Prague Journal

Friday, September 24, 2004.

Tonight is Yom Kippur, so we took time in the morning to go to Thissio to check out the Beth Shalom Synagogue and the schedule of services. The synagogue is splendid, and the Jewish community seems to be thriving. We were told that the Rosh Hashannah service had attracted 2,000 people and that a similarly large crowd was expected for the Kol Nidre service, which would start at 6pm.
On the other side of Thissio station is the fenced-in site of the Kerameikos ruins, with pottery workshops and gravesites on either side of Plato’s Road to the Academy. The Kerameikos museum was splendid, showing pottery, bas reliefs and statues from pre-geometric (800 BCE) to classic times (100 BCE).
Barb’s time trial was set to begin at 3:30, and we wanted to see some of the men’s events before hers, so we left for the road race course on the coast before noon. The tramride was a full hour, and we spent some time finding the bus stop (which was cleverly hidden by trees and a tall bench enclosure), all of which made the trip take over 2 ½ hours. The bus ride itself was a full 25 minutes, stopping a few blocks away from the course. Because of the security barriers and the bus route change, we got to the course just as the CP men on tricycles were finishing (Stu Flacks won a silver for the US). We were able to see Barb before the women’s race began, but quickly headed for the top of the hill so we could see her at the turn. The women’s road race is a time trial, so women started at one-minute intervals. Barb started ninth, so we saw her ride two laps before we were able to get to the top of the course. The headwinds were tremendous and the hill much steeper than we had expected. All the riders were laboring and Barb was very disappointed in her time and angry that the women were made to ride so late in the day when the winds were strongest. After the final calculations were made, she placed fourth, not even a full second behind the bronze medal winner. We stayed to congratulate her after the race, knowing full well that we would not be able to get to the synagogue by 6pm. The trip to Syntagma took only 1 ½ hours (since we now knew the most graceful tram/bus connection), and in another half hour – at 7:30 p.m. – we were at our hotel, obviously too late for the erev Yom Kippur service at the synagogue. After a hastily job of freshening up after the hot, dusty, windy coast trip, we created our own ceremonial Shabbat meal at the hotel restaurant (sans candles or Torah).

posted by JWinn @ 7:37 PM