On Sunday (March 9th), after our overnight train
ride the night before, David and I met my family at their apartment, which my
dad found through Air B&B. It was such an awesome moment when I saw my dad
in the street outside the apartment. He was facing away from me and I yelled
out, “Daddy!” and he turned around with this huge smile on his face. We hugged
for a good long while before he got to go hug David, and then three of us
headed upstairs together. Shockingly enough, my mom and Grace weren’t quite
ready to go. We exchanged long overdue hugs and talked over each other while
catching up. When we were all ready, we walked around Prague and did the quick,
basic touristy stuff: walking across Charles Bridge, Old Town Square, Wenceslas
Square, Lennon Wall, the lock bridge (which probably has a real name but I
don’t know it). The whole time, David and I gradually told my family about our
adventures in Krakow, which became known as the never-ending “Krakow Story.”
After walking for a while, my knee was bothering me pretty badly so we found a
non-smoking café and went inside to rest, refuel, and plan. Later that evening,
we went to a traditional Czech restaurant for dinner. David and my dad split a
big plate of meat and cabbage and dumplings, which was a sight to remember. I
seem to remember especially liking one of the types of pork on that platter
that I got to try.
On Monday, we went to Terezin, a Czech concentration camp
and prison about an hour outside of Prague. We took a bus from Prague and decided
to see the museum about the ghetto/prison before heading over to the prison
itself (called the “small fortress”). The museum was huge, very detailed, and
quite well done. We learned about the terrible WWII conditions of the Jewish
ghetto where the museum now resides. The ghetto was used to house Jews that
weren’t to be killed outright. Jews married to Germans, for example, were often
sent here, along with decorated war heroes and other very high-profile Jews.
After having visited Auschwitz on Saturday, the conditions at Terezin looked
quite good, to be honest. But compared to any normal standard of living, they
were horrible. People went hungry, stayed dirty, got sick, and were often
worked to death. For me, I think the most powerful part of the museum was an
extensive exhibit on art created in the ghetto during WWII. The victims living
in the ghetto were given art supplies to create propaganda for the Nazis and to
create a mirage of a privileged life within the camp. Artists often made
idyllic depictions of life at Terezin for the Nazi officials, and hid more
realistic depictions around the camp in hopes that someone from the outside
would find them. After liberation, they were indeed found and they offer a
truly haunting perspective on the suffering in the ghetto. Especially
disturbing was reading the biographies of the artists. Time after time after
time, they ended with the artist dying at Auschwitz or another death camp. One
man in particular stuck out to me. His paintings were distinctly different than
the rest. They were quite beautiful and did not seem to reflect the town that
lay outside the window of the museum. Bright colors and abundance filled the
frames. Upon reading his biography, I learned that he and his family survived
the war thanks in part to his unrealistic depictions of the camp. I spent a
while debating the morality of his actions in my head. On the one hand, if
everyone had done what he did, we would have no idea of the atrocities that
took place at Terezin. But, on the other hand, he figured out how to save
himself and his family with art. I’m still not sure what I would have done in
his shoes.
We also stopped at this awesome antique store, which was
pretty much the only non-WWII related establishment we saw in the ghost town of
Terezin. My dad bought a hilarious Russian soldier’s hat (I probably got that
name wrong) that we are all pretty sure is fake. He didn’t seem to mind though.
As you can probably tell, we got a little wrapped up in the
museum. When we finished up at the antique store, we set out for the small
fortress. At that point, we realized that it was 4:20 and, didn’t the small
fortress close at 4:30? Uh oh. We rushed to the fortress and discovered that,
yes, it most definitely does close at 4:30. So we stood outside the fortress
that so many people would have loved to escape and pondered sneaking in. We walked around the cemetery outside and
talked about how incredibly Fullerton-y it was to spend so much at a museum
that the actual historical site closed before we got there. We were all fairly
disappointed that we didn’t get to see the fortress, but David and I actually
went back a this weekend (March 22nd) just to see the fortress and
we didn’t miss that much. It was definitely worth seeing, but the museum and
ghetto were much more interesting.
Once we got back to Prague, we met up with David and then we
walked around for a ridiculously long time looking for a place to eat that met
all of our criteria (small enough but not crowded, big enough but not empty,
not touristy but not too Czech, etc.). By the time we sat down at a Belgian
restaurant, we were all quite hungry. Of all of us, I think I enjoyed that
restaurant the most. I had a tomato fish soup that was quite yummy. I also
tried risotto with snails! I was so proud of myself. David also tried the
snails (he was not a fan, to say the least). Grace, on the other hand,
basically just said “ew” over and over again until the plate was taken away.
