The Czech Republic is a beautiful place. The rolling hills of the countryside remind me of Pennsylvania though the landscape is more open.
We arrived in Praha from Berlin on Saturday in the late afternoon. The train ride was about 3 ½ hours and took us beside the Elbe River. Praha is a lively city that straddles the Vltava River. We saw gypsies when we exited the station. Karolina, Ivana’s niece met us at the station and gave us an excellent orientation to the town before taking us to the apartment where we stayed. We stashed our stuff and walked to the Old Town. It was jammed with tourists. As Karolina had explained it is easy to get lost here. The cobblestone streets are like a maze, with passages here and there leading to who only knows where. The city map is of minimal help. Better to use your nose and just guess. With camera in hand, we marveled at the architecture and the statues. Day 2 we experienced Mother Nature’s tears and got soaked as we continued to explore. I had hoped to leave the rain stateside.
On our third day, the skies were with us and we got an early start. Praha offers tip only tours, so we took a morning tour of Old Town and the Jewish ghetto. Praha was taken over by the Nazis in 1938, a year before the official start of World War II. At that time, the Jewish ghetto housed more than 120,000 people. By the end of the Nazi occupation, less than 10% of the Jewish population survived. Our afternoon tour guide took us to the Castle District. Her parents escaped Communism with their 3 children in the early 1980s. Their daughter, our guide, had been raised in Australia and had returned to Praha after marrying a Czech. She said it is much more difficult to find work and make a comfortable living here than it is in Australia.
The United States is such a young country compared to so many of the countries in the rest of the world. This seems to be reflected in the countenance of the people. We also noticed this is Berlin. Although the Czechs smile more easily than the Berliners, there is still a reserve that may indeed be a remnant of a society that has been so often invaded and massacred.
From Praha, we took a bus three hours south to Cesky Krumlov. This is one of the most picturesque villages I have ever seen. It is like a miniature Praha with buildings dating back to medieval times. As in Praha, a castle overlooks the town but this castle has a vertical rock base. It’s hard to imagine being a worker suspended from such a height as they laid the castle’s foundation.
Amy had been in Cesky Krumlov before we arrived and had canoed the river. The river won and she lost a shoe as she capsized. Brr—it looked cold! When I was sharing this story with my friend Barbara, she said her son and daughter-in-law had also fallen in the river when they rafted it. But it seems that everyone who plays on the river enjoys it.
Cesky Krumlov is truly magical. Unlike its big sister Praha, it is manageable by foot and even if one gets lost on the little lanes, getting back to your destination is not challenging. Our room and breakfast at Pension U Mrazku (http://pensionumrazku.krumlov.cz) was delightful as were the innkeepers, Marek and Eva. We toured the town, the castle tower, museum, and gardens, along with the Josef Seidel’s home and photography studio and the Cesky Krumlov regional museum. We thoroughly enjoyed garlic soup (Jenny, you need to make this!) and a medieval dinner of steak and ribs grilled on an open fire. We even had the good fortune to meet three Hungarians who joined us for a beer after dinner. Their tales of life in the Soviet block fascinates me. Two nights is too short to be in such a paradise. If you go, plan to spend three or four nights to explore the town at your leisure.
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