Prague:
Our hostel in Prague was fantastically close to the Old Town Square, the center of tourism in the city. This afforded me a great opportunity to look at the local, 600+ year old astronomical clock:
Legend has it that the maker was blinded for his efforts - but only to ensure that its equal could never be constructed in another city. The blind clockmaker (something Mother Nature can't even achieve) had his revenge; he removed a single, small gear from the inner workings, vexing everyone who tried to fix it for decades after.
Later, we saw an amazing Cathedral. The purple light that shined through the stained glass was beautiful:
Next, we made our way to the Lennon (not, as we had previously thought, the Lenin wall):
Incidentally, I'm currently wearing that exact outfit.
The next day was a pretty somber day. We toured the one-of-a-kind Museum of Torture. I was a lot more disturbed than I expected to be. It was very fascinating, but also very upsetting that these gruesome (you don't want to know) tortures were inflicted joyfully and by law on fellow human beings. This prompted much discussion about witchcraft, the Holocaust, and current affairs.
We made our way to the Jewish Quarter, where we walked through a number of synagogues, one of which (Pinchas Synagogue) is a Holocaust Memorial. Filling every available inch of wall space are the names of 78,000+ Czech Jews killed during the Holocaust. The number doesn't feel real until you are surrounded by rooms and rooms of the names, no more than half an inch tall, all around you.
A better part of the group I was travelling with were not only non-Jews, they had (a) zero Jewish friends at home and (b) never been in a synagogue. I spent the day as a cultural, historical, and religious tour guide, which was a lot of fun.
Well, it seems like I've rambled on much longer than I intended, so read the next post (which, annoyingly enough, appears above this one) for Bratislava and Szeged (much shorter, I promise).
Webpages that may or may not be relevant:
The astronomical clock looks like its in great condition considering its age. I wonder how often it's cleaned.
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