On Tuesday, I had class in the morning. I skipped all my
classes except Czech language while my family was here (I have Czech language
on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and I know I’m going to want to skip on
Thursdays later in the semester when David and I are travelling more). While I
was in class, my family went to breakfast at Café Louvre, which is a nice
restaurant known for its breakfasts between their apartments and mine. It’s
famous because it’s been there since 1906 (I think) and famous people, namely
Einstein and Kaka, ate there fairly regularly. After class/breakfast, we met at
my apartment and then went to Petrin Hill. We were going to take the funicular
to the top and by the time we got to the base of the hill, I was very ready to
sit down. Then we learned the funicular was broken and I just ended up sitting
on the grass, while my dad massaged my leg to try to get it to calm down.
Sometimes its just so nice to have family with you who don’t care how
ridiculous it looks to massage your leg in a public park, and just do it
because it’s what you need.
After my dad has worked his magic and my knee hurt less, we
decided to go to Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral, which are both in the
same complex. St. Vitus was impressive, especially its beautiful stained glass.
After we had wandered around the Castle grounds a bit (well, I wandered a bit
and my family wandered considerably more while I rested on a bench), we went to
the Globe, the coffee shop by my apartment that I’ve mentioned before. I tried Irish coffee, which I really liked and
played the beginning of a game of chess with Grace. I left my family at the
Globe while I went to the train station to meet David to reserve seats for our
Austria trip. Once I got there I realized I’d forgotten the Eurail passes that
(I thought) we needed to make reservations. My dad graciously brought them to
the station for us, and we ended up learning that we didn’t even need
reservations. Oops.
That night we went to dinner at a Thai restaurant by my
apartment that I’d wanted to try. We all really enjoyed the meal (David and I
went back again this week). Afterwards, we went back to the Louvre for a late
night dessert and we just had so much fun. It felt profoundly right to have my family and David and I
sitting around a table laughing about silly things and sharing about important
ones. Although it’s been clear to me for a long time that David fits well into
my family, it was amazing to see concretely how much he enriches our group. I
loved seeing how happy we all made each other.
On Wednesday morning, my family and I went to the Jewish Quarter.
We saw the Old-New Synagogue, an active syngagogue that dates back to….a long
time ago. I’ve forgotten now how old it is. We also visited the Jewish
Cemetery, which I saw briefly during my first week here. It is representative
of the overcrowded conditions in the Jewish Ghetto even before World War II. I
hadn’t realized that the cemetery pre-dated WWII, and it does so significantly.
After the cemetery, we visited a museum housed in a former synagogue that
explains the basics of the Jewish faith and culture. Most powerful, though, was
the Pinkas Synagogue. No longer active, this synagogue has been turned into a
memorial for Jews from Prague and surrounding areas that were killed in the
Holocaust. Their names and hometowns are painted on the walls. I stood on the
steps of the first room for a good two or three minutes before I felt that I
could keep going. When I realized the names filled the walls of more than one
room, I felt at once overwhelmingly sorry for the people who died, furious at
the people who killed them, and shocked that I had so greatly minimized the
number 6 million in my head.
Once we had finished at the museum, it was time for lunch.
We headed to Andel, where (I thought) there was a farmers market. When the tram
stopped at Andel and my mom asked how far was the market from the tram stop, I
explained that the market was supposed to be right there outside the tram.
Apparently that market doesn’t happen every week. We ended up splitting up for
lunch (after much deliberation) and we were all much more pleasant once we’d
eaten.
Once we met up again, we went to Choco-café, a café that my
mom and Grace had found on their first day here. They said the hot chocolate
was unbelievable and they were absolutely correct. (I’m actually writing this blog
post from the café with an empty glass in front of me.) After we were saturated
with chocolate, Grace and I went for a walk while my parents went to a concert
in a church at Old Town Square. It was beyond excellent to get to catch up with
Grace. Even living in the same house, it’s hard for us to keep up with each
other because we’re both so busy. It’s even harder when we’re in different
countries. We ended up walking around (and sitting when my knee acted up) for
almost two hours, talking and hunting for a place to eat dinner. We ended up
going to a place called “Essence” that Grace found on Yelp. Getting there was a
little sketchy, especially since we didn’t take the most direct route. When we
got there, the restaurant was empty but we were too cold and hungry to care. It
was definitely the best meal of the trip. We all ordered appetizers and main
dishes, and every single thing was excellent. Since we were the only people
there, the chef came out and said hi a couple times.
