Been another few days of ups and downs. Prague was so relaxing and beautiful. Trip to Berlin had another thought-provoking stop.
Prague
Cheers to the law makers who force our driver to have 45 hours off the bus. Two sleep-ins in a row. (not that I slept in too much... hostels aren’t very helpful on the ‘quiet’ front.) Arrived in Prague safely – no traffic jams or border checks so finally our luck might be turning. Had a quick walking tour of this fantastic city.
One of the major stops was the famous Charles’ bridge. Lots of stories but one I found interesting was about the Patron Saint of Drowning. Can’t remember his name but it was a weird thing to be sainted for. Story goes the King thought his wife was cheating on him, so he went to the priest and tried to coerce him to tell the King what the wife confesses. The priest said he would tell one person, which the King was fine with (since torture could easily extract that info from anyone). The priest told a dog... King wasn’t very impressed. So he threw the priest into the main river (boy, I can’t remember any names now – it’s a pretty river – don’t think it’s the Danube – doesn’t matter anyway) where just as he was drowning he was seen with a halo or something.
(patron saint of drowning)
Obviously my story telling skills are failing me – After nearly 30 days on the same bus I’m feeling slightly blurred in my thinking. Anyways, here’s the full bridge which has heaps of statues on it. Tons of artists and musicians were playing there. Incredible part of town to walk around.
(Charles Bridge – with castle in background – over left shoulder)
We walked around heaps more – no more exciting stories to tell (or I can’t remember them). Next day was our free day. Thankfully got to spend 2 nights in the same bed, which is proof I’m easily pleased at the moment.
Headed to the castle and since it was a Saturday it was very busy. Got a bit of a taste of what peak season could be like because the church had the longest line we’ve seen all trip. So didn’t actually go into anything I had to pay for – didn’t really get too much of their local currency out of the ATM. Saw the changing of the guard at 12 but there was some weird fun run happening I think which didn’t allow the guards to do their usual performance.
(guard at Castle – didn’t stand too close [since he’s got a gun])
By the way, it was sunny! Yay for Prague. Had poured over night and still overcast in the morning so I took my Anti-Rain Device (my water proof jacket – the only times it has started to rain while we’ve been out has been when I don’t have my A.R.D) and it was dead weight for most of the day.
Some of the group got a caricature done – didn’t want to let the artist have a go at me. They all have a smirk on their face when they’re drawing. Very creepy.
The other exciting part was in one of their main squares they had set up a massive screen to show an ice-hockey game between Czech Republic and Sweden. Was pretty cool there in the crowd but we had to head off. Really disappointed when I heard it went to a penalty shoot-out and Czech’s won the day. Would have been incredible to be there... But looked at plenty of other things – the 500 year old working clock tower display was doing well to still be going.
The most exciting and thrilling part of the whole Prague experience (sarcasm switch on) had to be the clothes washing. My Saturday night was filled with this chore but at least had free internet and there were quite a few of us who needed it done so was a little bit social.
Terezin
Left Prague with a late start and headed to another terrible part of humanity’s history. Don’t know whether I was more prepared for this one, or I had already been subjected to this terrible part of history or if I’ve reached my limit of heart wrenching visits but wasn’t as impacted as compared to Srebrenica. Still not my favourite place but glad I could see so I could know more about what happened.
Terezin was originally a fort which became a prison and ghetto. Jews and other undesirables were sent here as a way-station as they headed to concentration camps. Going into the cells where they had triple and quadruple bunks certainly stopped my complaining about double bunks. And the number of people they fitted into each room – we had a group of 25ish, and we only just fitted. They had 50 people for days at a time.
The other part I found sad was how the Nazi’s made false movies of the Jews ‘enjoying’ their time in Terezin for a Red Cross visit. We watched an emotionally charged documentary which overlaid the Nazi movie with a voice listing off the groups that were taken to concentration camps that went like this... “Group AY, 1000 persons, 3 survivors... Group AZ, 1000 persons, no survivors...” Supposedly trains starting taking people a week after the propaganda video was created.
Outside the prison is a cemetery for those who died during the Nazi control. Most had been killed just before the end of the war and placed in mass graves. Another thing of interest was the large cross in the center, with a Jewish Star of David at the back. Don’t know if you can see the star in this photo – look on the left. Our guide had left so didn’t know why there was a supposedly Christian cross there...
(cemetery)
Have now arrived in Berlin – did very quick driving tour. Could spend a week here so going to be very busy tomorrow.
Week Ahead
Mon, 24th of May Berlin
Tues, 25th of May Berlin to Amsterdam
Wed, 26th of May Amsterdam
Thurs, 27th of May Amsterdam to London
Fri, 28th of May Tour is done...
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