Christmas in Germany and Czech Part 4 - Prague, Czech Republic

Seeing as how it is now February of 2010, I decided I better get serious and finish up the Christmas 2009 postings already! I guess when I started this blog I never imagined my life would actually get busy here. I would say it's a good thing, but I also feel rather bad that I'm so far behind. You probably would like to see what we're actully doing now in Feb as opposed to 2 months ago. So, this will be short and sweet. Well, short meaning not many words, still lots of pictures because I just can't help myself!

This first picture is in the St. Nicholas Church at Malostranske Namesti. It is one of the most important baroque buildings in Prague.

We then went up to the Saint Vitus's Cathedral, which sits inside the Prague Castle. It is a gothic cathedral and the largest cathedral in the Czech Republic.

View of the front of the cathedral.

View from the south - the main tower and the golden gate.

The back of the cathedral.

A few pictures of the inside...

including an impressive tomb of John of Nepemuk.

After touring the cathedral (the tower was closed and the boys were quite disappointed), we headed back across the Vltava River via the historical Charles Bridge.

Bridge tower behind Kev and boys.

CJ on the bridge.

Kristy and CJ on the bridge.

View of the Prague Castle from the bridge.

Kev and boys enjoying the view.

E and the Prague Castle.

The Prague Castle across the Vltava River, a few more shots...

Rare family picture :)

Then we headed over to the Old Town Square.

The Prague Astronomical Clock.

Views from the clock tower of the Prague Castle.

and the Old Town Square...

Another picture of the beautiful Prague Castle as the sun sets.

The clock tower from below.

A final night picture of the Prague Castle.

A few pictures of our boys on the way back to our hotel on the metro...

and snuggled in bed for the night!

The next morning we headed down to the Jewish Quarter to see the Pinkas Synagogue (Pinkasova Synagoga) and the Old Jewish Cemetary.

After WW II, names of the 77,297 Jewish Czechoslovak victims of the Nazis were written on the synagogue’s walls to keep forever the names of the Jews who did not survive the camp in Terezin. They are listed by town (bold), family name (in red) and individual name.

It was a moving memorial to the Jewish victims of the holocaust.

Next to the Pinkas Synagogue is the Old Jewish Cemetary.

Dating from 1478, it is Europe’s oldest “surviving” Jewish cemetery. Jewish people in Prague were not allowed to bury their dead outside the Jewish ghetto, so they had to adapt and built the tombs one on top of the other. It is impressive to see tombs on 12 layers and to imagine that in the area are buried more than 100,000 people in about 12,000 graves.

Interesting detail - during WW II, Hitler decided to erase not only the Jewish population but also the Jewish synagogues and burial grounds. He ordered, however, for the old, impressive Jewish Cemetery in Prague to be left intact, as he wanted to transform it into a museum after killing all the Jews in Europe.

A few final pictures of the Prague Castle.

Prague was a beautful and picturesque city by day and night! We are so glad we made it part of our Christmas trip!

A sweet picture of our boys in front of a lovely Christmas tree in the hotel lobby before dinner.

Almost done - only one more Christmas 2009 post coming up!