PRAGUE – Part 2

Enough of the moaning, once we got into Prague it turned out to be fascinating and full of history. Maybe our views were a bit skewed by our catching a cold and feeling a bit under the weather for a couple of days. Julie spent most of the day on the 11^th in bed. Having slept most of the day she felt better in the evening and we were able to go to the planned ‘Folklore Night’ in the evening.

During the morning we had a trip planned to see the old Communist Prague and a Nuclear Bunker. I wasn’t feeling too bad so I left Julie in bed and went out by myself for the morning.

I joined the tour group and spoke with the guide and he happily gave me a refund of Julie’s tour so that was a bonus. The tour started in the main square and took us round some of the old areas where the commies operated.

Here we have the old Secret Police headquarters – a place where you didn’t want to be taken by the men in long black coats in the early hours of the morning. Evidently 14 to 15 percent of the population still vote communist!

Government offices still in use today

The Hanging Man - An old communist statue symbolizing the struggle of the working man.

The trip to the nuclear bunker was quite depressing really. The tunnels were narrow and cramped. There was a plan to ‘save’ up to 45% of the population in the event of nuclear war, utilising such bunkers and the underground rail system.

Each bunker allowed for 2 sq. Meters per person where they would stay for “2 – 3 weeks until it was safe to move them to non-contaminated areas!" Yeah, right. Good luck!

During the Cuban Missile crisis large numbers of the population actually moved into the bunkers for several days in the belief that the world would actually turn to shit!

In the afternoon my head cold got worse............. 

so I isolated myself from everyone else..............  

and had a kip for a couple of hours at the hotel.

We then both felt well enough to go to a Folklore Evening and once there the booze kept flowing and by the end of the evening we both felt great!

This event was a really naff, tourist orientated event. The problem was, (and I hate to admit this) we had a bloody good time.

I must admit the tour was heavily loaded with 'older' people but being 'older' myself I guess I shouldn't complain.

Mr 'armful-of-wine' kept the booze flowing!

The musicians in the event are all ex-state orchestra musicians who lost their jobs with the collapse of communism. They all got together and started the 'Folklore Gardens' and with the increase in tourism went from strength to strength.

I started this '2 part' blog complaining about the place. I am aware that I have submitted 2 parts instead of my customary one. Did we have a good time? Sure we did. Would we return? Probably not. However, Prague was a 'Bucket List' place for both of us and I could and do recommend it to anyone who has the chance to visit Prague. Once!