I Flew to Another Continent to Eat Soft-Serve Ice Cream and Swim in Beer
Without the Clickbait: Three Days in Prague with the Love of My Life
I promised my readers that there would be more posts related to my 40th birthday. In honor of the occasion (my wife turns 40 this year as well) we took a trip to Prague to relax and celebrate. Here is the recap. Thanks to my parents and to my older kids for helping to run the house while we were away.
Editor’s/author’s note: There are two more posts that are related to this one, but I was in a bit of a conundrum as to how to best share them. I didn’t want to spam people with 3 posts in a day, and I also didn’t want to bore my readers with 3 weeks in a row of Prague posts. So as a solution, I am putting linking to the two other posts I have written about our trip, please go read them!
Day 1
Airport
We left in the late evening on Sunday to go to the airport, thinking that spending the night in the airport would be more productive from a sleep perspective than trying to sleep a few hours and waking up in the middle of the night to make our 6:40 AM flight. This ended up being the wrong choice, though it did save some money on gas and parking, but I don’t think it was worth it. Turns out you can’t sleep anywhere when you’re 40 like you could when you were 20, or maybe it is just something you need to get used to.
Anyway, after trying a multitude of sleeping positions for several hours, I willed myself to sleep enough so that I wouldn’t have any issues saying berachot when I went to daven in the morning. The airport gets pretty quiet for a few hours at night; I think Ben Gurion air traffic control shuts down for a few hours each night so there aren’t flights taking off, which quiets things down in the terminal.
Davening was a bit of an adventure as I thought I would be wise and also quite alone in attempting to put my tefillin on and daven at the earliest possible time. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I arrived exactly at the earliest time to do this, but the shul was packed and they were already half way through davening. My best attempt at understanding what happened is that those there put on their tefillin at the very first rays of sunlight and then proceeded with the rest of davening as soon as the correct time arrived. We used to do something like this when I lived in Sharon and for a few weeks of the year we started davening too early but we all still needed to get to work.
The result of this was that I was always davening the wrong half of davening but I heard the entire davening out of order. I did my best because I needed to be finished davening by 6, as that is when they started boarding the plane. I met this requirement and we proceeded to board the plane (for some reason my passport beeped but I eventually got through).
The plane left on time (there was a bit of plane traffic) and once we were in the air we got water and omelet sandwiches which was unexpected but nice. It seems like ElAl did away with their mezonot rolls so the sandwich was real bread, but I was kind of trapped in my seat so I just held on to it with the wrapper while I ate it because I was really hungry. I slept for half the flight, then I watched Young Sheldon and Big Bang Theory for the rest of the flight. The flight was quite possibly the smoothest ride I have ever had on an airplane in my life and we landed in Prague on time. No one clapped as they do when landing in Israel. The stewardess thanked Israel’s defense forces and prayed for the hostages’ return.
Arrival
Once we deplaned, it was time to set up our SIM cards. For the first time I used an eSIM and it worked pretty smoothly, though I had to fiddle with some settings to get everything to work. (I got my eSIM from Airalo - use my code JOSH88805 to save $3 on your first eSIM purchase). I bought 2 GB of data for 3 days for $6 and I used 1 GB (my wife also got a 1 GB regular SIM card for way more - NIS79 and basically used up all of it). We then progressed through passport control (we got real stamps!) and we were free to roam Prague!
The first thing we needed to do was get our transport squared away. We did this by buying a 72-hour pass to the transit system and then following the directions the kiosk gave us to get into the city. It was two busses a subway ride and then a tram, but this was because I put in the wrong station that I wanted to go to so the tram was to get to the correct station. The system is so quaint here! There are no turnstiles to get into the subway system, you only have to validate your ticket in a little machine that reads the QR code on the back of your ticket and then stamps the time you validated. I think it is pretty neat!
Once we got to the correct station, we walked around and started buying souvenirs for the kids. Then we found the historical station and admired its architecture. From there it was off to find a bathroom and then slowly meander our way to where we were going to eat lunch. It took a while and we walked the entire way instead of hopping on a tram for part of the way because we wanted to check out more souvenir stores (our kids have very specific requests!).
We made it to lunch, but the restaurant Umilo was still recuperating from Pesach, so they didn’t have the full menu and we ended up each ordering a pasta dish. It was ok. We also helped out another Jew whose kids did not show up when they were supposed to. They ended up finding them, and the man who needed help was married to the daughter of a YU Rosh Yeshiva!
