Czech this out!

Okay, apologies up front for the cheesy opening but this catchy piece of Czech humour, together with slogans such as ‘Praha Drinking Team 2011’, are all the rage on the cheap Chinese-made tourist t-shirts here. I simply had no choice.

Well, on to other things. My conference ended yesterday and I must say it was a really fantastic experience meeting so many impressive Jewish diplomats from across the globe. The level of the discussions and the calibre of the speakers was really outstanding.

Last night Gary and I decided to walk through Prague in the evening. And what an evening it was! We ended up having to run the length and breadth of the city in the pouring rain. Soaked to the bone in our sandals, we got horribly lost and my week old YDE handbag decided to split (literally). We found the humour in it and walking across the Charles Bridge at night with the haze of rain falling around the statutes was really beautiful.

And I can now say that there is nothing quite like starting a morning off in Prague by receiving an sms from Investec to let you know that your available balance is 0. Adrenaline anyone? Thankfully it was a message sent out in error and our life savings are still intact, just waiting to be completely and utterly blown on travelling Europe.

We JUST managed to catch our ‘Grand City Tour’ as the bus was pulling away from the curb and saw the sights of the city and took a very chilled boat cruise along the river – spectacular! The rest of today was spent exploring Jewish Prague, and the city has such a rich and varied history that there was an overload of things to see and learn about. The cemetery was amazing, along with visiting the grave of the great Kabbalist, scholar and the traditional creator of the Golem, the Maharal of Prague. It is like seeing the past come to life to have museums on the ghetto and Jewish persecution housed in the former synagogues and ceremonial halls of the community which have recently and so beautifully been fully restored. A particularly special moment for me was to have my Jewish museum ticket stamped at the door of the Klaus Shul by a cheerful, singing 85 year old Czech grampy, who spends his days working for the community with such a warm smile and happy heart. I wonder what historic events his own life has witnessed.

A quick note on some quirky aspects of Prague which we are still trying to understand – why does a city combine public drinking (it’s even allowed on the Metro) and Absinthe bars (yes, the real thing) with restaurants where the chairs move back and forth automatically and stalls where you can buy fried cheese with mayonnaise? Just not a great combo in my mind :-)

Tomorrow we leave Bohemia and head to Paris, the City of Love! We are too excited and not even the prospect of the first transport strike in Czech history will dampen our spirits. Chat soon x

PS To any of our readers out there, we would love to hear your feedback and travel/ general life advice (we are in need of both) so please feel free to leave a comment anytime!