Prague and Beyond

I never told you about Prague. We arrived before the group meeting and explored the main square and Charles Bridge. The city is old, well preserved quite exquisite. Buildings from every era and untouched by WW11. Our group is older than the people on our Rick Steves tour last year. There are a lot of single women and couples. There is one single man and 8 married couples. After orientation, we were given a brief tour of the old town and then to dinner under the bridge.

The food is hearty and bountiful. The following day, we had a tour leader take us through the Jewish sector and on to the castle. Around 1939-40, the Nazis found out about the well preserved history and documents of the Jews. Hitler helped to finance some of the preservation because he felt this would be an account of an annihilated race. So this area remained untouched and there are historical records of the Polish Jews from centuries back. They remain there today. Before WW11,one third of Poland was Jewish . There now are only a few thousand left.

Some valiant woman, tried to work with the children in the concentration camps. Originally, early in the war, mass genocide wasn't practiced. They were put in these camps and died from diseases, starvation and shootings or cruelty, etc. There were drawings that the children made. I think that in spite of the horror of the camps and terrible atrocities, the thing that was most poignant to me was a picture of the Seder celebration that a child drew with 12 people at the table. The table was set with candles and tablecloths and bountiful food and 12 family and friends seated.. The 2nd picture done later by the same child showed the table bare and the 12 chairs empty. That one got to me.

That afternoon, we toured the castle. The grounds also house the offices of the Prime Minister. There was a lot of commotion and police vehicles arriving in front of the PM's office. It seems we were in time to watch the PM greet the King of Cambodia. Some of our group ran into the King again later that night. This was the night of the Thailand uprising.CNN was also reporting on riots in Budapest which we were to visit later in the week.

Mike and I also attended a black light theatre while we were in Prague. Using special effects and pantomime, the scenes were quite dramatic. My new medicine is causing me to have hot flashes...again! We had to leave when halfway through the show, I was perspiring profusely. It gets even better when we are dining and I take off my jacket, then my sweater and finally my top. I always have a tank top underneath but I am getting good at stripping...discretely?

We left Prague after 3 days and drove by bus to Pitlovice where we had dinner on the mountain. We had to hike to the gondola and ride to the top via Gondola. We were entertained by townspeople who danced and sang to us.

The next day, we drove to Krakow via Aushwitz, which I have already described.... in my last missive.

After 3 days in Krakow, we left for Eger. Eger is home to Hungary's most beloved castle and in in the country's wine growing region. Outside our hotel, was a minaret. It reminded me of where Rapunzel let down her golden hair. The minaret gets small as you climb it. No more than one person fits on a step. I decided to conquer my claustrophobia. With Mike's able help, we climbed to the top, got pictures and returned to earth. This was a big deal for me. The next 2 days my thigh muscles paid dearly for this.

We also visited a gulag, Communist era forced labor camp. This was where people, who were enemies of the Communist disappeared overnight and were never heard of again. They were in existence from 1949-1953, when Stalin died, After they were dismantled the surviving prisoners were let go but told that their families would be killed if they ever talked of their experiences. For years it was denied these camps ever existed.

Then we stopped at a elementary school, where we were treated to lunch, which started with a toast of schnapps.(not the children) The children were made up of village people. One third were gypsy. We were each introduced to the kids, conversed with them and given postcards so we would send them one from the US. After these experiences, we attended the wildest and most fun wine tasting party complete with Gypsy musician. Then we were off to Budapest. More later.

Love,
Susie