From there we roamed a bit more to kill a few minutes until our hotel room was ready. We walked over the river to another tram back to the hotel and then we checked in and took a nap followed by dinner. End of day 1!
Day 2
Because I am a loser, I woke up at 5:48 in the morning, though in my defense, it was really 6:48 Israel time so for me that is pretty late. I took advantage of the time before davening to do a little bit of learning and then plan the day a bit with Tamar. I left for minyan which started at 7:30 at about 7:05 so that I would have time to put on my tefillin and say korbanot and be ready for when they started. I opted to start even before they did so that just in case they went really fast I would still be able to be ready when they got to Barchu. This was a good strategy, though the pace was fine in the end (though it didn’t stop the guy in the elevator from complaining it was too fast - can’t make everyone happy, my father would say).
From there we went to eat breakfast at the King David hotel dining room. It was a good spread with something for everyone. I ate more than I probably should have, but I knew I was in for a long day of walking so it wasn’t going to be an issue burning through the extra calories. We finished breakfast and set out to do the traditional walk from the powder tower to the castle.
Powder Tower to Castle
This 2 km route is the heart and soul of the tourism industry here in Prague and there is probably the highest density of souvenir shops in the world right here on this stretch. Whenever I see a high concentration of the same type of shop in close proximity (think fruit stores in Machane Yehuda), I assume that they are all owned by the same person, or at the very least that there is a high level of collusion between them. In general, they shared about 80% of the same items, but then the 20% that weren’t in the one before were interesting and novel. We were still on the lookout for a few things for the kids, and finally we found the marble that our 6-year-old requested. In reality, it is a polished sphere of some mineral, but all the same if it makes him happy.
Astronomical Clock
For me, the main highlight of this stretch was the astronomical clock which is built into the side of one of the churches in the Old Town Square. It has been running since the 1600s and according to the YouTube we watched about it, it is still using all of its original parts. They just don’t make things like they used to. In any case, it was cool to see it in action and to try and read all the different things it shows. I was so awestruck by it that I bought a t-shirt that has a picture of it on the front.
We continued through the streets that were laden with the sweet smell of tredelnik (more on this later) until we crossed the Charles Bridge (the original bridge was from the 1400s) which is now a pedestrian bridge filled with caricature artists. From there it was up 15 flights of stairs (and past a bust of Churchill in front of the British Embassy) to the President’s Castle. On the way up, there was a store selling artisanal rolling pins, where we encountered a Lithuanian family. Upon learning we were from Israel they told us that they “hope fucking Hamas gets killed”. I’ll take it.
Changing of the Guard
The castle surrounds a massive cathedral and we made our way around to start strolling through the courtyard when we were bageled by an older Jewish couple (I think it was because my kippah was sticking out of my hat) who told us that the ceremonial changing of the guards was going to take place in just a few minutes. We didn’t have a good position to see the entire thing, though we were right next to one of the guard stations so we were within arm’s reach to see them switch places. It is nice to see that even in a day and age where so much ritual is thrown to the side in the name of “progress” and “reinvention” that some things remain unchanged and sacred.
For future tourists, you probably want to get there about 20 minutes early (it starts promptly at 12:00) so you can be right up against the fence to see everything but also try and be near one of the guard stations.
Following the ceremony, we entered the castle grounds. The Castle is more of a description of the purpose it serves more than an architectural classification as all of the buildings that serve as the castle are in the European architectural style rather than the picture your mind envisions when prompted with the word castle. The cathedral on the inside though is in classic gothic style and is impressive in its own right, even for a Jew who isn’t allowed to go inside. There are gargoyles around the top. It is interesting to see how the arrangement of the castle buildings around the cathedral may have been inspired by the way in which the Holy Temple was constructed in that there were walls that contained the administrative aspects of the religion and services surrounding the holiest place of all (these are my own thoughts and nothing official confirmed this). We didn’t pay to enter any of the exhibits, maybe next time. For lunch we had sandwiches from the hotel and Tamar enjoyed sitting on lush royal grass.
