Impressions of Prague

Dr Anne came to Prague with JD in 1984 on a Thomson 2 centre holiday.  They travelled from Vienna by bus.  It was before unification so Dr Anne had an expectation of a Soviet occupied country. They lived on the outskirts of the city.  Dr Anne remembers being dropped off at Prague Castle and entering a crowded St Vitus Cathedral.  She remembers walking on the Charles Bridge and having a coffee in a 1950's tea room.   One evening JD and Dr Anne wert to the Opera House and bought a ticket on the black market for Rigaletto.  They didn't understand the Opera but the enjoyed the experience.  

A view of Prague Castle with St Vitus Cathedral.  

The revolution in 1989 was a Velvet Revolution so Dr Anne expected great advances in the 30 years since she was there.

YES...

There are thousands  of tourists of all nationalities being walked around the town on foot, by bike, by car.  

By bike.

By ?

By vintage cars.

By foot.

YES...

There are cafes and restaurants galore with coffee and cake, food and drinks.

Lois at the cafe at Kafta's museum.  The cakes are coffee and hazelnut wafers. Delicious.  

YES..

There are ticket touts and scam merchants selling tat.

YES...

The sun shines.

YES...

There is Prada, Gucci, Zara, Debenums and C&A...

BUT...

There is homeless everywhere, under bridges, on park benches, hanging around the railway station, begging on the streets;

Bureaucracy is archaic.  Lois went to post some cards.  She had to get a number for a counter that sold stamps.  She had to queue until her number came up. She was at the wrong counter and she had to start all over again.  The same happens in museums where the ticket has to be checked every time one enters a room.  

In museums and visitor attractions people give the impression that they don't like what they do.  Heads are down, hands are behind their backs, they shuffle.  There are no smiles.

There is a mixture of drabness and vibrancy where Dr Anne had only expected the latter.  

A Wander around the Old Town

What is there to see in the old town?

The Charles Bridge.

The Astronomical Clock.

The  Municipal  Building.

The Jewish Museum and the Old Jewish Cemetery.

The temperature was 21c and sunny.

Prague

Lois and Dr Anne are staying in an apartment in the centre of Prague.  It is newly refurbished but has no sound proofing.  They were awakened at 0600 with a 'warring' couple upstairs.  The day started early...

Dr Anne visited with JD in 1984.  They were on a two city trip to Vienna and Prague. How has the city changed - many Americans and Asians, homeless people in the parks, under bridges and especially around the railway station, dodgy currency exchange, locals taking advantage of visitors.  Lois and Dr Anne learned an early lesson - a very expensive coffee and cake.  They both felt unease.

Most of the sightseeing was at Prague Castle.  First stop was St Vitus Cathedral built in 1929.  

The organ.

Amazing stain glass.

Wonderful exterior.

The duo the visited the Royal Palace, the Basilica of St George, and the Golden Lane (a group of old houses) all within the Palace grounds.

The Basilica of St George.

The Golden Lane.

The day ended at the Charles Bridge.

The Charles Bridge.

The duo walked back to the flat in the twilight.

Off to Prague

Dr Anne and Lois have just arrived in Prague.  They have rented an apartment in the centre of town.  They passed through Dresden.  There were police everywhere in dozens on the railway platforms.  

Apparently, there was a big football match in town with Dynamo Dresden. 

A Pilgrimage

On our last day there were still answers to be found.  Dr Anne and Lois set off for the Sorb museum.  However they took a new route and ended up in St Michael's church.  There, they met a fellow Sorb - Regina Konig who pointed Lois in new directions.  

The church was the Wendish (Sorb) Church built first in the 15th century.

When renovations were being completed post WW2 the old ceiling from 1498 was found.

Regina and Lois

From the church Lois and Dr Anne have been able to explore the Sorbish information house, and the Sorb Institute.  A chance meeting in God's house led to greater information about the Kleinigs and the Zwahrs.

Here endeth the tale of their pilgrimage.  They found an amazing amount about the culture of the race that is the Sorbs known in German as the Wends.  They weren't able to trace ancestors because the Nazi and Soviets destroyed many of the archives.

Tomorrow is another day.  

Last Day in Bautzen

Bautzen has grown out of the rubble since 1989.  It is a beautiful city.

A Day in Bautzen

Dr Anne and Lois headed for the Stadt Museum in Bautzen to find out details of the local history.  As Dr Anne gets emotionally involved in Lois' roots the history of the area becomes important.  Here in Bautzen, there have been settlements on and off from the Palaeolithic times, the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, and continuous settlements since Otto1 in 965AD.  Since then have been wars and rumours of wars over the centuries - 30 years war, 7 years war, Napoleonic war, WW1, WW2, Soviet Occupation.

After lunch they set off for Bautzen Prison.  This was the key prison in East Germany where the Stasi kept the dissidents from 1945 - 1990.  It was a grim reminder of the Cold War period and how difficult it was for any free speaker.  Dr Anne just wanted to run away from this most recent chapter in the history of Europe. Scary...

The prison.

The boarded windows.

The garages where the dissidents arrived.

This prison van had four cells.

Three floors of cells. 

Very often the prisoners were in solitary confinement. The sanitory conditions were foul.  The food was atrocious.  There was no heating.  The prisoners had to lie with their head and arms outside the blanket at night.  Many people died of disease and malnutrition.  

From 1956 - 1989 the Stasi incarcerated 2700 persons in this prison with more than 80% of them political prisoners.

A Trip to the Villages around Bautzen

Dr Anne and Lois arose determined to visit the villages where Lois' ancestors lived and worked.  As Sorbs under German rule they were not allowed to own land so were in serfdom.  

The two hired a car for the day... Lois drove and Dr Anne was navigator.  Once off the autobahn the roads were single track.  The land was still agricultural with massive field with no fences, hedges or dykes.  The crops were turnips, potatoes, corn. 

Cornitz - the home of th Kleings - Lois' paternal, paternal side

The milk pails.

The Farmyard

House being renovated.

Around the houses were what looked like paddocks.

Some goats.

Some sheep in the orchard.

The vegetable patch.

Dresha - the home of the Zwahr family - Lois' paternal, maternal side

The Tower

New houses built in the traditional way.

Hochkirch - Wenke - Lois' paternal, maternal family.

The Lutheran Evangelical Church

Rachlau - Lois' paternal, maternal mother's birth place

The farmyard.

Eulowitz - Lois' maternal relatives - the Pechs

Pech the baker.

It was back to Bauttzen for a well earned drink...