9th September Prague

 
** This morning I have one major thing of importance to achieve. Go and get my washing done! I have to locate a laundromat relatively close by (< 1 klm) and get a weeks worth of dirty clothes turned into clean clothes. These are the small mundane details that cannot be planned for, before you leave your home. Google tells me that there are possibly three locations that fit my criteria. As I already know that the closest is not open as I walked past it yesterday I will try the other two in order of distance.

Once that is done there are one or two museums I want to visit, and I also want to visit the tomb of one of my favourite composers, Antonin Dvorak. It is a bit of a distance but it's along the river so the view will be well worth the walk. I might even go back to that Korean restaurant for another fried chicken lunch. I'll see how I'm feeling at the time.

Update on those last two thought. ** I was about to move on to the National Museum in the old city square but have suddenly been caught up in heavy thunder storm. Nothing like Perth's but still annoying as my umbrella is on the house boat as well as my shower proof jacket. Oh well, not the end of the world. The Dvorjac tomb is now way  too far and I'm not getting soaking wet just for another Korean meal even though it was soooo tasty. After the storm, I arrived at the National Museum only to find that there is reconstruction work taking place. It was suggested that I go to another alternative location but it was way too far and I'm somewhat tired as I have been walking around the old Jewish ghetto. 

** Today's sculpture work by the housecleaning ladies.

** Today is Miss Ellie's 6th birthday and Melody took the midnight horror over to Melbourne to celebrate the birthday with her. A clip from the video of Mel arriving at the house and Ellie giving Melody a big hug.

When I asked Ellie on a video call if she knew why I was not visiting with her Granny, she smiled and simply said "because I am looking after Toffee the dog". Out of the mouth of babes. 

What this also means is that no-one in my immediate family is actually in Perth presently. 

Mel is in Melbourne, I am in Prague, Tash is hiking, with her fiance Jeremy, in Switzerland and Jessie is enjoying their 2nd European work conference trip in a couple of months, this time in Madrid where I was visiting only about 4 weeks ago. 

I meet up with Tash in Munich on the 13th (next Tuesday, off the top of my head). She wants me to go with them to visit a castle 🏰. And Jessie is joining me in London in two weeks time, just for a few days so that they can get back to Perth to look after the dog when Melody flies out to Paris to meet the newest member of the family, Emmett.

Obviously a year of travelling for the Ross'. But now that I am retired this may be one of the last hurrahs for me, other than London in 2024 when my aunt (late father's sister & only remaining relative of his generation) turns 100. 

** Yesterday I found by accident, as I had taken the wrong direction, the Kafka statue. Adjacent was a plain looking Schul. I never bothered to turn the corner and see what was there. Today, coming out of the laundromat, I was intrigued by the Islamic patterning and styling of a building across the road. A strong shield of David was very obvious but during my trip across Spain and other areas I have found this stylised emblem embedded into so many Catholic churches that I initially did not think much of it. However, it turned out to be the side of the Schul I never went into yesterday. The architecture seems to have incorporated a lot of Islamic features to the point that if I had not noticed the shield of David incorporating the Decalogue I honestly would have taken it for an Islamic mosque. And as for its name, given that many buildings in the south of Spain are built in an Islamic style, the synagogue is called the Spanish Synagogue.

The Spanish Synagogue 

Normally there writing on the Decalogue runs from right to left, but the architect does not seem to have been a aware of that.

A statue of Moses in a small park next to the old-new synagogue 

** I have finally located the old-new synagogue. It dates to 1270 and was Prague's first gothic building. 

Legend has it that the Golem was created by Rabbi Low to protect the Jewish community from pogroms and Antisemitisn. The Golem went wild one night and it was finally stopped by its creator, Rabbi Low (HaMaHaRal) and it's body turned to dust in the attic. 

Many have looked, including the Nazis, but no sign of the dust of the Golem has ever been found. The strange thing is that with Nazis destroying everything Jewish, including synagogues, across central & Eastern Europe, they did not appear to touch the Schuls in the old Jewish quarter in Prague. There is almost a touch of "Raiders of the lost Ark" in the story. Did they really believe biblical magic.

The old-new Synagogue 

Other Jewish shuls and the Chabad Yeshiva 

The Chabad Yeshiva

On the side of the Jewish Town Hall are embedded two clocks. One is traditional with the hands moving in a clockwise direction. The other is a Hebrew clock, that utilises Hebrew counting script, and with hands that rotate in an anti-clockwise manner. This makes sense if one considers that Hebrew is a north western semetic language and has always been written  & read anti-clockwise. 

** The Montblanc brand is a well know German designer brand, founded just after the end of WWI, but how many have really taken notice of their logo. A salesperson told me the logo design was created from a top down view of Mt. Blanc. I wonder if there is also a hidden level of meaning. My thoughts are based on the fact that a) the logo is a stylised shield of David and b) their shop in Prague is directly adjacent to the old-new synagogue, almost as if there is a connection between the two via the physical and stylised Shields of David. Research seems to indicate that there is no agreement on this matter, but even I must agree that it is a very good marketing ploy. Their logo is also reminiscent of some Israeli Zahal unit insignias'.

A few other thoughts / images from my last afternoon in Prague

Hashish over the counter at a corner deli

Again with the grass tea LoL 

**Brass menoras on sale at the tourist shop adjacent to the old new Schul. Why the interest. The design vaugly reminded me of a 130 to 150 year old brass chanukia I have from my mothe, who received them from her grandmother, Sarah Zucker who may have received it from her mother or mother in law.

My final beer in this city of spires.