrin Hill. At the top, we were surprised to find that there there are miles of gardens, museums, restaurants, and even a giant stadium.
We conquered the 300 steps of the Observatory tower, which is built to look like a mini Eiffel tower. The tower was very clearly swaying in the wind, but the view was beautiful. You can see vineyards, houses, buildings, the castle, Charles University, the mountains, and all the way out into the country parts right outside the city.
Charles University is visible across the bridge.
Once we were back at the bottom we had some traditional Czech sausages in New Town. We heard a band playing and saw that almost
all of Wenceslas Square was blocked off, so we decided to watch and saw that it
was some sort of military ceremony. All of these different types of soldiers
marched into the square to the military band, and they all did different types
of drill routines. I have no idea what it was for because the announcements were all in Czech, but it was pretty cool.
All over Prague, there are people who blow giant bubbles as a form of street performing. Here are are some of the soldiers somewhat gaping at the bubbles:
flybubblefly
In the evening we attempted to go to this place that claimed it was a restaurant with pumas outside, but alas, there were none. We tried to ask the waitress and she looked really really tired of the question. She motioned that they were sleeping somewhere outside. Well, we tried. The next day we journeyed to Berlin, which I will post about soon!
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