March
17th, 2006 - afternoon
Terezin,
Concentration Camp
I have so much history to include
in this entry, but that is for later, because I want to enjoy my trip
right now, and not spend the whole time typing! We hired a car and
guide to take us to the once fortress town of Terezin, just under
an hour outside Prague - where there was a Concentration Camp. It
was a work camp, not a death camp like Auchewitz, but its deplorable
conditions had claimed a good number of lives by the end of the war.
It was cold and bleak walking through, an excellent reminder of the
warm clothing and protection against the elements that the camp lacked.
More on
Judaism in Prague when I clean up this entry. (Who knows when).
In brief
: Jews were finally brought out of their ghettos and permitted to
join society at large afer the social reforms brought upon by Emperor
Joseph - The Jewish Quarter is still referred to as Josefov. Jews
had been in Prague for some time, in fact the first synagogue in Europe
is in Prague - but they hadn't been living freely. Finally they were
given equal social standing, until Nazi occupation, when they were
again put in ghettos and eventually concentration camps. Many people
regard the beginning of the 20th century to be among the best in Prague
- before wars and communism took the life out of Prague and its civil
liberty.
March
17th, 2006 - morning
A
morning walk through Prague
(a shortened version because
of time constraints) Last morning in Prague! My mother was on a tour,
and my brother was fast asleep, so I was left to my own devices for
the next three hours - In the peacefulness of the falling snow, I went
to the Jewish Quarter and bought a ticket to all the sights, which includes
the Jewish Cemetary and all the Synagogues. My patience with the tour
groups vanished quickly, especially when an Italian group of boys started
throwing snowballs at me. I abhor pushing through tour groups - so I
left after the cemetary and walked the streets in blissful solitude.
I walked until I hit "Fred and Ginger," a building by Frank
Gehry - the architect who did, among other things, the EMP Museum in
Seattle. The building was beautiful, its lines created so much visual
energy - it screamed out movement, even more so juxtaposed against the
weighty buildings, all centuries old beside it. Everyother building
in Prague has an extreme sense of permanence - it feels such that it
has always been there, and will be there aging on for centuries to come.
March
16th, 2006
Delirious!
I was up almost all night despite
my lack of sleep for the previous days of transit - so today was a constant
battle between narcolepsy and sleep deprivation mania. I knewit would
ruin my schedule, but I was up for the day at 3 am Praha time...Around
5 am my brother and I convened in the lobby, starving, for tea, coffee
and croissants and talked for an hour until we caught the bluish glow
of dawn surrounding the Prague Castle across the water. We bundled up
and headed outside to take pictures and explore. After about an hour
of wandering, we were frozen, and returned back for a 4 Seasons complimentary
breakfast. Hot damn! Is all I will say, well that and I have never had
fresh squeezed red colored orange juice before today. After breakfast,
my mother set off on a guided tour, and Jason and I headed for Prague
Castle, and the nearby cathedrals. Though the historical splendor of
the 9th, 13th and 18th century buildings was far from lost on me, the
crowds of tour groups were too pushy and too numerous to battle with.
A quick look at those, and the rest of the afternon wandering about
on our own, with no itinerary. The rest of the day is a sleepless blur
- though I think it definitely involved a ridiculously large bathtub,
an astronomical clock, walking in circles and maiacal fits of hysterical
laughter. Better detail in tomorrow's entry hopefully, when I am better
rested.
March
15th, 2006
Short
and Sweet
I arrived tonight in Prague,
chauffeured Mercedes and all. (Do
note the Czech spelling of my name). My young driver was overjoyed
when he saw me, even more eager to turn on Coldplay in the car.
"I am so tired of playing Sinatra for all the older folks!"
he laughed!
By the time I reached the hotel, it was late, nearly 7:30 pm, and we
had only enough time for an overly decadent dinner, with an overly attentive
waitstaff, and a walk through the immediate area around our hotel.
My mother and I strolled down the Vltava River, my fingertips raw from
the cold, wrapped in my brother's useless, and garrishly purple stretchy
one-size-fits-all gloves.
Every angle of the city seemed equally photogenic, though I didn't do
any of them near justice. We crossed through the ornate threshold /
tower onto the stone gothic Charles Bridge, dating back to 1357. It
is said that egg yolks were mixed into the mortar to strenthen its contsruction.
