Prague Day 1



Hello you blog guys and gals – I am writing this from the beautiful city of Prague, city of Baroque, city of Jesuits (until 1773), city of defenestration. Czech people are incredibly friendly, the World Cup is going on, and the city is absolutely beautiful. Everywhere you turn is a new feast for the eyes and a new story of a strange saint. One of my favorites is St. Wilgefortis, daughter of the King of Portugal, whose father forced her to marry the King of Sicily even though she had already taken a vow of chastity. After Wilgefortis prayed for help, God intervened and made her miraculously grow a beard. The Sicilian king decided he didn’t want to marry her after all and her rather was so angry he had her crucified. When you look at the statue it kind of looks like Jesus in drag.

St. John Nepomuk is another famous one here. He was the queen’s confessor and refused to divulge her secrets to the king so he had St. John’s tongue cut out, then tortured him and threw him into the river. There is a bronze cross on the bridge marking the spot and if you touch it, you are supposed to be sure to return to Prague one day. (Believe me, I touched it!) The Jesuits dug up his body later to ensure his canonization, and claimed that St. John’s tongue had miraculously grown back.



Mary, whose birthday it is today, has learned a few phrases in Czech: “What do you think of the current government?” and “What are your hobbies?” are two social starters. Then of course there is the ever popular “I was ripped off in Prague.” We were warned to be careful of pickpockets and practiced fighting them off…






Prague is also the city where Tycho Brahe died of a burst bladder (do you remember hearing that story from Benji?) after dining in the Schwartzenberg palace and feeling it would be rude to excuse himself to use the restroom. Here I am in front of the palace where he fell ill! His tomb is in the nearby Tyn Church, which we didn’t end up getting to see inside.


We visited the magnificent St. Nicholas church (not pictured), another amazing Baroque structure full of fabulously ornate decorations including a statue of Cyrus the Great, king of Persia. Remember him, 10th graders? He’s the only non-Jew blessed in the Old Testament, since he sent the captive Israelites back to their homeland.

See the golden handcuffs he’s holding?










We also saw the tower where Kepler made many of his observations which led (together with Brahe’s notebooks, which Kepler got after Brahe’s unfortunate demise) to his heliocentric theory of the solar system, later picked up by Galileo.

This place has been continuously monitoring meteorological conditions since 1775. The Jesuit library here contains more books by Wycliff than any other place in the world. He was a big influence on Jan Hus, whose statue is in the main town square (I’ll tell you more about him tomorrow). We did go by Kafka’s birth house but it was closed. I am sure we’ll end up learning more about him tomorrow. Meanwhile, we had a fun dinner as usual and stayed up late walking on the Charles Bridge.