October 15, 2025
A bicycle tour was on offer this morning. A large Dutch group departed, leaving only 6 English speakers (1). We began at the main square, where Mark, the guide, told the story of Jan Husse learning Latin to read the Bible and challenging the church (pre-Luther) on the selling of indulgences; he was executed for his trouble.
Prague's Golden Age was during the reign of Charles IV (Holy Roman Emperor from 1355 to 1378) who built Prague Castle and the eponymous Charles bridge (2). Onto the old Jewish quarter, with the oldest operating synagogue in Europe. During the Nazi occupation (1938 to 1945) the Jews were deported. Prague was occupied longer than any other city in Europe, but had almost no physical damage from the war (3). The Rudolfinum theatre was Nazi headquarters. The commander, hearing that a statue of Mendelsohn (a Jew) was on the roof, ordered his men to remove it. Not knowing which staue was of Mendelsohn, the soldiers accidentally tossed over a statue of Wagner (Hitler's favorite) instead.
Onto the other side of the Vltava (Moldau), for a view of Charles Bridge (4) (5). The final stop was at the statue of Franz Kafka, Prague's best-known author. His surreal stories are represented on the statue by muliple layers of his head that rotate every hour.
After lunch at an historic Café frequented by Kafka and Einstein (6), I headed back across the river to the Strahov neighborhhood. Mark had recommended a visit to the monastery and library here. I was enchanted by the combination of illuminated manuscripts, 16th century globes and scientific instruments and geeked out for a while.
At the nearby Prague Castle, there was an exhibition of WWII posters marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the war. At the Cathedral of St. Vitis, the tower was open for climbing, with sweeping views of the city below. The defenestration of Prague happened at the Castle in 1619, with Catholic emmisaries being thrown out a castle window (7) by the local Protestants, setting off the 30 years war (8).
The Czech National Symphony had a concert at Smetana Hall tonight. The theme seemed to be non-movie music by movie composers. The European premiere of John Williams' viola concerto was delightful. The third movement began and ended with a dialogue between the harp (moved to center stage) ans the viola passing and varying the thene between them. Korngold's one Symphony ended the night (9).
(1) Most of the bicycles were second-hard from The Hague's bike sharing system. Mark, the Dutch tour guide said Prague was much busier on the weekends, and quite a challenge to keep a large group together on the busy streets in the summertime. He warned us that Prague is not organized like the Netherlands, with bikes, people, cars and trams all competing for the same space in Prague. I told him my experience of the chaos riding a bicycle in Amsterdam was no different. He smiled, and nodded his head.
(2) While not discussed during the tour, Wenceslaus (of the Christmas song) brought Christianity to Bohemia in the early 900s C.E. While a duke, he was posthumously granted a King's title.
(3) The damage to a dance hall from an American bomber who mistook Prague for Dresden was left during the communist era for anti-Western propaganda.
(4) Mark pointed to an animal waddling and swimming at the river bank: "A beaver," he said. "That's not a beaver, that's a rat," I replied. He acknowledged that muskrats were brought to Czechia to breed for their fur, but soon escaped. The animal boldly approached us, used to handouts from tourists.
(5) Built in the mid 1500s to replace the previous Judith Bridge, which was swept away in a flood.
(6) A solo traveller from Brazil sat at the next table. She asked what dessert I had ordered. She was "very disappointed" in hers. The chocolate and cream cheese concoction "had no taste at all." My cheesecake with a peach inside was a house speciality and quite good, much less sweet than I was used to.
(7) Defenestration literally means being thrown out a window, but also connotes toppling from power. In the 7th Happy Potter book, one chapter is entitled: "The defenestration of Severus Snape," which involves Snape both being deposed as headmaster at Hogwart's, and making his escape by jumping out a window.
(8) Ending with the treaty of Westphalia, and establishing the sovereign state system in Europe which prevails today.
(9) Korngold's first composition, a ballet called The Snowman, premiered in Vienna in 1908 when he was 11 years old! Moving to Hollywood in 1934 to avoid rising Nazi power, he wrote scores for a number of movies, particularly Errol Flynn films.
