We started our day on the Praha metro, and instead of heading toward Old Town at the Muzeum station, we turned the other way to get a close-up of the TV tower. To this point the TV tower had only been viewable from a large distance, and I was dying to get up-close.
We ended up in the midst of a Praha slum area. It was a wee bit scary but largely deserted, and we knew we were safe with our intimidating Samoan singer, Jared, by our side. We never found our way up to the tower, and proceeded north to the Old Town area through streets we had not yet navigated.
The first major stop was the Jewish quarter. Here we saw the Spanish Synagogue, one of the most gorgeous synagogues in Europe. The vigilant old woman that was in charge of enforcing the rules saw to it that no photos were taken, but Ali managed to sneak a few photos once we got upstairs and away from her keen eye. These will be posted later when I have access to them. Next we proceeded to the old Jewish cemetery, a stunning place in the middle of central Praha. Most of these graves were those who died in the Holocaust and concentration camps under the Nazi rule of Moravia and Bohemia.
The next stop was the Charles Bridge. Here is where I finally got the SPOT tracker to work in Europe! To follow, go to this link: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0Z2ut8xmdzI4fepuSfkoyLNlU3ETWF9yx. I will try to update more often now that I know how it is supposed to work.
This led us into The Lesser Quarter where we searched for several minutes for a restaurant that apparently does not exist, but is one of Fodor’s favorites in the area. So for lunch we decided to try a stand on the Square with delicious pretzel/churro-like concoctions rolled in butter, cinnamon-sugar, and almonds!
Finally it was back to the Metro, where poor Ali accidentally re-stamped the ticket she had used that morning. We were asked for tickets and the policeman told her that her ticket was not valid and fined her 700 Koruna, even though she showed him the other ticket. If she had not had her ID, she would have been arrested, so thank goodness she did. But it was still a major fiasco, and rather sad. We laughed about it later.
The concert this evening was in Nymburk, a small town about an hour outside of Praha to the east. We sang in a stunning Gothic church near the town center, and the audience certainly appreciated our performance!
Czech lesson for those at home:
- Dekuji – Thank you (The word we use more than anything else. And the only one every Singer knows.) [Pronounced dje-kwee]
- Prosim – Please, your welcome, excuse me
- Ano – Yes (Counter-intuitive, and often abbreviated “no”)
- Ahoj – Hello, Goodbye (pronounced like the pirate “Ahoy!”)
- Dobry Den – Good day!
Interesting fact: The sun rises at 4:30 to 5 AM here. It's nuts.
We leave for Hungary in the morning. I suppose I have to start mastering my Hungarian now, because I’m just barely getting the hang of basic Czech!
I will most likely not blog tomorrow, because it is just a day of travel and a late concert in the Choral Castle.
