August 9 Monday

It's raining! Cool and cloudy, but we expected more of this. It's positively refreshing. And we are refreshed today, having slept until 8am. We are feeling good!

We are a bit disappointed, though, because the cook must have the day off. The eggs are burned and there is no cappucino. Oh well, we go to the 'Net cafe for a real cup of coffee.

What a different city today! Monday with rain - it is positively alive. We didn't realize how much the city slows down on the weekend, despite the tourists. Today we feel like people actually live and work here - it's strange.

Warren wants to get a haircut, so he goes to the Hilton for this, and I head to the Old Town Square to meet Pavliva for a tour of the Old Jewish Quarter. The rain stops just in time. The tour is really great. In our group this time is a couple who have been married for 54 years - he is 88, and she isn't much younger. They are Jewish (he from Russia, and she from Poland, both of whom escaped the concentration camps and fled to Canada, where they met) and have quite a bit to add to Pavliva's talk. We head to the old-new synagogue - it is called this, because it is the oldest in Prague but was called 'new' when first built. A little history: There used to be 17 synagogues in Prague - there are only 6 remaining since the war. The Jewish population has changed too - from 200,000 before WW2 to just 15,000 after. Between the 16th century and WW2, the Jews' fate always depended on the benevolence of the ruler at that time. Some allowed them only to be in the money profession - not craftsmen. Some confined them to the ghetto (the small area we were touring.) Still other rulers banished them completely from the city. The cemetery - the oldest in Europe - has bodies burried 12-deep. Hitler allowed this cemetery to remain only to be seen as a 'place of extinction.' Most other Jewish cemeteries in Europe were destroyed during the war. Anyway, it was a very interesting tour!

I met Warren after this tour, where we had a Coke at a cafe, and then we shopped a bit before heading back to our hotel. We thought we'd take our books to the park, but we ended up reading and relaxing in our room until it was time to go to dinner.

We took the 12 train to the west side of the Charles Bridge and walked across it one last time, asking a couple of strangers to take our picture.

We then walk to the main shopping area, anticipating Moroccan food four our last dinner. The restaurant is empty, though, which I believe is a bad omen. So instead, we eat at the restaurant and the municipal theatre, where our show we're planning to see is, and we are pleasantly surprised. Our last meal in the Czech Republic, accompanied by a great bottle of wine, is superb.

Our theatre seats are perfect - fourth row center - and the show is great. It is a mixture of symphony, opear, and ballet, with a great solo pianist. The show is done in traditional costume, which just added to the ambiance.

After the show we head 'home' for the last night, and sleep like babies!