From the castle, we were very interested in trying to reach the observation tower on top of the large public park. In the past, there was a funicular train that would take you to the top where the observation tower is, but it is now under indefinite construction in order to stabilize the mountain. The climb up by foot was a bit much for us having already walked a ton, so we added it to the “next time” list and proceeded to the Lennon Wall, a remnant of silent protest from the Communist period of the Czech Republic. To this day, people are free to write any message they like on this wall (such as “Free Palestine,” which was unfortunate).
The next stop was the Kafka Museum, the first museum of our trip. Admission was $14 a person and in the words of my coworker it was “good value for money”. It covered his life story and then also how his works impacted his life and others and finished with a thinking and reflection area to contemplate what you just saw. It also has interesting, erm, sculptures. The museum took about an hour to tour, but no photography was allowed, so I don’t have any pictures from my visit there.
We then started our journey home, but first were sidetracked for a moment by the Slivovitz Museum, the liquor of choice for Jewish alcoholics on Pesach. There was a tour and tasting session, but Tamar won’t drink hard liquor so these kinds of things aren’t worth the money (she’s tried beer but also not a fan). We headed out and were about to head back to the hotel when we saw on some other promotional material that there was a “tour line” tram that used vintage cars to transport tourists around the city. We hopped on and decided to pay the extra fee/ticket to ride around the city and see parts we hadn’t yet seen. There is an app you can download that will read you pre-recorded descriptions of sights around the city, so we listened to a few of those as well.
Then it was finally time to return to the hotel via a combination of two tram lines. We rested our feet for a few moments until it was time for mincha and Maariv. Following that we went out to dinner down the block at Mizlala, a kosher meat place that was pretty good (food here, even kosher, is not so expensive). The waitress was a student in Prague who grew up in Israel but whose family now lives out of the country in Slovakia. She spoke very good Hebrew and English. I need a separate post about how Jews have created for themselves bubbles of Israel in other countries (like channel 2 in the hotel being Hebrew) mostly so that we can vacation comfortably. It is quite funny and also quite amazing. End of Day 2!
Day 3
I did not sleep particularly well, mostly as a result of being thirsty from the dinner I had the previous evening. As a result, I was once again up early. We spoke to the kids for a moment and then started packing before I went to minyan. I once again got there early to prepare, but I forgot to say something at the beginning so I still needed to stay a moment later after davening ended. The pace was a bit slower this morning but there were no fights so that was good.
Historical and Mordern Jewish Prague
Following breakfast, we went upstairs to grab our bags and we checked out of the hotel. Our itinerary brought us this morning to the Jewish quarter of Prague, which has existed for centuries and was host to several impactful Torah luminaries such as the Maharal and also Tosfot (Tosefet) Yom Tov (Yom Tov Lipman Heller). We at one point had planned to do this with a tour guide, but the times didn’t work out for us. He nevertheless texted me this morning seeing if we were on for a tour but I told him we never confirmed anything so it wasn’t going to work out.
We started our self-guided tour at the Maisel Synagogue. This was probably the most modest, yet beautiful of all of the synagogues in the area. I am planning a separate post about the things I learned at this synagogue so I’ll leave the details light here, but this location is probably the best place of all of them to learn about the significance of the Jewish community in Prague.
The next stop in Jewish Prague was the Pinkas synagogue. The audio guide explains how this came to be what the site calls a “private synagogue”, as the owner of the location was in good favor with the Count at the time. There are certain amenities in the shul that confirm its “private” status, namely that the amud for the chazan is deeply recessed into the ground (a Halacha which is often overlooked due to the difficulties in achieving a recessed area in modern construction). The ark had a space for what I assume were smaller scrolls below it (smaller scrolls of non-Torah books are quite a luxury, even today), and the Bima was also hewn from a solid piece of stone instead of being wooden or another material. Today, the shul is defunct and acts instead as a Holocaust memorial for the community. Its walls are inscribed with the names of those who perished from that particular area (80,000 in total).
From there it was to the crown jewel of the Prague Jewish community, the “Spanish” synagogue, so called because of its Moorish architecture but it was not called that during the time it was operative. Lots of Jewish artifacts from the community here, but it is quite clear that the shul had to contend with the impacts of modernism and enlightenment in the Jewish community two centuries ago, as the building contains an organ (a search on Wikipedia shows about 36 shuls with organs, which puts this shul in a very special category). There was a balcony which presumably served as a women’s section at one time. The shul also had a smaller, satellite sanctuary, which is a hallmark of shuls that contended with large crowds on Shabbat, but much smaller ones during the week. The exhibit called it a “winter shul” but didn’t describe why the crowds were different based on the season (Prague is not a beach/vacation town, despite my efforts to convince my neighbor that we spent our entire vacation on the beach).
