Eurotrip Spring Break - Part 2: Prague, Czech Republic

A rather hectic and uncomfortable train ride from Innsbruck to Prague: The ticket guy came around and checked our tickets and told us we had to get off and get on another train. Luckily he caught it in time and both trains were at the stop at the same time, but NOWHERE on the ticket or schedule did it give a clue that we had to change trains. And then we had to sit a 6-person compartment with 3 drunk American military kids who were belligerent, naïve, and rude.

We finally made it at 4am and our Couch Surfing host, Zdenek, was nice enough to pick us up at the train station. When I had talked to Zdenek, and he said his house was in the city center, I though he meant in the center of the city… silly me… So it was quite the treck of buses and walking at 5am to his house. We got 2 hours of sleep before we got up and Zdenek was ready to head out and show us around Prague. When I heard “show you around” I thought we’d hit some important attractions… not the entire city in two days… silly me… We started our walk in old town prague, saw the Loreto church.

We went to Prague castle which is a massive civic complex which also includes St Vitus’s Cathedral (shown here) in Gothic style (Zdenek was very keen on architectural styles and thought it academically stimulating to test me... including his favorite: Cubism, which I really don’t care for) The cathedral was gorgeous though and had incredibly colorful stained glass mosaic windows inside. Zdenek also knew every architect and year of every building… I can’t imagine why I wouldn’t remember all of that…

We had a beautiful view of Prague from the castle though. Zdenek says that Prague is the city of 100 towers. But I swear, every building and church we saw was the biggest, the tallest, the longest, the oldest… clearly he thought a lot of his city.

We kept walking south, all the while Zdenek pointed out every embassy in Prague and residences of famous Czech writers, poets, painters, composers, musicians, etc and was appalled when we didn’t know every one of them. We did pass Beethoven’s Prague residence though, which was cool, that’s one I know.

And then we went to Charles Bridge and were able to even one-up Zdenek when we could read the Hebrew on a sculpture, translate it, and even know the story of how torah scripture got on a crucifix statue (that’s what reading guide books can do for ya).

We went to the John Lennon wall where there has been a continuous power struggle between police and prague youth as they continue to graffiti lyrics and images of Lennon, one layer on top of another since his assassination.

We arrived in Old Town Square where they were setting up for the easter celebrations. We had a terrific view of the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn (shown here). We went inside the Church of St Nicholas and got a little history of Prague (which we soon realized as a very complicated history full of a lot of turmoil.)

In Old Town Square we watched the famous medieval astronomical clock chime on the hour. Every hour it becomes animated where the saints turn on a turntable and are revealed in windows and corner sculptures move and turn like puppets. The clock not only tells time but relates the movement of the planets, and the signs of the zodiac. Amazing to think that it's been ringing every hour since the 16th century...

And then we had our beer break (it’s customary in Prague to have like 5 beers spread out throughout the day.) Zdenek took us to a good local place away from the tourist mobs, bu gGetting to the bar, I swear was like a scene from Harry Potter, where it's in the courtyard of a building where there are no doors... It was TERRIFIC beer though (I believe I had a Wieselburger Bier).

We walked through Wenceslas Square which is really a big boulevard, but a very cool public space. Apparently all the locals’ meeting place is at “the tail” of the Wenceslas Equestrian statue.

Zdenek took us to his college: Charles University, where he’s a geography major. So of course we had to go into the library of the geography department and get the geographical context of Czech… But seeing the campus was cool. I’m sure it’s like the oldest or the biggest in Europe or the world…


Then, at 4pm, Zdenek finally allowed us to eat for the first time since breakfast. But boy was it worth it! He took us to an awesome local place near the university. And we had awesome beer (I had the Budvar, of no relation to Budweiser, sorry St. Louis-ans.) I had Dumplings filled with ground beef and a heaping pile of fried onions and sourkraut.... I still salivate just thinking about it. Chelsea had a traditional dish with slices of pot-roast in a sweet carrot cream soup, topped with a dollop of whipped cream and doughy dumplings to soak it all up MMMMMMM Czech food is delicious!

Then we walked up to Vysehrad park for a beautiful view over Prague and the Vltava River.

We also went to the Basilica of St Peter and Paul up on the hill and walked through the adjoining cemetery which holds the famous composer Dvorak and some of Zdenek’s family is also there as well.

