On Tuesday, January 17th, we traveled to Prague. We left the hostel soon after breakfast and got on the train to Dresden at 12:30. After we arrived in Dresden, we had about an hour and a half until our train to Prague departed. As my knee had been irritating me for a few days, I spent that time sitting down and resting, though I was very fortunate to have Rosalyn and Aidan bring me a piece of pizza for lunch. We arrived in Prague at around 17:30 and got our transit tickets. On the way to the hostel, we had an issue with ticket validation which worried a lot of the group. We did make it to the hostel, though, despite the long and stressful day.
The 18th was not any easier. Though we had no issues with public transportation, we were going to see Terezin. No amount of reading or research could have prepared me for being in Terezin. Even 10 days later, I'm still unpacking what we saw and learned. The cliche of ghettos and concentration camps feeling oppressive when you walk in is entirely true; every step was heavier, every breath harder to catch. It's difficult to wrap my mind around the atrocities that occurred there, but standing in those dark, dusty, cold rooms and trying to imagine it, even though I'm not even grasping a quarter of it, was something I'll never forget. That evening, we had a complete change of mood when we attended the Czech Folklore Garden for dinner. It was difficult to fully enjoy the festivities after such an emotionally draining day, but I tried to live in the moment and have a good time.
On Thursday, we went on a tour of Prague. The tour itself was fascinating, but it was quite cold out, and being outside for around 5 hours was pretty tiring. The architecture was beautiful; standing in or outside of thousand-year-old buildings was just incredible. I particularly enjoyed our time in the library of the Strahov Monastery. The books, natural science collections, and especially the frescoes in the Philosophical Hall were all amazing. After the tour, I went back to the hostel and had a quiet night finalizing my presentation.
Friday morning I gave my presentation on the Czech Philharmonic. It went pretty well, despite my accidental closing of my presenter's notes a few slides in. After the presentations, a bunch of us went to the Musical Instrument Museum. The first exhibit, Musical Menagerie, seemed to be focused on children, but I still had a fun time playing various percussion instruments and reading about animals in music. The upstairs exhibit was also very interesting. The highlight was, of course, the Amati Violin, which I could have stared at for hours. I also enjoyed playing a hand-pumped organ, attempting to assemble a clarinet quickly, and tuning/playing a small harp. That evening, we saw the Czech Philharmonic, which was incredible; not to mention that our seats left me with a great view of the viola section! To see an ensemble of that caliber playing an all-Czech program was wonderful.
The 21st was our last full day in Prague. I realized I hadn't gotten a picture with the Dvorak statue outside the Rudolfinum after last night's concert, so I took a quick trip back for that. At this point, I realized that I was beginning to feel under the weather, so I went back to the hostel for a nap before the matinee performance of Kate and the Devil. The performance itself was excellent, even if the costumes and set weren't quite my style. I was pleased that I was feeling better afterward, so I went to dinner at U Fleků and enjoyed excellent beer, potato soup, and a vegetarian plate. The next morning, we were off to Austria!
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