On Thursday morning, I had class again. My family woke up
early to see Charles Bridge as the sun rose (the sun rose before they got there
and it was apparently very cold, but still very pretty). They then went back to
sleep before going to the top of the astronomical clock. After class, they met
David and I at my apartment and we cooked lunch there. Then, we all went to the
Kafka Museum, which was very cool and well done. There was a very Kafkaesque
video display about halfway through the museum and we sat in there for probably
half an hour having way too much fun making fun of the video. David’s silliness
fueled our laughter, and we got plenty of sideways glances from other visitors
walking by. I generally try not to be the obnoxiously loud group in public, but
it was just so much fun. By the end of the museum, though, I was very
frustrated by how much my knee was bothering me. My family helped comfort me,
which helped emotionally but walking was still exhausting.
That evening, my mom and Grace went shopping (apparently
because “it’s Europe”), and then got gelato and Italian food. They loved the
Italian place they went and apparently they have gluten free pasta, so David
and I are planning on visiting. David and my dad and I went on a hunt for knee
solutions before going to get Indian food, which was delicious as always.
Friday was incredibly awesome. I met my family for a
leisurely breakfast at Café Louvre. Grace decided that she really wanted to
walk up Petrin Hill, so she and Dad did that while Mom and I walked to Kampa
Park, which is on an island in the Vltava River. It was a beautiful day and we
sat on a bench by the river and talked. It was fantastic. Before we knew it,
one o’clock (our appointed meeting time) had come and we were still sitting on
that bench by the river. We rushed (a figurative term with my knee) to our
meeting place, where Grace and Dad met us with exciting news. They had found a
cool antique store after climbing Petrin Hill and, more importantly, my dad was
pretty sure he’d figured out a major part of my knee problem. Apparently,
walking down Petrin Hill had given him the insight he needed and he suggested I
tape my knee/thigh in a spiral to add tension to the back of the thigh. I ended
up doing so later that night and my knee pain improved dramatically. I still
can’t run or jump, but I can walk and do minimal stairs without pain, which is
a huge improvement over last week.
We ended up getting big salads for lunch at a French bistro
where I ate during orientation. Afterwards, we stopped by that antique store that
Grace and Dad had found, before we went paddleboating. We chose the boat shaped
like a brown streetcar, and we had a blast. We took lots of pictures and
enjoyed the beautiful day on the water. Once our hour was up, we went to
Choco-café again, because chocolate. We reviewed our week there and talked
about how fast it had gone by and how much we had done together. We went back
to the hotel and then went to dinner at Mistral Café, which my family had gone
the first night they were here. They said it wasn’t as good as the first time,
but we were more focused on savoring our time together than the food. After
dinner, we went back to their apartment and said goodbye.
The next morning, they boarded and early morning flight and
I got busy catching up on homework. This past week has been much more ordinary.
I’ve had homework and classes. The highlights have been booking hotels for Austria
(we’re going to stay at a farm outside Innsbruck for five nights and a hostel
in Salzburg for four) and going to Terezin on Saturday, which I mentioned
earlier. We also went to see a film that is part of an international film
festival going on here this week, called Febio Fest. David and I went with a
few other girls from my program. We were going to see “Nebraska” but it was
sold out so we saw a film in Farsi and French (with English subtitles) that was
a little to disjointed for me, though David and the other girls liked it more. Earlier
today, I had my only midterm test. I was the second to last person to finish
and it only took me an hour. Needless to say, my course load here is much
easier than at Guilford.
David and I leave this Thursday morning (early) for Austria, where we'll be for 10 days. I can't even believe that I get to say that. I feel so immensely grateful for the chance to spend a whole semester in this beautiful place, where David and I can devote so much time to our own personal growth and our growth as a couple. To be completely honest, we've had a rough few days, with a lot of difficult conversations that have made it clear that we both have serious individual issues we need to address. Given the intimidating nature of our work ahead, I am so happy that we aren't talking about it over video chat. It is just so much easier to challenge each other to grow and support each other in that growth when you can reach across the table and hold hands.
