Prague, 29.6.03: At the Sign of the Big Boot

Forgot to say the trip to Josefov was a total washout. We hadn’t thought how everything would be closed on the Sabbath—the synagogue, the cemetery, all.

Sitting now in the window looking more carefully at the green ridge behind the German embassy. It extends all the way behind, on both sides, a bit of countryside in the city. I had no idea this was so close, and regret we haven’t had (and won’t) a chance to walk there.

Prague, 27.6.03: At the Sign of the Red Lion

An expression sticks in my head from yesterday: Tomas, son of the proprietors of our b and b, Jan and Charlotta Rippl, says to us, explaining the danger of pickpockets in Old Town, “Here, you’re as safe as in your mother’s belly”—meaning here in the b and b.

I also now realize that the bistro in which we had beer yesterday was at the Carolinum, and a faded mural on the wall in the courtyard outside was the astronomical clock, in some mystical stylized fashion.