Butler Family Travels

“Let’s just go down to see the bridge one more time.” We checked under the beds, took out the garbage, heaved on our packs, and checked out of the apartment. After catching the metro to the other side of the river we also decided we couldn’t resist one more visit to the bakery we had discovered earlier in the week.  Sitting in that sweet café, we spent every last Crown we had, then huffed it all the way back up the hill to the train station, but not without first walking on the bridge one last time!

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A few interesting facts about Prague\Czech Republic: According to the Guinness World Records, Prague Castle is the largest ancient castle in the world. Prague was the seat of The Holy Roman Empire during the 14^th century. The Jews of Prague have a very long history here. There are in fact 7 Synagogues in Prague. Mozart conducted is own premier of Don Giovanni in 1787. He loved it here so much that he learned Czech and spent much of his time here along with other famous composers. Jan Hus lived and taught reformed theology 100 years before Martin Luther, and got himself burned at the stake for it. Franz Kafka, the famous author, was born and lived here. The Velvet Revolution and Divorce are key terms in its history and you should look them up. Immolations and Defenestrations mark times of turmoil. (Other terms some of you should look up…) People who remember the not-so-far days of communism say that when ‘Big Brother’ was here life was grey. Puppetry is a large part of Czech culture. It played an important role in preserving the heritage and language of the Czechs during the years that others ruled here. The Black Light Theater was invented here. It can get VERY cold in Prague and the best thing to do on days like that is stay in and read.

The history of the city of Prague begins with a fairy tale story.  Legend says that the Princess Libuse, hoping he would help her yield sturdy heirs to the throne, chose a ploughman to be her groom.  She stood on the hill overlooking the valley and foretold of a beautiful city that would one day become the city of Prague (Czech word for ‘threshold’).  It would indeed sit on the very threshold of many cultures and stories. The city is therefore layered with the architecture of the Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassical, Art Nouveau, and so on. Unlike many European cities, it was spared during WWII and remains intact.  Prague is breathtaking!

To be honest, I really don’t want to try to describe it to you.  It is so much like a fairy tale that I think I would spoil it for you and you wouldn’t believe me anyway. The best I can do is to tell you it is like Disneyland, but a real-life size city that has a thousand years of history instead of amusement rides. It has a 600 year old astronomical clock that still ticks and bongs, classical theaters, underground jazz clubs, outdoor markets and musicians, shops selling beautiful things, extremely friendly people, excellent food, pastries, and beer… it’s a near perfect place.  Just like Disneyland. Country boy Jeb even felt comfortable in this city. The people seem normal. Maybe it’s the public displays of affection? I agree that it is a romantic city. How can one resist a kiss in such a place?

Wow… our 8 days in Prague flew by. Well, it helps when you sleep through the first. :o) Here’s a couple things that stood out: 1. It was COLD 2. It was fairy tale…ish 3. It was also cold, and beautiful.

We decided not to spend money using cell data on this trip and so have learned something interesting about hardwired/WiFi internet service.  The more modern a country is the more likely it is that we will have all sorts of trouble finding usable internet.  Thailand and Malaysia were fine.  Every little thatched bar on the beach has free WiFi.  Israel has free service everywhere including on public transportation. That socialist country is so capitalistic that unlimited cell data, voice and text plans are about $15/month now.  Greece was easy and fast even though they can’t get their ferry captains and vegetable growers to go off strike and get to work.  Italy, thbbthbbt! “I know, let’s charge for WiFi and a sitting fee, if you don’t want to carry out into the rain, and the food and include service on the bill.  Maybe because we provide internet service (pay) they won’t notice the service they paid for was non-existent and we can enjoy a new revenue stream.”  And, if it actually went fast enough to send an email, maybe they would be right.  England is so forward thinking and security conscious that you have to give all your passwords, citizenship and social security info and the middle names of your children to get signed on.  Of course they then confirm it all by texting you your sign-on info, so if you aren’t using cell service, tough luck. Oh wait, maybe that part was Italy too.  Whatever!  You may have noticed that we’ve been able to post regularly for the past week or so.  Want to know why? We went into the former eastern bloc.  In the Czech Republic internet is free, fast and stable.  Woohoo!