TGIF

The museum at night

Down by the banks of the Vltava at night

As seen in TGI Fridays, Andel

Yes, even unemployed bums like Fridays...

Yesterday, after checking my emails (Moscow: you will receive your letter of invitation in 12 business days. I'm meant to start work in 13 business days. Hello?) I went to complete my circuit of the Jewish Museum synagogues + the Old New Synagogue, which is administered separately. You actually have to buy a ticket to go to all 6 Jewish Museum sites (4 synagogues, town hall + graveyard), you can't pay separately for them, so a smart bunny goes to them all in one day, but a stupid bunny goes too late in the day and only makes it to half of them and winds up paying twice. Ah well...

Anyway, first up was the Old New (it was the New Synagogue, then a newer one was built, so it became the Old New). As I was leaving, a shrill American woman (sorry, Yanks, but some of your number float about reinforcing the stereotype) opined loudly "You just walk in there and, boom, two minutes later you're done". It's definitely tacky to hold forth on the subject within earshot of the place, but the woman has a point... The Old New is very old (13th century) and atmospheric, but in contrast to the excellent Jewish Museum sites, there's not a lot going on in there. And the ticket's reasonably pricey. However, I did note that my ticket said the proceeds went towards social events for Holocaust survivors, which is something I can get behind.

Next I went to the Spanish Synagogue, so called because it's built in the Moorish style. And it's fricking gorgeous - nice on the outside, but amazing on the inside. Imagine a mosque, but with a repeated Star of David motif, with every bit of the walls and ceilings decorated, but in such a tasteful and beautiful way - definitely a must see if anyone's ever in Prague. The exhibits in the Spanish and the Maisel Synagogue (the next one I went to) cover the history of the Jews in Bohemia and Moravia (actually I went to them in reverse order, but oh well), which is really interesting, although there's a lot of information, so possibly doing all the synagogues in one hit could induce museum fatigue. There's also an exhibit of synagogue silverware upstairs in the Spanish Synagogue. See www.jewishmuseum.cz & click on 'Exhibitions' for a few photos and a bit about each site - sadly photography isn't allowed in any of the synagogues, but there's a couple to give you an idea what it looks like.

In the evening, Scotty, Laurie, Carolyn and I went out to eat at TGI Friday's (how appropriate). Don't blame me, I was held hostage by the North Americans... Actually the food was really good, in your standard chain restauranty way (overpriced though) and every night they have a different cocktail on special, which is always good news. After that we went to Lucerna, the 80s disco, which was so much fun! I haven't been to a club for aaages, but it was good time had by all. You know how whenever you're in a club and a cheesy 80s number comes on, everyone gets all excited? Basically it was that all night. Plus they had the videos up on a huge screen. Me and Scotty got our groove on, Laurie and Carolyn not so much (or at least not while I was watching). Finally left about 3 am - I didn't want to go home!