It’s December and we’re in Prague, where the temperature is hovering in the 30s day and night. We aren’t in this sort of weather very often these days, but so far it feels more invigorating than oppressive (being fully clothed in coats, hats and gloves). I suspect that has a lot to do with the fact that we’re only here for a few days and it’s always easier to dip in to inclement weather and say that you really enjoy the diversity, but the truth underlying that is that we live in a warm weather climate place like San Diego for a reason and this might be good for a brief change, but I’m sure after this Christmas Markets Journey (we have New York yet to go and it’s not exactly warm in New York right now), we will be happy to return to the warmth of our hilltop.
As you could expect, the best part about this trip is that we have surrounded ourselves and immersed ourselves in Christmas. Since neither Kim nor I are highly religious, when I say Christmas, I am talking more about a state of mind which is all about friends, family, and humanity. People who are not raised with Christmas as a seasonal focal point would understandably think that Americans think about gifts and lights and choral singing when talking about Christmas, but I think that’s not giving sufficient gravitas to the cultural aspects of Christmas that I believe permeates the season. Why do I have a list of Christmas movies that I simply must watch each year at this time of year, or why does Kim feel that her comfort zone is to wallow in Hallmark Christmas movies? I think the answer is embedded in the counter-balance of grace against nature. I understand that that’s a particularly big theme for me, but I really believe there’s something to it, and I think Christmas may be the most universally expressive embodiment of that counter-balance (at least for the Christian population). I repeat that I consider it far less religious than cultural even though I fully appreciate that our culture (even my culture) is linked somewhat to our religious upbringing.
If I do say so myself, I’m patting myself on the back for picking the hotel here in Prague that I did. The place is called the Hotel U Prince Prague, and it’s right across from the famous Astronomical Clock that has been running in this square for over 600 years, and just steps from the central Christmas market in Old Town Square. In addition to its location, the hotel is also a lovely boutique hotel where each room is unique and decorated in typical “old world” style…the sort of furniture and design I would never decorate my house with, but which is quaint and pleasant to stay in for three days. The hotel has been smart enough to differentiate what aspects of the facility should be modernized despite the quaintness, so the bathroom is large and up-to-date and there are enough plugs conveniently located to not frustrate our ongoing energy requirements. There is a now standard flat screen TV, but the only thing in English is CNN, which is sufficient, especially given the strong WiFi and us all getting used to streaming on our own devices more and more rather than relying on in-room TVs. Let’s face it, we can watch Law & Order SVU on my iPad if we desperately need to get a fix. For a short purpose-driven visit like this, I would argue that CNN is more than sufficient since we are on a Christmas mission and Prague has more than enough Christmas oozing out of it to keep us busy.
Yesterday we went twice into the central Christmas Market in the square along with thousands of other people. I’m guessing 50% of the stalls are about food, with all the Czech favorites on offer. It’s not ALL about beer, but there is plenty of it. Then there’s sausages and dumplings and goulash, all very typical of the region and, to my Eastern European palate, quite delicious. There are also lots of seasonal specialities that are clearly geared to the cold weather that engulfs the city during this season. The one that caught our attention the most was “Chimney Cake”, which is a spiral pastry that gets wrapped around a wide metal skewer and baked over hot coals to create a light and sweet pastry that is perfect for sharing as we walked around enjoying the Market. There are also lots of local crafts which seem very appropriately “old world” like forged iron bells that are smithed right in front of you and light wooden artifacts with a particular holiday theme that I am working hard to convince myself are handmade and not all generated on a laser-guided cutting machine. Regardless, the overall impression of the Christmas Markets is magical and especially pleasant at night, remembering that at this latitude, it gets dark early at this time of year, so the lighting plays into the atmosphere in a big way.
Today, we took a Tour With Locals walkabout with a young woman, Victoria, who was amazingly knowledgeable and interesting in telling us about Prague, its history and the unique aspects of a city that has survived multiple wars mostly unscathed. We learned about lots of Christmas and historically religious heritage (Catholicism, the Reformation and before, and the ongoing balancing act with everything from the Pope to cultural immigration concerns), but we also spent a good deal of time understanding the history of the Jewish population of Prague and the hundreds of years of persecution they suffered. I can think of few things more Christian and thereby more appropriate for a Christmas pilgrimage than to empathetically embrace the tragic history of the world’s worst moments of abuse to people who are mostly peaceful and were put-upon by this very un-Christian persecution. We learned that Adolf Hitler was very fond of Prague, to the point of wanting to make it his home, and thereby preserved its physical heritage while writing a seriously devastating chapter into the pavement, memorialized by thousands of brass cobblestones with the names and dates of those victims of the Czech holocaust. The brass cobblestones are placed nearest where those people lived in the Jewish Quarter, so there was a very real sense of connectivity to this special place.
This city seems to understand that the combination of its extended history and unique position as a survivor of Europe’s war-torn history, makes it the perfect venue for the grace of Christmastime visitation. I am not so naive as to not understand that this is largely driven by commercial interest in optimizing the sale of holiday food and drink and trinkets to memorialize the season, but I think Prague still deserves credit for keeping the city and the spirit of the season at the top of the priority list as they increase the array of Christmas Markets across the expanded old city. From the central Old Town area, this has spread across the Moldau (Vltava) River to the area below Prague Castle. Everywhere you look, they are putting up Christmas trees and decorations and offering the growing global crowd almost anything their Christmas-seeking imaginations can conjure. In sum, there is enough Christmas in Prague to satisfy the most seasonally-obsessed elf.