Praha, Czechia. 21st May 2014
Happened to see a pamphlet at our hotel, the last evening. The pamphlet was advertising a 'Communism and Bunker Tour'. Promptly decided to take the tour today. Booked the 14:30 tour at the hotel's reception this morning, paying an advance of CZK 300/-(Balance CZK 900/- to be paid at the start of the tour). After a filling breakfast, we spent some time reading and sending messages on WA using the free wi-fi of the hotel, at the lounge.
Set off at 10:15 and walked to the very familiar I.P. Pavlova metro station. . Clicked a photograph of a cute child(named Violet) at I.P. Pavlova platform. Boarded a 'C' line train to Hlavni Nadrazi(Prague Main station). Spent time at the huge Hlavni Nadrazi, clicking away. Took the escalator to the first floor and were awestruck by the architecture of the building, including its frescoes and the stained glass windows. Descended to the ground floor to look
around the shopping complex. The station looked more like an airport! I was extremely surprised and delighted to find DVDs of old Terence Hill and Bud Spencer movies, which I had sought in vain at Myanmar, Mumbai and Nashik, for years ! Bought one, though I could not decipher the title, which was in Czech. Purchased four tins of Nivea cream at a supermarket, before entering a vast bookstore named Neo Palladium. The store was spread over two storeys and extremely well laid out. I have never seen a bigger book store! Exiting the beautiful building, we crossed the road and sat on one of the many benches in the park that we had visited the last evening. Enjoyed the cool breeze in the peaceful surroundings for a while and then slowly made our way to Wenceslas Square. Sat at one of the roadside
tables laid out by Cafe Boulevard; and spent a leisurely hour and a half sipping draught beer, while Urmila enjoyed hot chocolate. It was another of my long-standing desires coming true - sitting at a roadside restaurant in a European capital city on a bright and sunny afternoon sipping draught beer and watching the people around me! Later, we were strolling in the direction of Old Town Square. Beautiful, cobbled roads with footpaths to match. Both swarming with tourists. The magnificent buildings with their immaculate architecture continued to impress and the appearance of a roadside cafe every 50 metres or so only augmented the experience. Urmila was highly impressed, particularly by the glittering shops selling garnets and other jewellery.
Prague's town square is huge, with the church of Our Lady of Tynn as its prominent landmark. Close to it is the astronomical clock, the first of its kind that we were seeing. Close to 14:15, we located the office of the tour operator and a group of seven(we two, an Indian family of three and two boys from Deutschland) began following our guide - a young lad named Mareh, as he led us along the cobbled roads, explaining the history of communism in the Czech Republic. We passed the headquarters of the STB (the secret
police during the communist regime) and then the monument to the velvet revolution of 1989, marking the demise of communism and the ushering of a new dawn for the republic.
We followed Mareh to Mustek metro station from where we caught a train to Florenc, on the 'B' line. At Florenc, the guide took us into a nuclear bunker, 60 metres underground ! It was an unusual experience, the first of its kind. There was also a bunker museum which had numerous interesting exhibits including protective suits, gas masks of various kinds, guns, grenades and other memorabilia in the form of maps, books and photographs.
Returned to the surface armed with a booklet on the communism tour and a nuclear radiation survival guide. Caught a tram back to Masarykovo Nadrazi. It was the end of a rewarding tour; and the guide guided us to Wenceslas Square. It was 17:00 and the square looked extremely lively, with plenty of tourists roaming here and there; and a gypsy dance being performed at one spot. Urmila suggested that we eat and return to the hotel. We found Vodickova Street and the now familiar and unique Novomestsky Pivovar restaurant, where we had dined on our first evening in Prague. Ordered the same chicken roast dish that we had tasted then , with the mandatory mug of draught beer for me; a multivitamin fruit juice for Urmila.
After dinner we walked back to the hotel and spent some time at the reception, connecting to wi-fi and posting messages and photos on WA. The ICSE results were out today and my students from Ashoka - Kshitij, Tanmay, Amit and Rutuja messaged me, after having tried to call. It was wonderful to know that all of them had performed extremely well!
We had roamed the entire day today, from 10:15 to 18:30!
