Andrea to the Rescue

Friday, July 24, 2015

This will be a better day, I can already tell!  We have planned a slow morning, then we will meet our guide, Andrea Reznickova, at 1:30.  We hang out a while, catching up on our Internet stuff, get dressed and go downstairs for breakfast. The hope is that the wifi will be more reliable down there.  I collect my breakfast sandwich of ham and cheese from the reception desk and join Marilyn in the lounge.  She is being virtuous and having one of the breakfast shakes on her diet.  We both indulge in the hot, good coffee and bring up our computers.  The kids come and go, with discussions of who had how much to drink last night and which bars have the best bargains. There are many different accents and languages, but so many of the kids speak English as the common language.

Eventually we head back upstairs to our room, with hopes of a breeze and more wifi reliability.  It doesn’t seem to matter too much where we are.  Eventually I manage to post and we begin to think about what we would like Andrea to show us.  We are heading down the stairs when a voice behind us asks if one of us is Marilyn!  Guess we won’t be meeting her outside after all!

Andrea is the perfect guide.  We had originally contacted the lady that Rick Steves uses and she was busy but suggested Andrea, so we were pretty confidant that we’d be happy.  She started by taking us to a near-by café so we could get a drink and talk about what we wanted from her.  We ordered a pitcher of cranberry lemonade, as Andrea said that will be cheaper than individual glasses, just like at home; and she began to tell us about her city and country and their history.  Fascinating!  And it explains so much about the relationship between the Czech Republic and the West.

The Czechs are a very logical and practical people and are not bound by strong religious beliefs.  They have had legal marriage between gay couples for fifteen years; there was never even any discussion. There are forty churches in Prague but when one of her clients wanted to go to a mass, there weren’t any!  That’s one reason they don’t have much to do with the Poles, who are so deeply Catholic. Although Andrea didn’t mention it, the fact that Poland was part of the invading force in 1968 can’t help!

Andrea explains that her country was an independent monarchy for hundreds of years before an alliance with the Hapsburgs brought that to an end.  The royal castle was empty for three hundred years as a result and the country hated having lost their independence.

In September, 1938, at the Conference of Munich, Germany met with Great Britian, France and Italy, and Hitler asked for the western end of the Czechoslovakia, an area heavily populated by Germans. There were negotiations and discussions but in the end the German Army moved into Sudetenland and the Czechs were evacuated. At that point the country had been a republic for twenty years, since the end of WWI.  The Czechs weren’t even at the conference and had no say over their lands being confiscated!  Thus, for the Czechs, WWII began in 1938, well before the official start date of 1939 when the Germans attacked Westerplatte.

After the war, Czechoslovakia was given to Russia and they were ruled by the Communists until the Velvet Revolution in 1989, when they rose up against Communist rule, as did Hungary, Slovakia, and other states.

One of the lowest points in modern Czech history was when Soviet tanks rolled into Wenceslas Square and a tank parked at the base of the statue of King Wenceslas riding his horse. There were 200,000 Russian soldiers in the city and they stayed for twenty years.

Today the Czech Republic has a population of ten million and of those 1.2 million live in cosmopolitan Prague.  By comparison Poland has a population of forty million.

Here’s a joke – When a Polish man has a problem, he goes to church.  When a Czech man has a problem, he goes to a pub!

Andrea gives us lots of survival tips, like the phone number for AAA Taxis, which she recommends as being fairly priced and reliable.  She gives us some examples of what things should cost and reminds us that prices are big numbers since the exchange rate is about twenty-five to one.  She reminds us to keep our money hidden, and our purses close and closed.  Prague has many pickpockets but hardly any other kind of crime.  It is a very safe city. 

She tells us that tipping is not required and that ten percent would be a maximum;  usually the Czechs just round up to the next whole multiple.  When sitting at a café, you will not receive your bill until you ask for it.  It would be considered impolite to bring it before that. She gives us a pocket map on which she puts important places for reference and tells us about some of the local restaurants that she is fond of and that are reasonably priced.  In short, she’s a wealth of information and we haven’t even started our tour!!

Music note – When Mozart presented the world premier of “Don Giovanni” in Prague in 1787, the audiences went wild!  Every performance was a success.  When he took the opera to Vienna, it flopped, causing Mozart to say, “My Czechs, they understand me!”  It is still presented today, in the same theater, The Estates Theatre.

Andrea explains that the city began as four separate settlements on both sides of the Vltava River around 830 AD.  Gradually the settlements grew into towns and they coalesced in the city we see today.  It is still divided into Old Town, New Town (which is only 100 years newer!), Castle Town and Lesser Town.  The latter two are on the west side of the river.  The locals don’t draw any distinction among the towns, although the street signs will tell you which you are in, if you are interested.  The Jewish Quarter is part of Old Town, next to the river.  Today the Jewish Quarter is almost all a museum with seven different sites you can visit for one admission fee.  All the other municipal buildings are open to the public for free.

This is the entrance arch.

And it opens into this little hidden square!

Complete with statues, shops and a cafe

And when you exit at the other end, you find this.

With all those facts neatly filed in our heads for later retrieval, we head off for some exploration and orientation. We are heading for the Old Town Square and pass through the area called Ungelt.  This was a square created for foreigners in by-gone days to set up their stalls, away from their local competitors.  Here we can find a couple of Andrea’s favorite shops, so we’ll definitely be back here!

