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The Spanish Synagogue is the most recent synagogue in the Prague Jewish Town.
I saw a photo of this before going back to Prague and knew I had to see it. It’s even more amazing in person.
I was initially put off by the long line to buy tickets. Turns out, you don’t need a ticket unless you want a tour. So just walk past the line and on in to avoid the wait and to keep 500 CZK in your pocket.
Chinese bride on Prague’s Charles Bridge in the morning
As I mentioned a while ago, I had a new plan for avoiding crowds in Prague on my second trip there. The plan was to get up early and visit the crowded areas before the crowds. So on my first morning in Prague I woke up before 6 and headed to Old Town Square and then the Charles Bridge.
Apparently there are very different crowds at this time of the morning. Basically, you will now find Chinese brides and Chinese couples in wedding attire getting their photos taken. I counted at least 10 such groups (maybe even 15) on this morning. They were only mildly annoying compared to the hundreds of selfie sticks you will find in the afternoons.
I made it to Kutna Hora, as featured in yesterday’s post, not because I researched it, looked it up in a guidebook, or saw it ranked as the best day trip from Prague on TripAdvisor or something. No, instead, I went because my barber in Prague told me I had to see The Bone Church. Touring the town of Kutna Hora was just an added bonus. The church was awesome.
Palackého Square’s historic town center well in Kutna Hora (Czech Republic)
Kutná Hora is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is a great day trip from Prague.
After Niels Bohr won the Nobel Prize in 1922, the Carlsberg Brewery gave him a gift. The gift was a house located near the brewery with a direct pipeline to the brewery so that Bohr had free beer on tap whenever he wanted.
This house probably wasn’t Bohr’s house, but it is in that neighborhood. There are some amazing houses in this neighborhood (between the Carlsberg and Valby Stations on the north side of the tracks). I rode my bike through this neighborhood at least once a day this past summer as my apartment was next to this location.
Having recently spent four days in Germany, it seems odd to find myself back in the USA with a bunch of Nazi stuff happening here. While Trump does all that he can to defend the alt-right, free speech for hate groups, and other such nonsense, Germany has actually banned free speech and symbols when it comes to Nazis, etc.
Today’s photo is a rare exception. This is a symbol on the bell that Hitler had crafted for the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin. While the swastika, Nazi salutes, etc. are banned in Germany, this image on the bell at Olympic Stadium has been allowed to exist. (There are actually two swastikas on the bell as well, something I never saw elsewhere in Berlin.)
A couple weeks after I was in Berlin, Chinese tourists did a Nazi salute, for a photo, and were promptly arrested. They had to pay a huge fine before being released. It’s strange to say, but maybe the USA should follow the lead of Germany in banning hate speech at some point.