What time is it? Yup it’s time for our third beer of the day. So we met up with a few of Zdenek’s friends from school, two Christinas, who were very nice and fun and lovely to talk to about something more than architects of cubist buildings… A couple things they wanted us to take away from our conversation though: Czech and Slovak are two very different places and are no longer together (But that Czechs are much better than Slovaks J. Communism was truly a devastating time for our country (throughout our trip I got a better sense of this, Communist memories are still alive and well in Czechia and it was really not all that long ago. Fortunately my generation of Americans never had to live through such terrible times). We also learned about the regions of Bohemia and Moravia. All very interesting, and I’m surprised I never knew some of these things before.

(Prague Castle in the background) Afterwards we thought we’d get to go to bed after a LONG day of touring with Zdenek, but no… We saw the National Theater building, the Dancing House by Frank Ghery, and a very interesting wax heart public art piece made from the memorial candles used to mourn the death of former President Havel. And THEN it was time for another trek back to Zdenek’s house and then to bed! (Sidenote, Zdenek told us that his great grandfather built the house and the whole extended family used to live there. Quite the change from our American lifestyles).

3/22: Happy Birthday to me!!! We started our day off in a traffic jam of lightrails that resulted in us walking and taking several trams and walking some more to get to the old Jewish Quarter. On the way of course Zdenek had to show us more churches, more embassies, and the tallest/longest escalator in the world…

Once we got to the old Jewish Quarter, it was time to part ways and take today and the Jewish museum at Chelsea and my own pace… But we had to hit up lunch first, delicious beef goulash! And I opened my birthday present that Chelsea had brought me from Ghana: a hand-made purse and some shea butter.

Then of course Chelsea needed her daily fix of pastries… birthday pastries!

We then first went to the Pinkas Synagogue whose interior was refurbished and includes every wall FILLED with the lines of hand-written names, dates and places of birth of every Jew from the Czech region killed by the Nazis. This was painted over by the Communist regime, but after the fall of Communism, all 80,000 names were painstakingly rewritten. It’s really something else to see the magnitude of the holocaust in this visual way. The building also holds the exhibit of drawings done by the children of the Terezin concentration camp as part of their psychological group sessions with a known artist of the time also in the camp. It was the only way for the children to cope and try to understand the devastation around them.

We then went to the Ceremonial Hall which is where funerals were held and where the preparing of the body was done by the Prague Jewish Burial Society. There’s an exhibit in there will a bunch of tools and religious pieces used in the funeral process. The Ceremonial Hall sits directly next to the cemetery, which we went to next.

The old Jewish cemetery was an incredibly moving site. The oldest tombstone dates from the 1400s. It contains 12,000 tombstones but the number of people buried here is over 100,000. The tombstones topple over each other because there are so many. They say that the burials are ten-layers deep because the Jews weren't allowed anywhere else.

Then we went to The Old-New Synagogue. This is the oldest existing synagogue in Europe (700 years old). It of course was the new synagogue in the 13th century, but became old once more synagogues were being built. The attic is where the legendary Golem of Rabbi Loew was created. If you don’t know what the Golem is, you should either watch the movie Snow in August, read the book, or ask your nearest rabbi. Or Madonna… she’s into Kabbalah, let’s see if she even knows…

Then we went to the Klausen Synagogue and the Maisel Synagogue which are now both museums of Jewish customs and traditions.

Then arguable our most interesting experience in Prague: we stumbled upon the current Jewish community center, and were curious enough to go in but were stopped by a guard outside and interrogated with Jewish-related questions, identity tests, and showings of passports before we were buzzed in. Thank you Sunday religious school for teaching me something useful! (we were tested on what an etrog was). We only went into the kosher shop (afraid of snooping around anywhere else) and bought some kosher cheese! The shelves were as bare as the Jewish section at Dillon’s right before Passover. How do we get this wrong every year? For 5000 years we’ve been needing Matzah at this exact time of year, we know it’s coming, we know people need Matzah, how have we not figured this out and stocked up enough? Haha.

And finally the Spanish Synagogue, which we got to just in time before it closed. The interior of this was by far the most ornately detail. Very bright and colorful.

We went to meet back up with Zdenek, at the horse’s tail in Wenceslas square (I thought it seemed appropriate). And he showed us the Jerusalem Synangogue, which is hard to miss, being pink and turquoise and all… This synagogue is actually still used though.