One has a splendid view of Prague Castle from the bridge - a castle
that our American idiocy can only liken to the signature castle in Disney
World. The streets were all made of stone. Every building was a work
of art, finished in the ornate detail that modernism has since betrayed
for its sharp clean abrupt edging.
Prague so far is immensely beautiful - and immensely surreal. It feels
as if I am walking through a movie set of a very convicing period piece.
Very few details in the urban Prague lead one away from feeling the
feeling of walking in history.
Additionally, I hadn't seen my mother in a good 6 months, and she looks
better than I have seen her in years - luxury really makes a woman glow!
I am exhausted from the day, but want to sit and go through my pictures
from the day...
Seattle is so wonderfully afar right now. I ended the night with a bath
- or should I say a swim in the most decadent of tubs I have ever had
the pleasure of immersing myself in. The Four Seasons certainly lives
up to its reputation! L'occitane products in the shower, loofahs and
spray hoses in the bath - robes to lounge in afterward.
March
14th, 2006
Bon
Voyage!
Best
social encounter yet today:
"Would
you like a sandwich ma'am?" asks the perky stewardess, her
real face no doubt suffocating under her weighty makeup.
"What kind is it?" inquires I, wearing no makeup.
"Well it's cheese and coleslaw!" She says enthusiastically
Biggest
shock of the day:
Enjoying said cheese and coleslaw sandwhich. (See how much world travel
opens the mind!)
Best new
clothing ideas:
- Sports coat and fanny pack combination
- Black Pinstriped suit with light brown steel toed work boots.
Now, mind you, the boundaries of "Today" are becoming increasingly
hazy....but for the period since 5 am, March 14th, 2006 PST, I have
been on cloud 09 with anticipation for my trip. All my malaise of the
past several months was back burnered, leaving me more alive then I
have felt in far too long. (barring anything boyfriend related,
of course!).
I only wish I could feel the exhiliration of travel more easily in my
everyday life, and in the exploration of my immediate area.
I haven't traveled in a great long while - and I haven't taken a trip
with my mother and brother ever. We could never afford it growing up,
aside from a yearly trip to the Catskills for the Jewish holiday of
Passover. Ever so bittersweetly, my maternal grandfather passed away
just over a year ago, leaving my mother with, when compared to her previous
income, a small fortune.
Never one to over-indulge, my mother planned this trip for us to take
- and finally allowed herself a little pampering. Two nights at the
Four Seasons in Prague, Mercedes Benz chauffeurs, The premier hotel
in Jerusalem, a 5 star Hilton on the Mediterranean in Tel Aviv, private
drivers for our private guided tours....I am sure the list of luxuries
will extend in the coming days.
For me as well, this will be a welcomed departure from sleeping in a
car, but only because it is temporary. I feel a nagging guilt being
pampered in a hotel that nightly costs more than my monthly rent - while
just kilometers away people are stuffed into refugee camps, where luxury
more probably translates into 5 people sleeping per concrete room.
I am excited to see Prague. All accounts I have heard paint a picture
of a city that hasn't fallen a victim to commercial modernization. Prague
Castle dates back to the 9th century; St. Vitus' Cathedral began work
in 1344; the Baroquely ornate Church of St. Nick is a big baby at just
over 300 years old.
Though the land and architecture are centuries old, their current government
is still in infancy - its current incarnation began forming in 1989,
when the nonviolent November Events, gave way to the ousting of Communism,
new freedoms and human rights, private ownership and the framework for
the first free elections held in over 40 years. (Note: an overwhelming
96 percent of the population went to the polls for that Parliamentary
election - which is probably pretty close to how many of us voted in
the last Presidential election.....right..?)
Sidenote: When the stewardess came by again, I noticed with suprise
that she actually wore very little makeup at all. I wondered if I had
superimposed it on her earlier based on her perkiness, or through goggles
of imposed stereotyping. I wondered how much of the world I saw in this
fashion.
Enough rambling - I haven't even arrived yet! I imagine I am somewhere
over Frankfurt about now..
March
13th, 2006
Send
off!
Gregg took me out to dinner to send me off - shirt, tie and all! Lucky
me! The handsome devil.
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