Thanksgiving 2015 in Prague

Prague, Czech Republic
November 26, 2015
Latitude 50º 4' N

Thanksgiving morning from my fabulous apartment in the Žižkov district of Prague was grey and foggy. Another typical November day in Central Europe, I thought. I'd arrived the day before from Amsterdam, spent that day in, and still didn't want to leave the apartment on day two. I'd landed a delicious place to stay—a sixth floor, totally modernized, two story apartment with wood floors, fabulous kitchen and even a jacuzzi. Some pre-Christmas homing instinct made me want to run out, buy a tree, shop for ornaments and spend the long weekend decorating the place. I'd satisfy this urge later on with the purchase of 4” $3.00 poinsettia.

But I finally separated myself from the apartment, bundled up against the cold and tackled the metro. My first stop was Prague Castle, where I spent the better part of the day until about 3:00 pm. The views from some of the towers was astonishing—a city of spires, gables and turrets. The city lay out below me. It had taken a long time to get to this fabled city, undamaged during World War II.

I wandered off the castle grounds, meandered through the Mala Strana neighborhood, through the twisty streets below and ultimately to the Charles Bridge, which I'd heard about and for good reason. It was packed with tourists—mostly Japanese—and it made me wonder what this city was like in season. By the time I'd gotten to the other side I was in a lot of pain. I saw that an organ concert was going to be held at the St. Salvator Church in the Klementinum district so I paid my 500 Crowns, took a seat and just sat for an hour.

The church was cold and even my leather jacket and wool mittens weren't enough to keep me warm. But the music was wonderful—a series of Baroque classics for almost an hour. At the very end a mezzo-soprano sang Ave Maria. I was momentarily overwhelmed. It was my mother's favorite hymn, sung at her wedding and again at her funeral.

I was alone this Thanksgiving. And it was the first holiday when I was truly alone My parents were dead and my estranged brother had been dead for six months. I was the sole survivor ofmy immediate family. Except for an aunt and uncle, and a bunch of cousins, there's no other immediate blood family. When I heard Schubert's music I could feel the ghosts of Thanksgivings past surround me—my family, my aunts and uncles and cousins who came for dinner, Elaine Cranston, her daughter Diane and Elaine's mother, Mrs. Dumas. What was a holiday growing up without those dear people?

I wrapped around me all the adult years of my parents and Steve, of putting the lights on the outdoor Blue Spruce on the afternoon of Thanksgiving Day, of snow storms and blizzards that blew in on that day.

I wrapped around me more recent years when it was just Mom, then Ed and Rita, and how Thanksgiving moved from one home to another.

I wrapped around me all the traditions that emerged over the years--gathering of the greens on Thanksgiving morning, a walk at Point au Roche, illuminating outdoor trees, decorating the house the day after the holiday and always, the first day of skiing that weekend.

It wasn't a sad reminiscence, just a healthy remembering of those people I loved who are no longer with me and events that are just on hold this year.

When the concert finished I walked out into the early dark of late November's night in Prague. The temperature had dropped and a very light snow was falling--flurries, really, but snow nonetheless. Nothing could have been more perfect. I walked across the Charles Bridge, this time in the dark. heading to the metro. The lights of Prague illuminated the Vltava River. Tourist boats plied the waters and Japanese tourists were in abundance. I felt as I were in night setting of a Moravian fairy tale, but it was the real thing.

But my evening wasn't quite over. Half way back to the train, I heard the strains of Dixie Land. New Orleans jazz on Thanksgiving night on the left bank of the river. Well...what with the snow and the music, it was the perfect cap to the day!

I finally did wander home, overcooked some chicken, Skyped with home, with my family of choice, fielded thoughtful emails and texts from home and collapsed into bed about midnight.

My Czech Thanksgiving. While it wasn't a day set aside here in Prague, it was in my heart.

And that is all that counted.