Zdenek showed us the train station probably not something we needed to see since we’d been there already… clearly… that’s how we got there. But he did show us this emotional bronze memorial statue. Next to it a plaque read: “For the Child: In deep gratitude to Sir Nicholas Winton and all the compassionate rescuers who saved 669 children from the horrors of World War II on 8 transports to Britain in 1939. And in memory of the 15,131 Czechoslovak children killed in concentration camps."

Zdenek then took us to meet up with some of his friends from school to have beers at a place on campus. I had another terrific Czech beer: Krusovice. So we sat and talked all night with five very interesting, very funny, very cute Czech guys. One of which pulled out some traditional Czech pastries that his mom made; I won’t say no to more birthday pastries. We had more wonderful discussions about Czech history, America, and when one guy mentioned South Park, I had to mention that that show actually takes place in my home state. Of which I followed with, do you know Casa Bonita? Ya that place actually exists… To which they responded with astonished cheers. And each one gave me birthday kisses as they left (on the cheek, Kevin and Kevin’s family who might be reading this lol. Don’t worry it’s their culture). Best birthday ever hands down, and a perfect “golden birthday” to say the least.

We were ready to hit the sack again after another tiring day, but not before Zdenek made us take one final hike up hundreds of stairs to a creepy park with no lights, but we did see a gigantic metronome and a great view of Prague at night. Spent one last night at Zdenek’s house and then were given directions from Zdenek’s house all the way to the train station (ya nothing could possibly go wrong there). And that concludes Prague!

Eurotrip Spring Break - Part 1: Innsbruck, Austria

What a fantastic spring break week! My sister visits from Africa, skiing the Alps, drinking great beer, cultural traditions, and religious pilgrimage experiences. Not to mention some interesting communication problems and of course, what European trip is complete without a few train confusions… And how lucky am I to have had my birthday on this trip as well?!

We left Venice on a train to Innsbruck, Austria – destination: skier heaven. As we approached the Tyrolean region of the Alps, I got more and more excited. The mountains loomed over us covered in pine trees and fresh powder. So serene and majestic, and we get to ski those! As we approached Innsbruck we could see lights high up on the mountains but it was so black that they just looked like they were floating. We could definitely identify the ski jump though!

We arrived at night and walked to our hostel (that makes it sound far easier than it actually was, because all I had was a google map print out, the address was #1 but the addresses on that street started at #7, carrying heavy backpacks with all of our ski clothes in them, and oh ya, we don’t speak a lick of German). I did however have the most amazing pumpkin soup at a tapas restaurant where we argued for about 5 minutes about the tipping custom in Austria… 

We spent some time Sunday just walking around, finally able to see the beautiful mountains that completely surround Innsbruck. We witnessed a grass fire on the river and watched that whole scenario go down for half an hour. Then we desperately searched for the tourist information shop that we had faintly recalled from the night before. Got some tourist maps from there and learned of the only ski rental place in town (clearly we’re not in Colorado anymore). 

So we went to the ski rental place. The guys there were awesome, and although I argued with them a little bit about the short skies they were trying to put me on, short being 150s instead of my usual 170s. Turns out that long skis on heavy powder like they have in Innsbruck would have been a nightmare. And the guys set us up with the ski bus schedule (free for anyone with ski equipment…terrific!) And then advised us on the best places to ski for the conditions and weather they were having. Thank god for the Die Boerse ski rental guys!

So we took our equipment back to the hostel, and I had a little Camelback mishap on the bed… And then we went out touring with a little more information from the tourist office. 

But of course, first we needed fancy flower-shaped gelato made by a very handsome Austrian guy who was more concerned about sculpting his gelato than the line of 20 people out the door. And for dessert… Chelsea needed some Austrian strudel, which was delicious by the way. Her excuse was always “hey we don’t have dessert in Ghana, I need to soak it all in while I can!” Fair enough.

We headed to the Hofburg Palace to see an exhibit on the Austrian Alpine Club. It was amazing, so much climbing history, fascinating protagonists, incredible experiments, courageous excursions, and cool equipment and instruments. I’ll share one of many quotes that gave me goosebumps and made me proud to be a fellow alpine enthusiast: “In combat sports you have competitors and rivals, but an alpinist knows rivalry and competition with just one person, and that is himself.”

