The Heart of the Golden City

Prague's Old Town Square

For a nation where few people go to church or identify himself as religious, Germany has a ridiculous amount of religious holidays. Despite my understanding of these holidays, I take advantage of them.

Germans don't work the Friday before and the Monday after Easter. About 40 days later, there is the Day of Ascension or Himmelfahrt. That is on a Thursday and most people take off the following Friday. A week or so later, there's the day Jesus met the Apostles and tells them to preach the Gospel, Pentecost or Pfinsten.

In honor of Jesus going to heaven, Asmus and I headed to Prague.

View of Prague from the Prague Castle

Soon after we started dating, Asmus pushed the idea of us going to Prague. The beauty of the Golden City so beguiled him that he went there alone just to wallow in it. We hopped a tiny airplane with propellers and landed in a beautiful, baroque city.

Frank Gehry's Dancing Building

I'm more of a fan of activity, more than sights, so I enjoyed the shopping (on Sunday!) and the Museum of Communism. It was like the twin to the Museum of Propaganda in St. Petersburg. The Czech museum used real objects and information to portray life during the Soviet occupation of the Czech Republic. It was a bit weird that the museum about Communism sits off the main shopping street and shares the building with a casino.

To the left, Museum of Communism. To the right, casino.

It was cool keeping Asmus happy in his favorite city.

The streets of Old Town in Prague