berlin2012.humphreb: Field trip to Prague

Me with Prague in the background

I am currently on the train back to Berlin from Prague. The train arrives in about 45 minutes so I thought it was enough time to jot down some of my experiences from this weekend. Before arriving in Prague, I had no idea what to expect. I didn’t know anything about the city ahead of time, so I was in for a surprise when we finally arrived. Prague is a very beautiful city. It has a lot of old buildings that date back hundreds of year, which gives the city a very old European feel. It was really interesting to go to the Prague Castle (which isn’t a castle, but rather a complex of palaces along with a large cathedral) because it was very authentic. It felt like you went back in time hundreds of years upon entering the buildings due to the authentic renaissance architecture. One of my favorite parts of the Prague Castle was the torture chamber/dungeon area. It was really cool to see and really interesting to actually go into the place where people were tortured hundreds of years prior. It felt like it was straight out of a movie. Another part of our tour that day was going to a beautiful viewpoint that over looked the city. What makes Prague so unique is that it wasn’t bombed in the war so most of its buildings are still in tact. I feel like a lot more places in Europe would be as beautiful as Prague if they weren’t destroyed in the war. We went to a lot of synagogues as a part of learning about Jewish history, and I knew a lot of it already because of the synagogues I have been to in Berlin. We visited the “Old New Synagogue” which is still functioning, but was about 700 years old. Another thing I really enjoyed was the Jewish Cemetery we visited, and our tour guide told us that between 40,000 and 80,000 bodies where buried there. I have been to a few other Jewish cemeteries but this one was overflowing with stones and I can’t even imagine what it must look like underground. One of the largest anti-sematic pieces of literature that tell lies and propaganda about the Jews features this cemetery as the meeting place of the Rabbi that are trying to take over the world. Prof Wagner told us this, and I had heard about the book before, and it blows my mind that there are people that would actually believe such a ridiculous and hateful story, but it just reinforces that a lot of hatred grows out of ignorance. We also went to a really old library that reminded me a lot of Beauty and the Beast, which I assume that Disney drew inspiration from it, because it was very beautiful. I bought a postcard with a picture of the library because photos weren’t allowed and I wanted to remember the site. I have been getting used to using Euros instead of US dollars during my time in Berlin, but it was really confusing to use to Czech Kronor because I had no idea what it meant. It reminded me of when I first got to Berlin and I was confused about the worth of the Euro. I had a really good weekend experiencing Prague, but I am excited to arrive back in Berlin. Although I enjoyed Prague, it seemed like a very touristy area which was unattractive to me. I saw probably about 30 souvenir shops (if not more) which just seems like overkill. It is little things like that which make me appreciate Berlin even more, as Berlin attracts a lot of tourists, but the city isn't specifically made for them. This upcoming weekend I am going to Stockholm, Sweden to visit one of my best friends from UW. I will be back in Seattle in just under 3 weeks and it is crazy to me how fast time is passing.

More later, Ciao from Berlin!
Becca