We also did the permanent exhibit on Empress Maria Theresa and her extended family, as well as the royal palace which was only one of the family’s primary residences. The palace rooms were gorgeous, very bright and fancy, and quite the interesting family if I do say so myself.

Monday was our first ski day! We headed up to Kuhtai on the ski bus (they’re very organized and helpful about the bus system). It was a fairly overcast day with some snow, but we were told that Innsbruck being in the deep valley it is actually was doing far better when it came to snow conditions compared to the rest of Europe, lucky us! Some interesting ski differences: They printed off scannable plastic passes even just for the day, so no lift line ticket scanners, just metal-detector things that you pass through that activates the turnstyle. The tricky part is that if you go through too fast, the scanner-to-turnstyle activation doesn’t work fast enough and you get close-lined right at the hip...(first hand experience) OR, if you don’t go through fast enough the turnstyle bar comes right up between your legs, leaving you to take off a ski and climb back out, where of course you’ve been red-flagged as a hooligan and have to wait 10 minutes before your pass resets… (also first hand experience). After we went through the turn style on the first lift, there was a moving walkway just to get you the 8 feet from the turnstyle to the lift-loading spot (and I thought Americans were lazy).

And they have windshields that you can pull over the chairlift to shelter you in a little bubble from the snow and cold, neato!

We had fun skiing in all that power. We stopped at the Ski Hutte for some good soup and cappuccinos. Now this was a real old-style warming hut, at least 4 times smaller than even A-Basin’s smallest lodge. And sat next to the old timers looking epic in their plaid flannel drinking beers. 

 The sun did manage to peak out for a whole 15 minutes that afternoon. We then headed back to Innsbruck, took an hour to find a good dinner place, and then crashed pretty early - the beds in the hostel were ridiculously comfortable = perfect for post-skiing relaxation.

Tuesday we headed up to Stubaier Gletscher! Yup we skied a glacier! “The sun was shining and the powder bitchin!” as Dad used to say.

Although much more crowded than Kuhtai.

But awesome ski day, so much fresh powder to cut through, BREATHTAKING panoramas, good skiers to watch carve-it-up from the chair lifts, and lots of tree-free terrain to roam free.

This is another quote from the alpine club exhibit: “The skier has a new world: the downhill run, the reverse experience to maintain climbing, a paradoxically liberating experience of gravity, the effortless dance” I’m not so sure about “effortless” though, digging in to get through all that powder when you’re used to skating on ice is an exhausting workout!

We had to cut our day short in order to get back to Innsbruck and the train station. The city bus which stops in EVERY village on the way down, got a little aggravating in a rush. 

But we did pass by the Innsbruck, built in 1925 and used in the 1964 and 1972 Olympics. We ran to the rental place in full gear (btw it’s like 20 degrees hotter in the actually city). Ran to the hostel to pick up our bags, and ran to the train station. And on to Prague in Part 2!

Voyaging in Verona, Vicenza, and Venice

What a terrific week we had on our field trip to the north of Italy which included Verona, Vicenza, and Venice.

The field trip seemed to be Scarpa-themed (the Italian architect Carlo Scarpa). So on our way north from Orvieto, we were suddenly awoken and told we were stopping. To our dismay it was not for a snack break... But I guess Scarpa's Chiesa dell'Autostrada del Sol was pretty cool too. Dictionary definition of modern architecture both inside and outside, where you're not quite sure what all the strange shapes and curves are actually functioning for.

 And then we arrived in Verona. All I remember of Verona from 8 years ago was Juliet's house, and thought it was pretty dumb. But coming back and seeing far more and spending 2 days here, Verona is actually quite beautiful and one of my favorites now. This is "The Alps" fountain representing the two sister cities of Verona and Munich. And the ancient Arena is in the background (similar to the Colosseum).

I opted to take the Rick Steves' self-guided walking tour... alone, because no one else trusts Rick Steves' judgement like I have learned to do :). Jokes on them, they didn't see nearly as much as I did. If you don't know, Rick Steves' Italy travel guide has been my holy book while here in Italy. So I started in Piaza Bra where the Arena sits (we eventually went into the Arena as a group the next day).

And then to the Porta Borsari (the ancient Roman city entrance). And Rick Steve's gives sweet tips that people usually don't see, so he pointed me in the direction of a little bar where they have a window in the floor that you can see into the original Roman streets, and a Roman tombstone sitting right outside the cafe like it was just part of the decor (they were only allowed to bury their dead outside the city walls, hence right next to the Porta Borsari).

