September 14, 2013

Today was another spectacular day in Prague! My dad and I woke up, had our hotel breakfast, and then  relaxed a bit before having a wonderful tour of the castle and the royal city up on the hill. We had a tour guide that showed us all around the royal city and the royal churches and the palace. She also told us all about the history of Prague and the history of the Czech Republic and about when it used to be Czechoslovakia. It was very interesting and I learned a lot about the city and the capitalist government that powered the city and country. From the top of the BIG hill, where the palace was, there were amazing views of the whole city and the river and the bridges. It was so cool to be above the city and look over it.

After the tour of the Royal city and the area, my dad and I came back to the hotel to relax and figure out our plan for tomorrow. We decided that tomorrow we are going to get a tour of the Old City, on the other side of the bridge, and also take a tour of the old Jewish quarter. We could not go around the Jewish quarter today because basically everything was closed for the Yom Kippur holiday. Before dinner tonight, my dad and I were able to sit in on a little bit of the Yom Kippur services at the New Old Synagogue. It was an Orthodox synagogue, so the men and women prayed in different rooms. While the men were in the main temple room, with the arc and the bimah, the women were on the other side of the wall. The women were allowed to look through holes in the wall, and watch and listen to the men's (the only) service. It was very interesting and different to see a synagogue set up like this. It was like nothing I have ever seen before, especially coming from a Reformed temple. Overall, today was a great day and I am excited for another day of touring tomorrow!