Sunday, June 24, 2012 | Prague, Czech Republic

I have considered the following concepts over the past few days:

1. I am going to be a religious woman. No more denying this one. It's important and it's who I am.
2. Accidentally stumbling upon beauty (the Rose Garden, especially) reminds me of my mom.
3. I truly am terrified of going to Poland. (No more denying that one, either.)
4. Whether I am making mistakes by denying any of the three aforementioned concepts. It begins to hurt more and more when I do because I know myself so well now. 22 wasn't supposed to feel this old, man. Maybe this is what maturity really represents: not coming to terms with who you are, but allowing yourself to decide, think, and express to others the honest truths of your mind and self.

Anyway, we booked our hostel in Krakow about 30 minutes ago, so now I have to deal with THAT reality. I am going to Poland. Again.

Time to pray.

Here is the list of things we did:
Friday:

• Old New Synagogue. This is one of the holiest places I've ever been to. The Golem's upstairs, technically. The women have to watch through holes in the wall, but that's not what makes it holy...
• Pinkas Synagogue (a memorial to Czech Jews who died in the Holocaust) and the cemetery. The Mahar'al was buried there. It felt very close to the foundations of spirituality and mysticism.
• Klausen and Meisel Synagogues
• Spanish Synagogue. We went to kabbalat shabbat here. It was exactly what I needed, but it left me wanting so much more. I need to go to more synagogues in Eastern Europe, as many as I can. It is, after all, a half-continent of holiness. (Holiness caused by death, perhaps, but a place exuding the strength of pure souls nonetheless.)
• We also saw the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn and the Bethlehem Church.
• Watched a wedding photo shoot by the Charles Bridge.
• Amazing vegetarian dinner (Maitrea - thank you Ilana Sidorsky)
• Karlovy Lazne. This was Pachanga. At least I can say I went.

Saturday:

• Mala Strana, the lesser town. It's a park, mostly.
• We walked up to Petrin Tower and saw the whole city.
• Then we walked back down the hill and discovered the United Islands international music festival on Kampa Island in the middle of the Vlatva River. We saw O Children (a band from England?) and a dubstep duo that made use of a trombone and one band that did a decent job imitating 80s music. Best part of Prague, hands down.
• At night we went to Chapeau Rouge and met a Czech guy and a Russian guy. They were very nice, and they walked us home. They made good company, but as we see, meeting good company while traveling doesn't necessarily mean friends forever. We never saw them again.

Sunday:

• We had breakfast at Bohemian Bagels.
• We saw St. Vitus' Cathedral, the old royal palace--in which we saw up close and personal the ACTUAL WINDOW of the DEFENSTRATION (i.e., what really made Prague famous)--St. George's Basilica and the Golden Lane. We saw some house Franz Kafka lived in, but it was rather anti-climactic and fixed for tourists.
• We also saw the TGM statue of Prague's first president!
• Rented a boat on the Vlatva. I looked for my grandpa's socks, but could not find them. The water is not the cleanest...
• The John Lennon wall was pretty cool. Anytime everybody feels a right to a single public space, the result seems to be so colorful. I guess that's because everyone is entitled to a favorite color.