She takes us into a baroque church, The Church of St. James, which doesn’t allow photos.  It is as filled with statues and paintings and icons as all the others we’ve visited.

Part of the ornate exterior of St. James

On to the Old Town Square, passing by the Tyn Church, in plenty of time for Andrea to find us a good vantage point for the fifteen-second show at the Astronomical Clock.  At the top of the hour the two small blue windows open and the twelve apostles rotate into and out of view.  At the same time, the four figures on either side of the clock move.  The skeleton, signifying death, rings his bell and turns his hourglass.  To his right, the Turkish man is the symbol of a happy, easy life and he is too happy to die now.  On the other side of the clock are Vanity, who is too beautiful to die now, and Greed who is still busy making money.  All three shake their heads “No”.  The clock works have been in use continuously since 1410, although the performance figures were added later.

One entrance to the Tyn Church

Note the keyholes, which archers used to protect Old Town.

Twin spires of Tyn Church

The Bohemian Band is back!

The blue doors are closed until the performance begins.
While we're waiting, Andrea explains how the clock tells the time
and notes that the globe has Prague at its center!

The first of the Apostles appear.

And rotate out of the way, for the next pair.

Meanwhile Vanity and Greed say, "No", to Death

While Death rings his bell and turns his hourglass, and
the Turkish man also declines to die, being to much
involved in pleasure.

The Apostles continue their march.

Until all of them have appeared.

And the windows close.  The chimes then tell the hour.

From here Andrea guides us to Wenceslas Square, in the middle of New Town. This was the site of the Velvet Revolution.  The glorious old buildings seem in direct contrast to the modern, upscale stores that occupy their first floors now.  The street called Parizska (“Paris”) Street, said to rival the Champs Elyses in Paris, leads to the Charles Bridge, the only medieval bridge across the river.  In all there are seventeen bridges. Although it seems like a normal street to most visitors, Czechs even as young as Andrea, can remember when there was nothing to be bought anywhere under the Communists.  Standing at the bottom of the square you can look west and see the Powder Tower and Gate, which was an actual storage facility for armaments. To the north is the National Musuem which Andrea remembers visiting as a child.  She said it was boring and dreadful.  It is now “under repair” although she believes it is just closed, and to the south is Old Town.

The Church of St. Nicholas, in Old Town

Odd to find this Celtic design!

Think you know how this is done?  We'll talk!

Entering New Town

This is a fund raiser to support the employment
of handicapped people.

You can paint your own blocks.

Hari Krishnas are here, it's the Czechs turn!

We walk down to the Powder Tower and Gate, which used to control access between Old Town and New Town. The road running to it is called Na Prikope and means The Shops on the Moat, since the street used to the moat that formed part of the town’s defenses. At the other end of the street, and slightly out of sight, is the National Theater. 

Incongruous

 We have only booked Andrea for two hours;  but by the time she has shown us the high points right around our hostel, we’ve used up an extra half hour!  We end up at a restaurant that she recommends for genuine Czech cuisine, Kolkovna, and once she makes sure our order is submitted, she heads off to celebrate her birthday with some friends.

Dinner arrives. I’m having “Pilsen goulash made from tender beef shin with onions and fresh chili peppers, served with bread-roll dumplings and potato pancakes,” and a local beer, Pilsner Urquell. Marilyn has ordered “roast pork knee, served with horseradish, mustard, sauerkraut and vegetable garnish”. When she confirms the sauerkraut, the waitress asks if she wants hot sauerkraut.  Apparently that was an extra side of sauerkraut and beets and friend onions! When her dinner arrives it is enough to feed an army or maybe even two! Without the extra side!

Easy for her to smile!  Dinner hasn't come yet!

We struggle manfully and I manage everything but two of the dumplings (which look like thick slices of bread to me!).  Marilyn faces a far-greater challenge!  We could have shared hers and been happy! All in all I think she does a fabulous job – but, alas, there will be no homemade apple strudel!

Impressive, right?!

Right in front of the restaurant is a farmers/artists’ market!  Finally!  There are lots of pretty Czech handicrafts and we make a few purchases before heading back to our hostel.  Along the way we stop into the “200 Shops” which turns out to be a mall, and has nothing we want.  Across the street is the Kotva, a really large department store that is important to us because we live just behind it!

Aren't they adorable?!

Back at OPH we stop as the desk for earplugs and to see if there are any fans available.  The desk girl gives us the ear plugs but explains that it is seldom, if ever, this hot and they aren’t prepared for it, so, no fans.  She says that it is usually nice and cool, then gets hot for a day, storms, and cools right back down.  We agree that we could all use a nice storm!!

With all the windows open, and our door as well, we can develop a nice cross breeze.  But it means keeping our door open.  That’s okay for now, but won’t be as it gets later.  There is lots of time to blog and check mail, when the wifi is cooperative.  Marilyn goes to sleep while I play.

There is never a problem getting into the shower room or the WC.  I guess we are on a different schedule from the other residents.  I never even see anyone in either facility! Around ten o’clock the kids outside become as loud as the kids inside.  There is a club that opens at eleven and I guess if you're not in line, you won't get in, so a parade marches toward our building.  By the time I think to get the camera, most of them are around the side by the door, so you can only see a few in this shot.

At about one-fifteen the outside noise finally quits and sleep becomes a reality.