Bohemian Rhapsody

Prague is the capital and the largest city in the Czech Republic.  It is also the historical capital of Bohemia.  It is situated by the river Vltava in the north west of the country.  It has existed for 1100 years and was the capital of Czechoslovakia after the First World War.  The main attractions include, Prague Castle, the Charles Bridge, Old Town square and the Jewish Quarter.  This makes it the sixth most visited city in Europe receiving more than 4.1 million international visitors a year.

Around 200BC the Celts established a settlement in the south, of the present day city, and by the end of the 1st century BC the population was composed of Germanic tribes.  Following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the late 5th Century AD, the Germanic tribes moved westward and in the 6th century in came the Slavs.  The City’s name was changed from Bohemia to Maroboden, after a man belonging to a Germanic tribe until it was changed to Prague by the 9th Century AD.  During the 14th century Prague flourished and became the third largest city in Europe after Rome and Constantinople.  The first bridge called the Judith Bridge was built in 1170, but this was destroyed by a flood in 1342 and this was replaced by the Charles Bridge.  Charles IV personally laid the first foundation stone for the bridge on 9th July 1357 at 5:31am.  This exact date and time is known because the palindromic number 135797531 was carved into the old town bridge tower.  Charles IV also started the Charles university in 1347, which remains the oldest university in Central Europe.

Charles IV died in 1378 and was superseded by his son King Wenceslaus IV (1378-1419) which was a period of intense turmoil.  During Easter of 1389 the Jewish Quarter was ransacked, pillaged and burned and almost the entire Jewish population of Prague perished (3000 people).

The Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, elected King of Bohemia in 1576, chose Prague as his home and he lived in Prague Castle.  He welcomed, astrologers, magicians, scientists, musicians and artists as Rudolf was a science and art lover so Prague became the capital of European culture.  This was a prosperous period for the city and scientists like Tycho Brahe and Johann Kepler, the painter Arcimboldo and many others lived there.

The economic rise continued through the 18th Century and many inhabitants were wealthy merchants and nobles who enriched the cities palaces, churches and gardens full of music and art creating the Baroque style.  In 1848, Prague had a German speaking majority but by 1880 the number had decreased to 14% and by 1910 to 6.7% due to the massive influx of Czechs from the rest of Bohemia and Moravia which escalated the social status of the Czech language.  Following WW1 Czechoslovakia was formed and by 1930 the population increased to 850,000.  Since 1389 the Jewish population had gradually increased to about 25%, of the population, but during WW2, under Hitlers occupation, most of the Jews were deported and killed again.  In 1993, after the split of Czechoslovakia, Prague became the capital of the new Czech Republic.

During May each year, a 17 day Czech Beer Festival is held where more than 70 different Czech beers can be tasted.  There are hundreds of restaurants, bars and pub in Prague and they have two restaurants with two Michelin stars; Alkrone and Degustacion Bohema.  Prague is twinned with, Athens, Beijing, Berlin, Birmingham, Saint Petersburg, Seoul, Shanghai, Stockholm and Taipei amongst many others around the world.

In October 2006 Claire retired.  I finished my contract at Rexam on 24th November and we flew out to Goa on 26th November 2006.  Inspired by Chris and Vanessa's blog when they emigrated to New Zealand, we started a blog which told of out three and a half month adventure around India, Sri Lanka and Thailand.  We got home in March 2007 and Jim gave us a printed hardback book of our blog adventure in April.  When you go on an adventure like this you can remember what you did every day but unfortunately, this is short lived and you soon forget and argue with each other about what came first and where you stayed.  Having the blog, especially in a book form, helps solve these disputes and also comes in handy if you ever revisit any of these places because you have a record of the best and worst places.  Since this adventure there are only a few months not covered by a blog so every holiday we have, we have a reasonable record of what we have liked and where we have been.  Trouble is, everywhere we have ever been before this time we have no record of; Prague is one of those places.  We had a lovely long weekend in Prague when Claire was still working at the OU.  I’m not even sure if I had my first digital camera at that time or if I was still using the old chemical film ones.  I do know that we stayed on the other side of Prague, across the Charles Bridge.  This was by accident rather than design but, as sometimes is the case, it seemed to suit us better than staying on the right side.  We could easily walk across the bridge but we spent much longer discovering the less popular side which we may not have done otherwise.  Also the bars and restaurants tend to be much cheaper on that side.  I cant remember the names, but we will be eating in two of the restaurants that we enjoyed the most last time so I will tell you what they are called when we visit them.

I have done my usual trick and forgot my SD to USB adapter so I cannot add any photos that I have took yet.  A cheap holiday means unsociable flights and that is what we got.  The flight wasn't full and it left on time at around 21:25 but we didn't arrive until about 00:15 local time the following morning.  As the flights were late I opted for the luxury pickup as it was only a few pound s extra and would save the hanging around.  The salesman that sold me the holiday gave me his email and personal phone number as he wanted me to tell him how we got on with it as he had never had anyone use it yet.  Well it worked very well; a guy was at the airport with a card with my name on it.  He was well dressed in a suit and tie and he took us to his very posh Mercedes where we were immediately taken to the door of our hotel.  He also gave us a pocket guide book each.  In fact the same one that I almost bought in the airport for £4.99.  Thats great, we now got 2 so I can give one back to Dave Clarke who lent me his very old guide book before we left.  Dave and his Czech wife lived here for 7 years but are now back in Bletchley.

The hotel and our room are very spacious and we have a lift.  Our room overlooks a square in a central area but until we get out in the cold for a walk around, Im not exactly sure where.  Its very cold here and we don't appear to have any visible heating in our room.  Im sure we have, because if you open the window the difference in temperature is considerable.  We have tea and coffee, a fridge, shower and bathroom and breakfast which was a little different to an English or Continental.  Vegetable fried rice, soup, coleslaw and potato salad with breakfast cereals I didn't recognise.  They did have bread, cheeses and meats along with lots of cake and jams as well but no eggs.  Right we are off for a wander around; I hope I can get another USB to SD converter while we are out otherwise my blogs will look more like Claire's.  I have about 5 of them at home because I always forget them.  I think this break will do Claire more good than she thinks and hopefully will give her a fresh start after all her recent trauma.