Charles Bridge | Taking Our Time

Sep 30 – A two hour bus ride took us from charming Karlovy Vary back to the bustle of Prague. We only have one goal this afternoon: to visit the Infant Jesus of Prague at the Church of Our Lady Victorious.

Jim makes it a point to visit sites where miracles occur whenever we travel. The Infant Jesus is a primary pilgrimage site in Czechia. The 19” wood and wax statue is purported to have been owned by St Teresa of Avila, and traveled from Spain to Bohemia (now Czechia) in the mid 1500s.

In 1631 the priory where the Infant was displayed was plundered during the 30 Years War, but was recovered from a trash heap ten years later with its hands broken off. The priest who found it heard a voice that said, “Give me my hands, and I will give you peace. The more you honor me, the more I will bless you.”

The statue was repaired, given new hands, and has been lovingly cared for ever since by the Carmelite nuns here, who dress it in one of 300 outfits to match the colors of every liturgical season. So many favors and miracles have been granted in the name of the Infant Jesus of Prague that they cannot be counted.

Inside the church: the cluster of people on the right are praying and gazing at the Infant

The chapel that displays the Infant; its small size dwarfed by the statuary that surrounds it. Do you see it, dressed in a green robe?

Here it is with my camera on maximum zoom

A museum upstairs shows some of the many outfits given to the Infant from countries around the world

A photo on the wall shows the nuns carefully changing its vestments for a new season

So that is the end of our Czechian adventure… with a little more wall art

…one more stroll across the Charles Bridge with a thousand of our closest friends

We even saw a busker wailing on a didgeridoo!

One more touch of St John Nepomuk for luck

…and we headed home. Thanks Czechia – we loved your beer and we had a great time!

Aug 28 – After a good night’s sleep, some espresso and an egg breakfast, we are ready to face the day’s adventures.

When Jim told me that Prague had a Lennon Wall, I had visions of Russian Marx and Lenin, but no! After his assassination in 1980, someone painted a mural of John Lennon on a downtown wall. People added song lyrics, poems, signatures and graffiti until the image of John was completely covered over. Every time the government painted over the images, the next day a new mural would begin.

Over the years there were images of short-haired John, long-haired John, bearded John, Yoko and John, and John with kaleidoscope eyes. Today, John was not to be seen, as his face was totally covered with graffiti.