And then into Piazza Erbe where the square is lined with colorful building facades and is bustling with a market.

Had to go back to the house of Juliet just to make sure it was as dumb and touristy as I remembered to to be... confirmed, it was. But I went into the Letters to Juliet shop and got my name sewn into a sheet of paper for free.... and then stumbled into the Verona Hellas shop (the soccer team), which was worth it.

Passed through Piazza dei Signori before getting to the elaborate tombs of the Scaligeri family (who apparently found a loophole to the whole cemetery in the city issue).

 I got a little bit lost, but a nice Italian man set me back on my Rick Steve's path and I made it to Sant'Anastasia. It had spectacular ceiling ornamentation. (I somehow was able to sneak in without paying and also taking pictures while hiding behind columns...)

Then watched the sun go down and the city light up from the Ponte Pietra bridge over the river. Looking up to the hill where the Roman Theater and Castello San Pietro is. Finished up the night at the Duomo. I went inside (again without having to pay for a ticket), and watched a church service for a few minutes (I decided this was a bad time to try an sneak photos).

Group dinner that night was interesting... I was told that the group meal was ordered carefully to make sure no pork was in it. They started bringing out pasta with ragu (which typically has pork in it). So the professor comes by all concerned and says "I think there's pork in it, we'll try to get you something else. I said that's fine, so I ordered just pasta with white sauce. And I just got plain pasta... nothing else. So then the meat entree comes and the professor comes over again and says "I'm so sorry, but this definitely tastes like pork." So I ask the waitress what kind of meat it is and she says carne (which typically means beef)... carne di maiale (pork)... great. So I ask if there's anything else they have in the kitchen and she's responding to me in Italian but I catch "formaggio" (cheese). So I say yes yes, that's fine. So I get just a plate of cheese... And then of course dessert rolls around and everybody's joking and says "Sorry Elise, this probably has pork in it too." It's a tough life being a Jew in Italy...

The next day we did class trips to the Castelvecchio. This was awesome both because of the history of the castle but also because Carlo Scarpa redesigned the museum part after the roof was destroyed in WWII. So we spent the whole morning wandering around the castle, seeing a bunch of paintings, sculptures, frescoes, and medieval armory.

 ...seeing the amazing Scarpa museum design. They even had a few of his drawings which were cool. I'd argue that some of those would never get him an internship though...

Wandering around the grounds, the beautiful courtyard, and across the bridge. (Which apparently is being used as part of the set for a new Romeo and Juliet movie. So one of the entrances was just made out of plywood and paint... coulda fooled me.

And then I ventured on my own across the bridge and found this beautiful reflecting pool.

We finished our time in Verona at the Arena, and some of us tried to rent bikes and ride around but apparently you have to register beforehand and go through a bunch of stuff...fail. But we did see another Scarpa building, a bank, which was just horribly ugly, clearly not a good portfolio piece for Scarpa...

We then got on the bus and headed to Vicenza. Vicenza is home to a large concentration of Palladio buildings. We tried to hit all of them and at least snap a few pics of each (unfortunately my camera had died by then).

But then a group of use ventured to large park. Saw a whole menagerie of animals around this one pond

  Me at the park...

And then of course we had to climb some trees while the boys stood back and laughed... There's also a video of me trying to break of a huge dead branch by climbing on it. Don't get your hopes up, it didn't break off and land on me, although I wish it had, then I could send the video into America's Funniest Home Videos or something.

There were also chickens in the tree!!! So there's also a good video of Blake talking to the chickens and then me trying to throw a stick up into the tree to see if they'd fly away.

 The next day we went outside of Vicenza to Palladio's Villa Rotunda (what Jefferson designed his Monticello after). The building was cool, I guess it's ground-breaking because it's the same on all four sides...! The so-called "gardens" were not as terrific as I would have expected. Clearly Palladio needed a Landscape Architect on his time. The inside of the cupola was the most spectacular, a perfect fusion of painting, sculpture, and architect where you don't know where one stops and one starts. 

