An Austere Vintage

A term used to describe a wine that is unforthcoming - often they are young, tannic wines. They give little pleasure at the time, but it is likely that they will improve with age.

I pride myself on my ability to learn languages, and my love of learning new words. I forgot however, that in Prague, I needed also to learn a new alphabet. I felt like the typical young American backpacker, ignorant of the local customs and dialects. So still groggy with jet lag, I snagged a pamphlet with phrases and began to sound my way through the strange letters. My favorite phrase was "Nemluvím česky" or "I don't understand Czech." But I found, as I explored the streets of Prague, that it was a little like Disney Land. Aside from the looming castles and quaint costumes, signs were posted in a variety of languages, including English. And try as I might to test out my new phrases, like "Dám si jedno pivo prosím" (I'll have a beer please), everyone preempted me with an English or French menu. So giving in to being the naive tourist, I explored the neighborhoods with my camera in hand before saying, Na shledanou, good bye to Prague.

In Aspen we have an annual inundation of Music Students, whom we call "notes." I discovered we are not the only city with musicians at every corner, plying their trade for tips. Now I just need the Czech translation for "note."

The Prague Astronomical Clock or Prague Orloj, built in 1410, is often considered to be a primitive planetarium, displaying the current state of the universe. The astronomical dial has a background that represents the standing Earth and sky, and surrounding it operate four main moving components: the zodiacal ring, an outer rotating ring, an icon representing the Sun, and an icon representing the Moon.

The Old Jewish cemetery in Josefov, the former Jewish ghetto, is the oldest existing Jewish cemetery in Europe. There are more than 100,000 Jews buried in this small plot, with the graves being layered 12 deep in some places.

The Pinkas Synagogue is dedicated to the 80,000 Jewish victims of the Holocaust from Bohemia and Moravia, the names are inscribed as a long epitaph commemorating those for whom a tombstone could not be erected.

Called the city of 500 spires, there a sea of red roofs spreading across the seven hills of Prague.