Post # 15: Rain, Rain, Go Away

We have decided to accept the fact that the rain will not be leaving us alone on this trip. I guess that it is a good thing about the umbrella after all. In spite of that, though, we wake up in chopper moods after our break last night. We head downstairs for some breakfast, then decide to make a grocery store run before being tourists again (it seems that 3 oz of liquid will only get you so far...). After moving slow (our modus operandi during rainy days, it seems), we head over to the free New Prague tour to get some culture. In the rain, this is much harder than it seems, and a three hour tour turns into four as the rain intermittently waxes and wanes in intensity.

Still, we learn quite a bit on this trip. One factoid that sums it all up, though, is that the Prague national anthem is entitled "Where is My Home." Although at first glance this is an odd choice for an anthem, it makes sense if you understand what the people here have been through. Since the 1900's, these folks have been overtaken on numerous occasions. It was only recently that these people were liberated from communism, where they were Czechoslovakia until the country split. As such, there are people here in Prague who have lived in the same place their whole lives, but who might have four different passports. Thus, the national anthem sort of makes sense to a people who simply want to have a home.

As we have come to realize on this trip, WWII has left an irreparable scar on the face of this continent, and Prague may have felt it the worst. Czechoslovakia was the longest occupied country during WWII, leaving the people here particularly tired. But Hitler was particularly sinister here, because it turns out that he loved this city, and wanted to retire here. One chilling insight into his sick possession, though, is the Jewish quarter. Rather than being destroyed (as per Hitler's orders on virtually everything else Jewish), this section of town is quite well preserved.

We can see here many insights into a bygone culture. A Spanish church still stands which was originally built as a symbol of tolerance. Statues in honor of Kafka stand. The cemetery were the Jews buried their dead during WWII. The synagogue where the Gollum supposedly lives. Examples of modern, communistic, and art deco converge, making for a beautiful yet somber experience. But the reason that the Jewish quarter still stands is even more sobering. Hitler wanted to leave it standing as a memorial to an extinct race, a memento of his accomplishment.

We leave the tour tired, but full of knowledge. More than that, though, we are soaked. We decide that more walking is for the birds, so we head back to the theater for some more movie action, this time Snow White and the Huntsman. Dinner is pizza and a salad in, and by the time we are finished, we are exhausted. We calculated that we walk an average of 7 miles a day, and we did that up hill today, it seems. Tomorrow should be another fun day.

Drew and Nicole