The last shul on the circuit was the Altneuschul (Old-new synagogue). This is where all the Torah luminaries led the religious Jews of their time. It was obviously crazy to sit in the same room as the Maharal and to think of him giving lectures not knowing who he would become in the world of Torah study. Or Rabbi Lipman explaining Mishna between mincha and maariv and then publishing his notes that for the longest time were the default explanation of standalone Mishnayot. The shul is still active on Shabbat, and claims to be one of the oldest active synagogues in the world (lore has it the cornerstones of the building are “on-loan” from the remnants of the Beit Hamikdash with the condition that the building be deconstructed when the Temple is rebuilt - speedily in our days). Pretty crazy.
Having finished the Altneuschul, it was time to right a wrong that had lasted too long: we needed to eat a Trdelnik. The one place in Prague which sells a kosher certified Trdlenik is right down the street. What is a Trdelnik, you may ask? Imagine fried dough at your local town fair but instead of being in the shape of a croissant, it is baked as a tube. Then, inside the tube they shmear a sweet sauce of your choosing, and a filling of your choosing. Then they top it with soft-serve ice cream (or whipped cream)! I chose an apple strudel Trdelnik, which had white chocolate spread on the inside, then apple pie filling and vanilla ice cream on top. The ice cream was especially pleasurable since there isn’t soft-serve in Israel. Needless to say, it was delicious! (But really you can probably only eat one on your visit, and I am thankful that this was not the only kosher food available). Wife here: We also learned from this store that when ordering hot chocolate, it is literally chocolate that they warm up (think no milk or water added, and they seemed offended when asked for milk).
After overcoming the glucose shock of the Trdelnik, we went to go see the animated Kafka sculpture which is situated to the south of the Jewish area. We passed by at a time at which it was not animated, so we moved on and proceeded to the “Original Beer Spa”.
For those unfamiliar with the concept (as I was less than 24 hours from when I am writing this), a beer spa is where you are provided a bathtub/whirlpool full of wort and you bathe in it until your time is up. There really isn’t much more to it, but it was fun to do and my skin still feels good (look for a review on the beer-based body wash they gave us as a gift because it was our birthdays). The attendant was really nice, and I think we may have scored a few extra minutes by showing up early. We were done with the spa in time to catch Kafka metamorphosing (it was underwhelming).
We then descended down into Prague’s subway system for two stops to get us to a gigantic shopping mall. Shopping outside of Israel, as much as I like supporting Israeli businesses, has a few advantages. One, the quality seems to be better. Two, it can also cost less since if I spend enough, I can surpass the minimum amount needed to get exempted from VAT, which comes in at 18% in Israel and 21% in the Czech Republic. I was in the market for some new pants and shirts I could wear for work, and Prague might just be home to the closest GAP store to Israel. I picked up a pair of pants (they only had one in my size), and a bunch of polo shirts, and I was eligible for a bit more than 400 CZK in tax refund (the first 2000 CZK are not exempt for anyone).
Our shopping mission complete, we returned to the hotel to eat an early dinner and grab our bags. Satiated, we left the hotel to find the bus to the airport, which ironically took us through the train station we sought out at the very beginning of our trip. The bus arrived with enough time to load up and depart at the scheduled time (Czech public transport is incredibly punctual). The bus took us through some additional neighborhoods we had not yet seen and arrived safely at Terminal 1 35 minutes later.
We entered the airport without any issues and passed through passport control (security is done later, right before boarding). We then sought out the Customs/Tax Refund area and called for the Customs representative to come and stamp our form. We dumped the envelope in the box and hopefully in 6-8 weeks, I will see a credit on my card. As I write this, I am waiting at the gate for our El Al plane back home. We miss our kids and are ready to return to routine after 2 weeks between this vacation and Passover.
Overall, it was an enjoyable three days, and I would highly recommend Prague as a starter destination in Europe. Until next time, Prague!
Continue reading about our trip:
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Pick up a pocket guide to Prague and see if you can do the trip any better than I did! Or just shop on Amazon.