 Also outside Vicenza is Scarpa's Brion Cemetery. This place was truly spectacular (and much more LA focused, which was nice to see). The whole complex was just amazing, all the sculptural architecture, the reflecting pools, the plantings, the experience-based paths.... ahhhh perfect. Scarpa was also buried here. Modest as he was, his tomb is just a flat carved stone piece off in one corner, that's the kind of thing I respect a lot. 

The following are just a few snapshots of the cemetery.

 The chapel (opened just for us), was incredible. I loved the slit windows which reflected from the water outside and cast dancing patterns across the ceiling.

And then off to Venice!! The bus took us straight to the island. Saw the Calatrava bridge although I didn't realize what it was until later, all I knew is that I was taking pictures of a pretty sweet bridge. We had some time to just wander around that night.

 The next day Marco got us on a ferry down the Grand Canal and we walked to St. Mark's square. He showed us the Basilica of St Mark's and off of the rich mosaics, bronze horse sculptures, and 200 marble columns that decorate the facade (most of these were stolen from Constantinople during the raid of 1204). We got a chance to go inside on our own later that day.

 This is actually the Piazzetta next to St. Mark's square. That's the Doge's Palace on the left, the Library of St Mark's on the right, and the two patron saint statues of venice: St Theodoro (the original saint), and then St Mark (the Saint that the Venetians stole from Alexandria... they literally stole the body of St Mark to increase their religious importance... damn Venetians).

 We toured the Doge's Palace with Marco, many of the living quarters as well as the civic rooms used to elect other Doges. The doge, I learned, was not actually a king, nor a royal or politician at all. He was just a rich guy that had done great things for the business and wealth of Venice and this was just sort of a "thank-you" title from the political leaders.

We then climbed the bell tower of St Mark's square

 View from the bell tower into St Mark's Square

On the docks next to St Mark's square (Church of San Giorgio in the background)

Blake and I went to the Correr Museum to see an exhibit on the Armenians and their relationship to Venice. We also spent some time people-watching in St Marks square, rather I watched Blake as he attempted to punch pigeons that flew dangerously close to our heads.

 In front of the Bridge of Sighs (where the prisoners who were tried in the Doge's Palace were then taken to the prison on the other side and allowed one last look out into the world).

 Along the Grand Canal 

 On the Rialto Bridge overlooking the Grand Canal

View OF the Rialto Bridge FROM the Grand Canal

 

 Just one example of the opulence of all the mask, costume, and glass shops in Venice.

And then Blake and I ventured out to the islands of Murano (island of glass making) and Burano (island of lace making). Although we only spent about 5 minutes at each because the ferry schedule messed us up and we had to catch the last ferry back to the main island. The transportation map was NOT to scale and was extremely deceiving as far as actual distances. But we did get to see the sun set out on the lagoon.

 And then Blake taught me how to actually use my camera!!!! So we spent the rest of the night experimenting and doing some night shots. I'm so happy that I know how to do this now, because these shots are amazing!

In San Marco Sqaure where vendors were throwing some cool blue glowing things into the air.

Facade of St Mark's at night

Doge's Palace at night

Woke up to find THIS the next morning! Yup that's a scorpion...

Met up with Chelsea that morning!!!! Hadn't seen her in 9 months. And although we messed up our choreographed meeting in the Jewish quarter, this was just as good!

Marco took us to one of his favorite bookshops. It apparently has problems whenever it floods, so it's organization system looks like this...

 Marco spent some time in the Church of St Peter and Paul which was used as a cemetery on this otherwise difficult island to bury people on (obviously).

On the Rialto Bridge with my sis :)

After the group dispersed for spring break travels, Chelsea and I spent the rest of the time relaxing in the Jewish Ghetto, watching little Jewish children run around and play. Chelsea was adamant about getting her fix of cappuccino (several), pastries, and gelatto... since they don't have these in Ghana of course.

Beautiful Holocaust memorials in the Ghetto Nuovo Square. There was a plaque down one of the alleys that I thought was quite beautiful (and yes I was able to translate it roughly from Italian: "200 Jews from Venice, 8000 Jews from Italy, 6 million Jews from Europe. By blind barbaric hatred in distant lands. Chased, tortured, suppressed. In memory of the atrocious offense to human civilization. Call all men to the holy law of God to the feelings of brotherhood and love that affirms Israel first among the peoples."

We did witness a group of orthodox men dancing and singing in front of a small Jewish bar in the Jewish quarter. The Jews are surprisingly alive and well (although few) in Venice.