Prague

The Golden City, the City of a Thousand Spires; for centuries Prague has been sweeping visitors off their feet with its romantic streets, soaring towers, and great beer! From the heart of medieval Bohemia to the capital of the Holy Roman Empire the glory days of Prague's rich culture are shadowed by oppression, both under the Nazis and the Communists.

View over the city from the Strahov Monastery at Prague Castle. On the left is St. Vitus' and Wenceslas Cathedral, part of the Prague Castle. The buildings in the foreground are part of the Malá Strana (Lesser Town) on the left bank of the Vltava River. In the background you can just see the rest of the city, including the Old and New Town, and Jewish district areas.

Okay, so I didn't actually write that! It was a little summary write-up of Prague that was on a brochure from the walking tour of the city that we took. But it encompasses sort of the general idea of what this blog is going to be about: PRAGUE! Well, duh Mary. More specifically then I suppose, what is and has-been Prague, a rather-forgotten-and-pushed-aside-yet-nonetheless-fascinating-and-critical-for-Europe-across-the-ages-history. Not to mention a beautiful city full of art and architecture that will knock your socks off, a people who just want to share and be known, a nutty-sounding language, and delicious food! (And for the record, I wrote the rest of this blog, and took all the pictures!)

View from behind Our Lady Before Tyn Cathedral, which makes up one of the sides of the lovely "Old Town Square" in the Staré Mêsto district.

Front of the same Cathedral. If you look closely, you can see that the tower on the right is larger. Hence, the towers were named "Adam" and "Eve," although our guide pointed out that this was likely to compensate for the results of someones mathematical errors...

So you may have heard of Prague, and perhaps like us, pretty much all that you know about it is that it is the capital city of the Czech Republic, former Czechoslovakia. Perhaps you also know that this is "Bohemia," that this was the home to the famous writer Franz Kafka, Good King Wenceslas, or the "original" protestant reformer, Jan Huss.

Beautiful Church of St. Nicholas occupies a corner of the Old Town Square. The statue is of Jan Huss, who sought the reform the corruption within Roman Catholic 100 year before Martin Luther! As is typical of Czech history though, you rarely hear about him, at least not nearly so much as other more "Western" reformers.

But did you know that Prague was once made the capital of the Roman Empire by King Charles IV in the 14th century? Or perhaps that the city itself, including the Prague Castle, has over 1,300 years of history? And that with that come 10 major styles of architecture, and that examples of each still exist in the city today? Or how torn apart Prague was by religious wars, how many countless Christians died because of ideas coming from this place? Not to mention that it was at the center of events when the country of Czechoslovakia was finally and for the first time in history recognized as its own nation? Only to suffer violent, oppressive, and destructive occupation by the Nazis, and afterwards the communists, only a few short years later? And finally, that the Soviet communists only finally left the country in 1991, after the successful "Velvet Revolution" that took place here 20 years ago. Yeah, we learned a lot on this trip!

On the left is the famed Astronomical Clock Tower, and the pink building connected to it is all that remains of the Old Town Hall. At the end of the Nazi occupation in Prague, the Nazi's dropped bombs all over the city, and this was one of the buildings they destroyed. It's strange to be in the center of the city surrounded by so much old history, but then turn to see this big void that his been blown away.

We were really surprised by the beauty of this city, not to mention its incredible diversity. We did something that we've never really done before: we didn't plan our trip out at all. So from the airport, we took the metro to the very center of the city, where we found ourselves just off of the Old Town Square area. What a way to go exploring! We had no idea really what anything was (though everything was identified on the free walking tour we took the next day), but it didn't matter. We weren't distracted then by "let's find such and so." Instead, all we could say was "Look at this! Look over there!" as our eyes feasted on the mystery of the city and caused our souls to soar!

The lovely Art Nouveau style Municipal Buildings was one of the first things we saw when we came up from the metro. I absolutely love this style of art, which this city used in ways that I've never seen before!

We really loved the Old and New Town areas, which is what the pictures so far have shown you. Our second day in the city, we went on the Sandeman's New Prague free walking tour. Our guide was hilarious, but also very informed, and he did a great job of showing us around. We actually liked the tour so much that even after the 3 hours of walking (on cobblestones) we decided to pay for the 3-hour walking tour of Prague Castle! So we met up with that tour group and walked across the Vltava River to learn about the "Lesser Town" below and the Castle above. Here's some of what we saw...

The famed Charles IV bridge, the oldest in Prague. Partially famous because it is the first bridge in that spot that hasn't been washed away when the river Vltava floods. Building on the bridge started in 1357, and it was completed in the early 1400's (think about it, this bridge is older than Columbus sailing the ocean blue...wow!) It was a lovely, overcast day, and a really neat way to see the scenery of Prague.

We walked across the Charles bridge on our last day in Prague. Here you can see the St. Vitus and Wenceslas Cathedral up in Prague Castle...

Here it is again on the upper right. This side of the city (the Lesser Town) is still eclectic, old, and spired, but it has a feel completely different from the other bank of the Vltava. And who is that handsome guy on the left?

We were told that Prague has the most statues of any European city. I believe it! The statuary is beautiful, and it is everywhere. This one was on the Charles Bridge.

A lovely spot in the Lesser Town area. These locks are brought to this small bridge by couples. Quite romantic, and just look at the scenery, too!

