We had breakfast at 7:00 am and walked over the Charles Bridge into the Jewish Quarter of Prague. We bought our tickets at 9:00 am and started our tour (with Rick Steves' help) at Pinkas Synagogue, a site of Jewish worship since the 16th century, which also serves as a memorial to the victims of the Nazis. The walls are covered with the names of over 77,000 Czech Jews sent to the gas chambers. Names of the victims are also read aloud. We also visited the Terezin Children's Art Exhibit there, made by children imprisoned at Terezin Camp outside of Prague. A very moving experience. We walked through the Old Jewish Cemetery (dating back to 1439), the Klausen Synagogue with displays of Jewish holidays and Jewish life, and the Ceremonial Hall with exhibits of Jewish medicine, death, and burial traditions. Next we went to the Old-New Synagogue, which is still used for religious services. Built in 1270, it's the oldest Synagogue in Eastern Europe. We took a break for lunch, which was quite good: Gary had goulash soup with pretzel and also cucumber salad; Jahn had potato soup in a bread bowl; Sherry had a Greek salad; and Bill had fried Camembert salad with cranberries and bread sticks. Our last official stop on the ticketed tour was the Spanish (Moorish) Synagogue, built in the 1800's over the site of the city's oldest synagogue (c. 1150) which burned down during a pogrom. This was a beautiful building and quite interesting.

Gary and I decided to walk back to the hotel at that point while Bill and Sherry visited a medieval art museum and Bethlehem Chapel (and got lost).

We left together for dinner at 6:30 at Pivo & Basilico, a short walk from our hotel. The food was delicious and the Italian waiter was great. Bill and Jahn had the pumpkin risotto ravioli, Gary had tagliatelle bolognese and Sherry had lasagna. Back to make plans for tomorrow, upload more pics, and write this blog.

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