Prague Jewish Quarter 2005

Prague was one of the more touching experiences I've had in Europe. You can feel this city. It has a lot of harsh history and you can't escape feeling it. My last morning there I headed for the Jewish Quarter.

It had snowed the whole time we were there which made the experience more beautiful yet harder to get photos and get around the city.














The Jewish cemetery just happened to be closed that day but I managed to get a few pictures by standing on a ledge and holding up my camera through a window in the gate.

The shots that emerged were even more special than being inside the walls.

 (R) The gate, window and ledge. It was taller than it looks.

There was barely a discernible distance between the headstones which showed not only the gravity of the lack of space in this part of the city, but also seemed to represent the closeness of the Jewish people there.

Often relegated to ghettos and cultural isolation, even in death they seemed to cling to each other.















When I left I decided to jay walk across a very wide and busy (and snow-slippery) street instead of walk the 100 yards to the crosswalk. When I started out I noticed this little old lady trying to cross in my direction on the other side.

Sensing immediate peril for her fragile stature and thinking what I would want someone to do for my Great Aunt Eenie, I ran across and literally stopped traffic to help her across. She was very thankful...or so it seemed. She only spoke Czech but nodded and smiled a lot.

I was pretty proud of myself.