Prague, Czech Republic
Very
nice breakfast at our hotel, and a quick read of the
International Herald Tribune on its last day of publication before
morphing into the International New York Times. The IHT was a key
part of our connection back to the US during our times abroad, and
it's sad to see the name go away.
Then
we met Jana, our tour guide for the next two mornings. She was
recommended to us by friends of Aimée and Steve who had taken her
tours on earlier visits to Prague. The recommendation turned out to
be right on the mark. She was friendly, extremely knowledgeable, and
had a great command of English. Her tours had enough structure to
cover the territory, but she was always happy to diverge from the
plan to pursue any topic of interest that might arise. None of our
questions appeared to have stumped her. And, she knew where all the good bathrooms were located.
We
won't even begin to try to cover the full scope of what we learned
from her. A quick summary, and then we'll let the pictures stand by
themselves as illustrations of our time with her.
This
morning's tour dealt with the not-quite-so-old-town on the south side
of the river, up on the hill where the castles seen in yesterday's
pictures are located. We got to the top of the hill via streetcar,
which is always a fun adventure in itself. The payment system there
is the same as we have encountered in Germany: honor system, with a
stiff fine if caught cheating. When you play by the rules, you buy a
ticket ahead of time from a legitimate seller (like our hotel), and
then you validate it with a timestamp machine on the streetcar. Then
it's good for a specified period of time, with transfers allowed
within that timeframe. We typically got 30 minute tickets at a price
of 24 Kroner ($1.27). It's very likely that nobody will ever look at
the ticket, but every now and then the authorities do pounce, and
it's curtains for the violators. We took the honest approach.
The
top of the hill was occupied by some pretty marvelous buildings,
including the presidential palace (primarily a ceremonial and office building, not
a residence) and an impressive cathedral constructed over the
centuries in a mix of many styles of architecture. Jana was very good in her understanding of the architectural periods. Views down into
the city and across the river were stunning. We worked our way down
the hillside, toured a bit in the lower section of town, and then got
Jana's recommendation for a good place to eat lunch. Another
Ratskeller and more mushroom sauce, at least for Sue Anne.
Then
we split up for the afternoon. Sue Anne and Bruce went to the museum
of the 19th century Czech artist Alphons Mucha, known as one of the
masters of the Parisian Art Nouveau Style. He was very accomplished
in many media and not shy about benefiting from the commercial
aspects of the business, where he did very well. Best known for his
amazing theatrical posters, especially those featuring Sarah
Bernhardt, he also, for example, designed advertising for a
manufacturer of cigarette papers. Well connected with what was going
on in Paris at the time, his colleagues included Paul Gauguin, shown
in one photo playing a piano-like instrument in Mucha's studio fully
attired above the waist, but in his skivvies down below. They must have had some pretty good parties there.
Then
we moved on to the Museum of Communism, said to be nearby. Right
next to McDonalds—ah, the irony! Not quite so easy to find, as it turned out that
there were two McDonalds locations in the same block, and it was only
sort of next to and kind of above the second one, and accessed through the
entryway to a casino that was in a courtyard well off of the street. But we persisted and finally got there. It
was worth the effort. It did a good job illustrating the descent
into Communism and the horribly drab lifestyle that it produced. One
amazing piece of information involved the gigantic statue of Stalin
that was erected at a high point overlooking the city. It only
lasted for three years, when the impact of Khrushchev's denunciation
of Stalin's 'cult of personality' led to its official destruction.
By dynamite.
The
exhibit gave extensive coverage to the 1968 Prague Spring and the
events leading up to the Russian invasion of August 21st. At the time
it happened, it was still the evening of August 20th in Massachusetts, where Bruce was
holding a set of orders saying that he was released from active duty
in the Army as of midnight. His immediate thoughts were, “They'll
never find me in time.” They didn't. But the whole experience of
three years of Cold War service in Germany has remained a special
memory, and it was so rewarding to finally get to see the places that
had been such a key part of that start to his adult life.
The
museum wrapped up with dramatic coverage of the 1989 Velvet
Revolution, which took place within a month after the fall of the
Berlin Wall. The events leading up to it were far from velvet.
There were heartbreaking videos of police (both uniformed and secret plainclothes) assaulting protesters in
the streets and squares where we had just been walking, till destiny
finally became clear, the protesters placed flowers at the feet of
the line of police, and the police ceased their assault.
Then
we had a snack of hot wine and sweet, crispy pastry. Sue Anne drew
one of the many ancient towers (She committed herself to at least one
drawing per day, and has so far met the commitment.), and we walked
back to the hotel along the river and then through a rather confused
maze till we finally got directions and a map from another hotel that led us back to our own place. Getting lost had nothing to do
with drinking hot wine, probably!
We'll
ask Aimée and Steve to put together a summary of their afternoon
activities and drop it in here after we all get settled at home.
Here
are the pix.
Statues of the astronomers Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler. They did much of their important work here in Prague.
View down the hill
Building decorated with the scraffito technique
Presidential Palace
Ceremonial guard at the Presidential palace, ramrod straight in the face of lots of temptation
Interior view of cathedral
The architects included themselves in the statuary
View from farther down the hill
Some are said to have survived by landing in a pile of manure.
Lunch
More of that good mushroom sauce
Multi-tier parking
We saw lots of announcements for concerts, many free of charge. I wonder if some of these composers had any idea that some day their music would be played on guitars.
We didn't have time to take in any of the concerts. Next time.
That's our guide Jana standing next to the poster.
We visited the museum after lunch. It was very well done and told quite a story.
We didn't make it to this museum.
Sue Anne drawing one of the towers. We'll post all her drawings on her blog after we get home.
View up the river from the Charles Bridge
No comments:
Post a Comment