I was actually trying to get a shot of the French Embassy (the building in the background) but took the opportunity to snap this photo instead. These awesome oldschool cars would give tours of Prague. I still can't believe I took this photo, it's so cute!! I like to pretend that that's me and Andrew in the backseat. :-)

The Prague Castle was more just a collection of lots of different structures, many of which are still in use today for government offices, etc. Others, such as the Strahov Monastery, are still active religious communities (and they brew their own beer!) It was all very beautiful, and offered lovely views of the city down below.

The Charles IV Bridge by night. The whole city looked alive when it was all lit up at night!

Despite some difficulties (such as the Prague airport being closed, getting lost on the way to our hotel) at the beginning of our trip, we had a lovely little weekend. So thankful for this opportunity that we had! It was well worth it!

That's all for now, folks!

Part of this Good Breakfast

You all remember that phrase, don't you? This used to be the tag on cereal commercials, after the interesting, eye-catching, and funny 30-second plot had played out on your very own television screen. I haven't seen a cereal commercial in a long time, so I don't know if they still use the same line, probably now-a-days they try to get away with something like "this complete breakfast." Hopefully none of the advertising giants would use the phrase "healthy breakfast," as that would be what my physical anthropology professor would refer to as "a bold-faced lie." Well, even the idea of "juice, toast, milk and Trix: [being] part of this good breakfast" is a falsehood, but very interesting as an analogy to something I've been thinking of lately.

Andrew and I recently had a conversation regarding what it means to be a "good" person. I hardly think that it is a sufficient answer to our question, but we came to the conclusion, for the time-being, that being a "good" person means doing the difficult thing. Sounds so simple, and yet if we think of any realistic situation where we have the opportunity to be "good," we recall that at the time when the moment of our self-defining-decision-making arrived, we were confused, challenged, distressed, breaking out in a cold-sweat, no matter how obviously apparent the "good" decision was. And the worst thing is, that we're often not afraid of making the wrong or "bad" decision, we just don't have the guts, the discipline, to make the right one.

So what does this have to do with sugary-goodness breakfast cereal? Well, simply that it's not at all "part of this good breakfast," except maybe the fact that it tastes good!. But even that is a lie, for we'll find that we're starving again (for more sugar) an hour later. Andrew and I LOVE "Lucky Charms", but we've had natural and home-made foods that are much tastier. So we don't eat Lucky Charms all the time, more on occasion. (My mom was keen on this when I was younger, and my brothers and I were told that Sugar Cereal = birthday cereal, so 3 times a year we shared a box of sugary goodness. I nearly always chose Lucky Charms!) And when we do eat them, we have to have self-control for a few reasons: 1. we know that eating Lucky Charms isn't good for us at all, 2. It wastes calories, and 3. It's lying to our bodies and tastebuds to say "this is as good as sweet foods can taste!" when in reality that isn't true at all. I've had fruits here in France that tasted like delicious candy, but without any of the added sugar and craziness that one bowl of Lucky Charms boasts. So do I think it's evil that we have Lucky Charms? No, but that's because it's done with moderation.

"Part of this good breakfast?" I think not!

This is a lot like life though, isn't it? It's easy to just buy Lucky Charms, and easy to eat them, and they taste pretty delicious! But they're terrible for me! If I was doing what I'm supposed to be doing, I'd take the time to plan out what I'm eating so that I wouldn't just grab the box of Lucky Charms, and instead would be filling my body with all of the natural ingredients that it needs to function properly. Lucky Charms might stop my hunger, but only for an hour! And when I do get hungry again, what is it for but another bowl of sugary sweetness? I think that sin works a lot this way on our souls. It's really pretty easy to sin, if we don't have the discipline, knowledge, and strength to say "no." If I don't put my health first, it's all too easy to eat the sugar-coated "good" breakfast every day, to the extreme detriment of my well-being. Soon I've developed a habit, and it gets easier and easier to excuse my eating Lucky Charms all the time, and harder to find reasons not too. Before I know it I'm addicted, and I will feel "bad" or even "unhappy" if I don't have Lucky Charms every day. I know that this example is simple, but it works. Aren't our souls the same way? If we don't place God first in our lives, it's all too easy to let other things fill His place. If we aren't thinking about our salvation, we start slipping away, ignoring the fact that what we allow our souls to do is very bad for us. Just like I am the one who has to say "no" to Lucky Charms, I have to say "no" to sin. This is actually wonderful for me, because God is on my side, and we will always be there to support me to do the right, the good, the difficult thing.

Thinking about all of this actually reminded me of a passage in 1 Corinthians 13:11. Paul has just been expounding the virtue of using spiritual gifts, specifically the act of love. But he then offers this thought:

"When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

It reminds me of my Lucky Charms. Maybe it was "more excusable" for me to eat Lucky Charms as a child. My parents do their best to raise me, to teach me to walk in the ways of the Lord, but they couldn't always watch me, and they knew that sometimes I would deliberately walk away. But what can they do but be my parents, to hope and pray for me, to guide me as best they can, but act for me? No. And now I am grown, I must truly act for myself, seek God myself, seek to do the good myself. In a lot of ways it remains just as difficult to act "good" as it was when I was a child. The difference is that there really aren't excuses anymore. I can't say "I'm too young, how could I know that was wrong?" As we grow more and more, as we know more and more, we cannot hide our selves and our faults.

So as we learn to grow, as we learn to do the good and difficult things in life, we ask for your prayers for us, as we pray for you. May the Lord have mercy on us all!