Prague Gnosis

Sorry, all the good puns were taken by the gay pornography industry. I have now spent one full day in fabulous Praha, and I'm a big fan of the city. Part of this comes from my recent trip to Dubrovnik, which made Disneyland look like an undiscovered gem of authentic local culture. While the city is, yes, ridiculously touristy, there are over a million people actually living in Prague, so it's all a nice mix of real and glamorized, which I can definitely handle. And Prague has far and away the best selection of tourist shirts I've ever seen. You've got your classic tourist shirts, your reproductions of local soccer team shirts, your obnoxious shirts (which are relatively tame here: the big frat shirt says "Praha drinking team" and has a picture of the Czech flag), your funky arty shirts, your shirts that pick out a minor bit of local culture and exploit it, etc. etc. I actually bought a shirt that straddles the last two categories, because the Golem is the coolest Jewish legend ever, and I think it looks kind of nifty.

The train ride to Prague was solid. At one point I was munching on some potato chips, and I realized nobody else in my cabin was eating, so I offered chips to the other people. They all politely refused, at which point a Slovak woman pulled out homemade pastries and made me take one. It was a warm, freshly baked circle of sweet dough, topped with a sweet cheese and cinnamon. And it was pretty much the best thing I've ever tasted. Thank you, random Slovak woman on the train.

I spent most of this morning Jewing it up in old Prague, checking out the Staronová Synagoga (the "Old New Shul," which makes you wonder what would qualify as an "old old shul," considering this dates from the 13th Century and is the oldest operating synagogue in Europe), the Spanish synagogue, an exhibit about the Golem, and, of course, the amazing Jewish cemetery.

I think it looks like the tombstones are davening.

I had my first pint of real Czech Pilsner Urquell with lunch and a great dark lager after dinner, from a microbrewery called Pivovarský Dům, which I can only assume translates as "Brewery of Doom." I also had a great Czech white wine with dinner. Perhaps tomorrow I'll finally gather my courage and try some absinthe.

As I was walking to dinner tonight, I noticed a gorgeous sunset and instantly began to take pictures.

And suddenly I began to feel morally bankrupt. I've been taking a lot of snapshots this vacation, not thinking too hard about lighting or composition (although I did appreciate the light at the cemetery), and I'm starting to feel a little guilty about it. Like, I've developed this attitude that whenever I see beauty, I reach for my camera, because it must be mine. FOREVER. This taps into a Christian sort of morality that I totally don't buy, but I'm starting to feel it more acutely. Well, two more days and I'm done with snapshots for a little while. I'll leave the moments to themselves or to my own memory and labored attempts at recreation.

Oh, and I realized that while I asked for what classes y'all are taking, I never told you what classes I'm taking. I'm almost definitely going to be in Neuroscience and Tax. Unfortunately, I think there are high school seniors in Thailand ahead of me on the wait list for Legislation, so that may be a lost cause. I'll probably get Admin out of the way, then, and I may take one more class...perhaps a behavioral econ course; we shall see. All right, after that wine and huge beer, I may be a little too tipsy to blog, so I'm going to go and rest up for another day of walking my poor feet into the grave. Just my feet, I mean. I feel ok. They're the ones that feel like they're dying. They're going to walk into the grave without me. Which might cause some problems for the rest of me, but that's beside the point for the sake of this metaphor. Jeez Louise, people.